Software costs can quietly outgrow business needs when licensing decisions carry forward year after year. Employees change roles, business demands shift and applications purchased for specific assignments remain on the renewal list.
For business leaders, this creates an opportunity: align software access with how employees actually work to reduce unnecessary spending while supporting productivity.
Walter P. Moore’s experience offers a practical example of how a hybrid Autodesk licensing strategy can help.
A Customer Example: Supporting Approximately 300 Users
In IMAGINiT’s on-demand webinar, Demystifying Autodesk Licensing: Subscription, Flex and Hybrid, David Harrington of Walter P. Moore & Associates shares the organization’s experience implementing a hybrid licensing strategy for approximately 300 users. The approach helped the firm optimize software access, reduce costs and increase the value of its Autodesk investment.
The example raises a useful question for any organization using Autodesk software: Does your licensing mix reflect the different needs across your team?
Different Working Patterns Call for Different Access
An employee using design software throughout the week has different requirements from a specialist who contributes during selected assignments. A manager may need occasional access to make changes, while another employee depends on the same applications every day.
Autodesk Flex provides prepaid, token-based access to eligible products, making it an option for occasional users. For daily-rate products, tokens provide access for 24 hours at a time. Administrators can assign users and control which products they can access.
Combining Flex with subscriptions gives organizations a way to accommodate these differences. The financial opportunity is to retain subscriptions where frequent use justifies them and evaluate Flex where intermittent demand may cost less.
This can be particularly relevant for employees supporting seasonal workloads, specialized tasks or temporary initiatives.
Turn the Opportunity into a Measurable Business Case
Before changing your licensing mix, build a clear picture of demand.
· Start with usage, then consider responsibilities. Review activity by employee and application across several months. Discuss upcoming work with department leaders so a quiet period does not obscure an approaching increase in demand. Job titles alone rarely tell the full story.
· Compare complete costs. Calculate expected Flex consumption across all eligible products an employee needs, then compare it with the relevant standalone subscription or collection. Autodesk’s published token rates provide the basis for estimating daily product costs. There is no single break-even point that fits every user or application.
· Test a manageable group. Begin with employees whose occasional usage is well understood. Track spending, access needs and administrative effort before expanding the approach. A focused pilot can help validate potential savings and uncover practical requirements.
Protect Savings with Ongoing Management
A licensing change delivers lasting value when someone owns the follow-through.
Set a regular review cadence to identify employees whose usage has increased enough to reconsider a subscription. Forecast token purchases against anticipated business needs, since unused tokens expire one year after purchase and do not roll over.
Evaluate success through both financial and operational measures: total licensing expenditure, underused subscriptions, token consumption and whether employees have appropriate access when work requires it.
As responsibilities, staffing and workloads change, adjust the licensing mix accordingly.
Find the Right Mix for Your Organization
Walter P. Moore’s example illustrates the potential of treating licensing as an ongoing business decision. For your organization, the right combination starts with understanding users, workflows and expected demand.
Watch the on-demand webinar to hear the customer perspective and explore the licensing options.
Ready to assess your own opportunity? Connect with an IMAGINiT expert to evaluate your licensing mix and identify practical ways to control costs while supporting your team’s productivity.
