Once upon a time the construction industry used drawing that were produced by hand on transparent sheets of A1 or B1 size using drawing boards and drafting machines.
Then along came CAD. Autodesk had AutoCAD and Bentley Systems Microstation. AutoCAD was fine for small projects but Microstation was superior when it came to larger projects. Most consultancies adopted AutoCAD but government agencies that liked building larger projects adopted Microstation. When the Sydney Olympics were won it was mandated that all drawings use the Microstation .dgn format. But the consulting industry who had bought AutoCAD and had trained AutoCAD operators whinged and whinged to their political friends. The state government politicians overruled their professionals and capitulated allowing AutoCAD drawings produced in AutoCAD .dwg format. Only problem was despite lies from Autodesk and Microstation their translation programs between the two formats never worked satisfactorily. The drawings for the Olympics were a shambles.
When I left the construction industry AutoCAD had 90% market share and Microstation less than 10%. The rest did not matter. The need for everyone on a project to be using the same system dictates only one system. Remnind anyone of WinTel versus Apple Mac.
This is the environment (Construction Management Software) in which Aconex operates. They must either dominate the market, then they will get 90% share or be second with 10%. There is no bronze medal, just bankruptcy. Now go to this website.
http://www.capterra.com/construction-management-software/#infographic
Go to version history at the top right change switch between v1 and v2.
v1 Aconex in 8th place but v2 9 months later ACX is in first place.
But it is equally possible for another company to do the same.
But the ultimate winner will be the system that wins the most customers. Then the construction industry will coalesce and familiarise around that system. Just as with CAD being the best did not win Bentley Systems gold that went to Autodesk. Beta was technically superior to VHS but VHS won the gold because greater production created more customers.
If you buy ACX to trade then I wish you well. If you buy for growth then ACX needs to win the battle for the most customers. Remember bronze means bankruptcy
