Consultancy and partnership have a role to play here. Every software company, including Autodesk, is looking at ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness, and e-commerce is just one facet of this. The web needs to be used to extend customer reach. The resellers who will remain strong are those who are looking to these new ways to make their money and strengthen their relationships with their customers. The whole economy, not just the CAD industry, is demanding that companies take their products and services to a new dimension.
Training is another area where consultancy and partnership have a key role to play.
Businesses in the American CAD industry have become less monolithic and much more partnership orientated. The increase in strategic alliances in the channel in the USA has been driven by the increase of the Internet economy here. America has had a lot of small, start up CAD companies with very few resources. The only way for them to compete successfully has therefore been through partnerships. In the past the trend was to have vertically integrated companies.