Autodesk 2015 Annual Report Download - page 126

2015 Form 10-K 34
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS
OF OPERATIONS
The discussion in our MD&A and elsewhere in this Form 10-K contains trend analyses and other forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. Forward-looking statements are any statements that look to future events and consist of, among other things, our
business strategies, including those discussed in “Strategy” and “Overview of Fiscal 2015” below, anticipated future net
revenue, future GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share, operating margin, operating expenses, billings, other future financial
results (by product type and geography) and subscriptions, the effectiveness of our efforts to successfully manage transitions to
new business models and markets, our expectations regarding the continued transition of our business model, our ability to
increase our subscription base, expected market trends, including the growth of cloud, mobile, and social computing, the effect
of unemployment and availability of credit, the effects of weak global economic conditions, the effects of revenue recognition,
our backlog, expected trends in certain financial metrics, including expenses, the impact of acquisitions and investment
activities, expectations regarding our cash needs, the effects of fluctuations in exchange rates and our hedging activities on our
financial results, our abilities to successfully expand adoption of our products, our ability to gain market acceptance of new
businesses and sales initiatives, our ability to successfully increase sales of product suites as part of our overall sales strategy,
and the impact of economic volatility and geopolitical activities in certain countries, particularly emerging economy countries,
and the resulting effect on our financial results. In addition, forward-looking statements also consist of statements involving
expectations regarding product capability and acceptance, continuation of our stock repurchase program, statements regarding
our liquidity and short-term and long-term cash requirements, as well as statements involving trend analyses and statements
including such words as “may,” “believe,” “could,” “anticipate,” “would,” “might,” “plan,” “expect,” and similar
expressions or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are subject to business and economic risks. As such, our actual results could
differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth above in Item 1A,
“Risk Factors,” and in our other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to
update the forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were
made, except as required by law.
Strategy
Autodesk’s vision is to help people imagine, design, and create a better world. We do this by developing software and
services for the world’s designers, architects, engineers, digital artists, professionals, and non-professionals alike—the people
who imagine, design, and create the world's products, buildings, infrastructure, films, and games. Autodesk serves professional
customers in three primary markets: architecture, engineering, and construction; manufacturing; and digital media and
entertainment.
Our goal is to provide our customers with the world’s most innovative, and engaging design software and services. Our
product and services portfolio allows our customers to digitally visualize, simulate, and analyze their projects, helping them to
better understand the consequences of their design decisions; save time, money, and resources; and become more innovative.
Autodesk was founded during the platform transition from mainframes and engineering workstations to personal
computers. We developed and sustained a compelling value proposition based upon desktop software for the personal computer.
Just as the transition from mainframes to personal computers transformed the industry over 30 years ago, we believe our
industry is undergoing a similar transition from the personal computer to cloud, social, and mobile computing. To address this
transition we have accelerated our move to the cloud and mobile devices and are offering more flexible licensing. For example,
in fiscal 2014, we began offering Autodesk BIM 360, PLM 360, Sim 360, and Fusion 360, a few of our cloud based offerings,
which provide tools, including social and mobile capabilities, to help streamline design, collaboration, and data management
processes. We believe that customer adoption of these new offerings will continue to grow as customers across a range of
industries begin to take advantage of the scalable computing power and flexibility provided through these new services.
Our strategy is to lead our customers and the industries they serve to the new cloud and mobile platforms. This entails
both a technological shift and a business model shift. During fiscal 2014, we announced more flexible term-based license
offerings, including term-based desktop subscriptions, for certain products. These offerings are designed to give our customers
even more flexibility with how they use our products and service offerings and address new types of customers such as project-
based users and small businesses. As part of this transition, we have discontinued upgrades effective March 6, 2015. On
February 4, 2015, we also announced that new commercial seats of most standalone software products will be available only by
desktop subscription beginning February 1, 2016.
2015 Annual Report