Gruner, a global engineering consultancy, optimized its Autodesk software spend by leveraging a Business Success Plan to gain deeper visibility into usage data and align licensing with actual needs. By combining subscriptions with Flex tokens and using custom dashboards powered by reporting APIs, the company moved from guesswork to data-driven decision-making—reducing inefficiencies, lowering costs, and improving scalability. With support from Autodesk experts and a proactive, organization-wide approach, Gruner created a continuous optimization model that ensures teams have the right tools at the right time while maximizing return on software investment.
Gruner is one of Switzerland’s leading independent engineering consultancies, delivering projects across the built environment since 1862. With more than 1,100 employees in 39 locations worldwide, the company provides end-to-end services in building construction, infrastructure, and energy—from planning and design to commissioning, refurbishment, and reuse.
The company works on more than 5,000 projects annually and relies heavily on digital tools to support this scale. Around 600 employees use Autodesk software, with a mix of subscriptions and Flex tokens. Managing that usage—and ensuring each investment delivers maximum value—has become an essential part of how Gruner grows efficiently.
Gruner’s objective was clear: optimize Autodesk licensing and ensure every user is on the most cost-effective plan. Some employees require continuous access to Autodesk tools, making traditional subscriptions the right fit. Others only need occasional access, making Autodesk Flex more economical.
Deciding who belongs where—and when to adjust—was the challenge.
“We needed a way to analyze usage patterns and make informed decisions about whether a user should be on a subscription seat or Flex,” says Jan Partsch, BIM Manager in Gruner’s Digital Business Solutions team. “The aim was always the same: deliver the tools people need but do it in the most cost-effective way possible.”
To build a more strategic licensing model, Gruner leveraged an Autodesk Business Success Plan and worked closely with their Customer Success Manager (CSM), Andreas Bracht.
A Business Success Plan unlocks advanced usage data, directory sync, and reporting APIs—capabilities that became central to Gruner’s approach. “We wanted to optimize our license usage based on costs, and the reporting API gives us far more data to work with,” Partsch says. ““That data is what allows us to build our dashboards and make smart decisions.”
With support from Autodesk Platform Services—coordinated by the CSM—Gruner automated data flows through the Business Plan API and developed a custom dashboard to track real-time cost and usage.
“The most important thing for me is really to be there for the customer to help them achieve their goals,” Bracht says.
The dashboard models three scenarios: costs if everyone were on subscriptions, costs if everyone were on Flex, and the “ideal” blended cost based on actual usage. This makes it easy to identify when a user’s plan no longer matches their needs.
“For example, we can see if a user is burning a lot of tokens per day—if that cost is much higher than it would be under a subscription, then we know it’s time to switch them,” Partsch explains.
The system ranks users from most to least inefficient, helping teams prioritize adjustments that deliver the biggest impact.
—Jan Partsch, BIM Manager, Digital Business Solutions team, Gruner
Gruner’s licensing model is both reactive and predictive. The team uses historical data to guide most decisions, but also makes proactive adjustments as project demands shift.
“If we know a user is about to join a project where they’ll use Autodesk products intensively, we switch them to a subscription in advance,” Partsch says. “But if the future isn’t certain, we rely on tracked data and make decisions based on what we see.”
The dashboard is shared across all business units, giving leaders visibility into license efficiency on a yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily basis. “It’s a team effort, not a top-down decision,” Partsch says. “We’re committed to democratizing access to data on all relevant levels.”
Even so, Gruner emphasizes that sound optimization requires the right time horizon. “It only really makes sense to base decisions on three to six months of data,” Partsch notes. “If you decide based on one or two months, you risk reacting too quickly.”
The Business Success Plan also provides coaching and administrative support, which Gruner has used extensively.
“We had very positive experiences on the administrative side with admin coaching and deployment coaching,” Partsch says. “We're now also having our BIM managers looking deeper into the expert coaching for operational procedures and operational workflows.”
Local language coaching proved especially helpful. “As a Swiss company, we always have to deal with French, German,” Partsch says. “It is a big win to be able to have coaching available directly in those different languages.”
Ultimately, the Business Success Plan created the foundation for a more automated, scalable, and reliable licensing process.
“I highly recommend going with a Business Success Plan,” Partsch says. “If you want to make informed decisions and switch people on a monthly basis, you need optimized processes and reliable data. A Business Success Plan gives you that. It connects Active Directory groups, ensures correct user data, and streamlines everything. Without it, you end up with bad data and time-consuming data cleansing.”
—Jan Partsch, BIM Manager, Digital Business Solutions team, Gruner
By analyzing usage trends and adjusting license assignments accordingly, Gruner has significantly reduced its Autodesk software costs—and the savings are easy to quantify.
“We can see that our actual license costs are already far below what they would be if we used only subscriptions or only tokens,” Partsch says. “The margin between our current costs and the theoretical optimum is small, and we’re working to make it even smaller.”
“It helped us reduce inefficiency in license usage from 25% to 15%,” he adds. “And this is with a big portfolio, so it’s a big reduction in costs.”
Gruner also benefits from confidence and clarity: they know the licensing model they’re using today is grounded in real data and adaptable as the business evolves.
“Using Flex tokens and seats in combination, and switching users based on real data, helps us get the most from our investment,” Partsch says. “We’re already on a very good track, and we’re only getting better.”
For a company as large and varied as Gruner, optimizing software spend is an ongoing effort. With Autodesk and a Business Success Plan, Gruner has transformed license management into a strategic, data-driven advantage.
“The Business Success Plan and the reporting data behind it are essential for us,” Partsch says. “It’s not just about saving money—it’s about making sure we use our software in the smartest, most efficient way possible.”
