Autodesk recently announced changes to the way you can purchase licenses for certain products, to evolve with customer’s ever-changing business needs. It now offers Autodesk Flex, a new pay-as-you-go option that allows users who do not use their subscription every day to use the software when they need it.
How does it work?
Autodesk retired cloud credits and enabled Flex tokens as the virtual currency used for both cloud services and pay-as-you-go product access. Tokens are charged for products or services that design, render, simulate, or provide other results.
Whether you are starting a new project or are hiring a temporary staff member, Autodesk Flex tokens are flexible to meet a variety of business needs. Getting started with Flex is simple. You can estimate the number of tokens you need based on your usage data and give your users access to all the products.
Step 1. Buy tokens for your team
Autodesk tokens are available for purchase in pre-specified amounts. You can purchase tokens at any time needed for you and your team in advance and draw down against the pre-payment based on usage.
Users access Autodesk products available with Flex at a daily rate through pre-purchased tokens. Each product available with Flex has a fixed daily rate based on a 24-hour period per user. The daily rate is uniquely priced based on the product being accessed.
Step 2. Assign users to Flex in Autodesk Account
Autodesk Flex allows an unlimited number of users to be assigned and access products available with Flex. Users can sign in to Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com and navigate to Products and Services and scroll to locate and select Flex subscription. Administrators have the option to provide access to all products included with Flex to all users or to restrict access to specific products or users.
Step 3. Use tokens to access products
As with a single-user subscription; Autodesk Flex can be accessed by each user assigned on up to three. Also, as with a single-user subscription, multiple eligible versions can be accessed without incurring an additional charge.
Once the product is launched the daily token rate for a 24-hour period is consumed. The product can be opened and closed as needed without incurring an additional charge.
Step 4. Track token use and spending
With the same insights customers have grown accustomed to with single-user subscriptions, Flex provides rich data on users and usage which enables administrators to optimize token usage and purchases.
Token consumption is optimized for any user assigned to both a single-user subscription and Flex. You can sign-in to Autodesk Account at manage.autodesk.com and click Reporting > Token Usage to view usage reporting of Flex tokens by product and by user with additional insights provided with Flex on Premium plan.
Benefits of Autodesk Flex
Allowing varying user and software needs
With Flex, you pay for what you need. Flex allows your business to have occasional users of Autodesk programs to make the most out of your subscription. This optimizes overall costs for companies with an existing subscription to add Flex when product access doesn’t merit a single-user subscription.
Gaining access to top products
With access to the top products without a significant upfront cost, your team can lower the risk of trying specialized tools for different stages in the design process.
Managing Flex alongside subscription
Your team can purchase a mix of term-based subscriptions with token-based Flex to mix frequent and infrequent users. This allows Named User customers that used the multi-user trade-in, to save on costs for infrequent users without committing to a full-term subscription.
Providing insights for usage
Flex also gives you the opportunity to fully see insight into how often your users are taking advantage of tokens. This way, you can closely align and optimize storage costs.
In a nutshell, Autodesk Flex is perfect for customers that have occasional users, and for those who share multi-user subscriptions/network licenses across 3 or more users. What´s more, if your team is interested in trying out new products regularly, without a large up-front investment, Flex allows you to test new products and see what works best for your team.
