What Autodesk’s 2027 State of Design & Make Tells Us
About the Next Phase of Digital Transformation
Autodesk’s 2027 State of Design & Make report paints an encouraging picture of digital transformation across architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing and other Design and Make industries.
Organizations are investing in technology, and those investments are producing results. But the report also highlights a challenge that may define the next phase of digital transformation: having powerful technology is not the same as having a workforce equipped to use it effectively.
Three findings stand out:
98%
of business leaders report measurable benefits from digital transformation.
56%
identify at least one skills-related barrier to digital transformation.
75%
plan to increase their investment in AI over the next three years.
(Autodesk)
Put those three statistics together, and they tell a compelling story.
Technology is advancing. Investment is accelerating. The bottleneck is increasingly the workforce’s ability to put that technology to work.
Digital Transformation Is Working
One of the most encouraging findings in Autodesk’s research is just how broadly organizations are seeing results.
Nearly every organization surveyed, 98%, reports measurable business benefits from digital transformation. Two-thirds report improvements of at least 50% in areas including customer satisfaction, productivity and innovation.
The question, then, is becoming less about whether organizations should digitally transform and more about how they continue realizing value as technology evolves faster and faster.
That challenge becomes especially important with AI.
Three-quarters of business leaders surveyed by Autodesk plan to increase AI investment over the next three years. Yet only 40% of Design and Make organizations say they are approaching or have achieved their AI goals. Autodesk concludes that organizations need more than AI tools: they need trusted data, integration into everyday workflows and employees with the skills to apply AI effectively.
That distinction matters.
Buying technology is an investment. Building the organizational capability to use it is where the return happens.
The Skills Gap Is Becoming the Adoption Gap
Autodesk’s finding that 56% of organizations identify at least one skills-related barrier to digital transformation deserves particular attention.
Organizations aren’t simply introducing one new piece of software every few years anymore. Teams are being asked to continually adapt to new Autodesk capabilities, AI, automation, connected data, cloud platforms and changing digital workflows, all while continuing to deliver projects.
Traditional training alone cannot keep pace with that rate of change.
Organizations need a way to connect technology, company knowledge, workflows and people so employees can find, learn and apply the right knowledge when they actually need it.
And as AI becomes a bigger part of how organizations work, that connection becomes even more important.
AI Makes Knowledge Infrastructure Even More Important
AI dramatically increases what organizations can do with technology, but it also increases the importance of the knowledge surrounding that technology.
Autodesk’s research makes this point particularly clear. Its 2027 report says competitive advantage increasingly depends not simply on investing in AI, but on connecting AI with trusted data, clear context, connected workflows and workforce capability.
That raises a broader question for organizations:
What knowledge infrastructure do our people need to take advantage of AI?
Consider the knowledge already distributed throughout a typical organization. Experienced employees know why particular workflows work. BIM and technology leaders know how tools should be configured and used. Project teams develop better methods during every project. Organizations have standards, procedures, templates and lessons learned. Consultants and technology partners provide valuable expertise.
But much of that knowledge can remain scattered across documents, systems and departments, or simply in people’s heads.
The opportunity is to make that organizational knowledge easier to capture, maintain, discover, learn and apply.
Because as technology becomes more powerful, the ability to connect people with trusted, relevant and up-to-date knowledge becomes an increasingly important part of technology adoption itself.
Turning Technology Investment Into Workforce Capability
Autodesk surveyed 5,500 leaders and experts across 23 countries for its 2027 State of Design & Make research. One of the report’s most interesting findings is that the organizations Autodesk identifies as Pacesetters don’t simply invest in technology differently. They build the organizational capabilities required to put that technology to work.
That distinction should matter to every organization planning its next technology investment.
When evaluating a new technology, ask:
How will our people learn it?
How will we connect generic software knowledge to the way our organization actually works?
How will we capture and scale the knowledge of our subject-matter experts?
How will employees find trusted answers when they need them?
How will we identify skills gaps and build targeted learning paths?
How will we keep all of this knowledge current as technology continues to change?
Those questions turn technology adoption from an IT initiative into an organizational capability.
They also point to a larger shift in how organizations need to think about learning and knowledge: not as separate resources or occasional training events, but as infrastructure that continuously connects people with what they need to perform.
From Trusted Information to Knowledge Infrastructure
This is where Global eTraining is focused.
Global eTraining’s AI-powered digital adoption platform helps organizations elevate human potential and accelerate workforce readiness by connecting people with the trusted knowledge, skills and guidance they need to confidently put technology to work.
That means helping organizations convert trusted company and project-specific information into actionable knowledge, access dynamic project procedures in the flow of work and close digital skills gaps through AI assessments, insights and learning paths.
Instead of knowledge remaining scattered across courses, documents, systems or individual subject-matter experts, organizations can make it accessible and actionable for the people who need it, connecting industry and software learning with the standards, processes, project requirements and expertise unique to the way their organization actually works.
And because technology, projects and workflows are constantly changing, that knowledge needs to evolve with them. Global eTraining empowers learners with consumable and up-to-date training that is just enough, just in time and just for them, helping people continuously build the knowledge and skills they need to keep pace.
The result is more than training. It is a knowledge infrastructure that drives technology adoption at scale, helping organizations reduce inconsistency, reduce rework and reduce risk while maximizing the value of their technology investments.
Ultimately, it is about closing the gap between investing in technology and building a workforce ready to put it to work.
The Next Phase of Digital Transformation Is About People
The headline from Autodesk’s research isn’t that organizations need more technology.
Organizations are already investing heavily in it.
The bigger opportunity is making sure people can take full advantage of those investments.
When 98% of organizations are already seeing measurable benefits from digital transformation, 75% plan to increase AI investment and 56% still report skills-related barriers, the path forward becomes increasingly clear.
The technology is advancing. Now workforce capability needs to advance with it.
For organizations, that means thinking about technology investment and workforce readiness as two parts of the same strategy. New tools can create enormous opportunities, but realizing their value depends on whether people have the trusted knowledge, skills and guidance to confidently use them.
At Global eTraining, we believe the organizations that succeed in this next phase will be those that connect technology, trusted knowledge and people, transforming training from a periodic activity into an intelligent, scalable knowledge infrastructure that evolves alongside their workforce, projects and technology.
Because ultimately, digital transformation isn’t just about what technology can do.
It’s about what your people can do with it.
About Global eTraining
Trusted by top architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing firms worldwide, Global eTraining’s AI-powered digital adoption platform elevates human potential and accelerates workforce readiness.
Convert trusted company and project-specific information into actionable knowledge, access dynamic project procedures in the flow of work and close skills gaps through AI assessments, insights and learning paths—all to build the knowledge infrastructure that drives technology adoption at scale.
Global eTraining empowers learners with consumable and up-to-date training—just enough, just in time and just for them.
Media Contact
Jessa Tracy
Director of Marketing
Global eTraining
jessat@globaletraining.ca
globaletraining.ca
