The Bricsys Acquisition by Hexagon : What It Means for Sales Partners

 

Bengaluru, India

Bricsys Acquisition

Ever since the Bricsys acquisition by Hexagon, one of the questions sales partners are asking is “How is it going to affect my BricsCAD selling business?”

I am not privy to any inside information on how Hexagon is going to handle sales partners in future but from the little interaction I have had with folks at HexagonAB, this is what I have to guess & summarize:

  • It is going to be business as usual for Bricsys sales partners. No changes, certainly nothing immediately. In fact, we have been told to continue selling BricsCAD as if nothing happened.
  • We all know why this acquisition happened. “Hexagon wants to bring their strength of sales and marketing”. This means increased sales and distribution network, especially in countries where Hexagon PPM already has significant presence. You can look at it as an opportunity or a threat. If you are already selling BricsCAD actively and have a loyal user-base with you, this is a great opportunity to do more with support from Hexagon. If you are an inactive reseller depending on passive sales, you probably need to change gears.
  • Hexagon PPM’s most visible CAD software current footprint is in the oil & gas and geo-spatial industry. They would clearly want to expand into the AEC space as well, to take Autodesk head-on, in BIM and other areas. As Rick Allen pointed out, “If you would like to grow with us together, we have a great opportunity for all resellers”. I am presuming that they will roll-out a model which is in line with how the major software vendors of the world operate, Bricsys did not.
  • If you are expecting nothing to change going forward, this acquisition is probably not worth it. But I see an opportunity to do more, while embracing the positive changes that Hexagon is expected to bring in. For the moment, we have to wait to hear from the Hexagon-Bricsys team for the roadmap ahead.

BricsCAD Pricing

Pricing of the BricsCAD software post-Hexagon is another grey area, which sales partners have talked about a lot.

This is again a tricky part. Many feel that BricsCAD is under-priced. I do not believe this can be answered with a Yes or No.

It depends on the flavor of BricsCAD and also depends on the geography where you are trying to sell. In other words, it is a demand-and-supply, competition driven scenario.

In India, most users find the price of BricsCAD Classic to be on the higher side, and I believe so as well.

There is an ultra-huge lower-segment market that needs software at prices that are more competitive than the existing Classic pricing. While many users still buy Classic at the current price, even more do not and opt for other inferior alternatives, including Autodesk rentals.

BricsCAD Pro and Platinum (now called BricsCAD Mechanical) are priced right or even have the opportunity to be priced upwards.

Yet another new announcement made at the conference was that the subscription renewal prices are now going to be set at 30% of the new license price.

This is a welcome move and removes the disparity that existed in the renewals of Classic vis-a-vis Pro vis-a-vis Platinum renewals.

Want to know more about DesignSense, BricsCAD?

Key Contacts: rakesh.rao(at)thedesignsense.com / +91-9243438300 / +91-8073279755

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