If Autodesk’s Content Catalog content management system (CMS) is available to all Autodesk Doc users at no additional cost, why, then, would a firm pay for a Revit CMS like AVAIL? The answer is simple: you get what you pay for. AVAIL has a free option, too, but paid subscriptions unlock more time-saving capabilities so your team can spend fewer hours searching for what they need in a project or performing manual tasks and more time designing and moving projects through construction documentation. There are a few more key differentiators between Content Catalog and AVAIL, too. Below, we outline five reasons your firm should consider AVAIL for Revit content management and beyond.
Is content management a business objective for your firm?
Autodesk’s Revit can be convoluted and difficult to collaborate and design in. Designers often experience difficulty navigating the Revit project, while BIM managers struggle reusing and managing non-Family elements such as Drafting Views, Groups and full Sheets all while trying to keep updating them to newer versions.
A content management system (CMS) that can simplify Revit life for the entire design team is key to firm efficiency. AVAIL, for example, allows designers to simply drag and drop a variety of Revit elements (see below) directly into Revit from AVAIL.
AVAIL supports the following elements:
Some AEC content management systems such as Autodesk’s Content Catalog are cloud-based, which can be great to easily share and access content with an expansive team, but it can also raise security risks.
Many firms prefer to keep files on local network servers, while others prefer the control of picking the cloud-based service they use to host their files over a required service like Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), for example.
AVAIL offers firms the flexibility to choose where to keep their files. BIM files can be hosted on both a firm’s local server and the cloud, making it easier to manage and share content across a firm, as well as with customers and contractors—while keeping all files secure.
Discover the best content hosting strategy for your firm. Here are three ways firms can host and manage content in AVAIL.
Learn more about AVAIL hosting options in the blog Local Server or Cloud? Host BIM Files on Both With AVAIL
Revit, Rhino, AutoCAD, 3ds Max, SketchUp, Civil 3D, MicroStation, and hundreds more are all supported by AVAIL’s content management system.
AVAIL is content agnostic, meaning the platform supports all file types—not just Revit. All your team’s files from AutoCAD, Rhino, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, Microsoft Office, Miro, photos, and more (even links!) can be indexed, tagged, and searched in AVAIL just as Revit content can.
Even better, our latest AVAIL 5.0 release includes automatic thumbnail generation for 30 of the most common file types found in AVAIL. Functionally, this means your team has more visual queues to find the files they need. Even your team members without Revit installed can view the virtualized thumbnails.
Based in Lexington, Kentucky, AVAIL’s on-site team is friendly and reliable. Customer Success offers one-to-one support to AVAIL’s customers, including onboarding and training for your team. Additionally, Customer Success works directly with AVAIL’s development team to troubleshoot issues as they arise and advocate for customer needs as the team plans its roadmap.
Director of Customer Success Clay Watson (left) and AVAIL developers Zach Jones and Tucker Overton play with team poses at AVAIL’s industry leadership event Confluence in Lexington, Kentucky September 2024.
AVAIL’s dedicated development team is not only developing AEC content management solutions to increase efficiency at firms today, but we are also thinking ahead to what will be most useful to firms in the future.
In 2024, AVAIL released the following features to its suite of content management solutions:
Discover additional enhancements in CEO and Founder Randall Stevens’ 2024 Year in Review.
These features are laying the foundation for future systems that will bring information to end users, reducing manual tasks that kill time.
Additionally, to anticipate what AEC industry firms are going to need and want from technology solutions in the future, AVAIL hosts Confluence professional development events. Confluence programming explores pressing industry technology issues and brings design technology practice and software technology product leaders together in collaborative discourse. Learn more about Confluence and register interest in joining the next conversation at confluence.getavail.com.
AVAIL hosts two Confluence events per year, exploring pressing industry technology issues.
The decision to move forward with a free solution like AVAIL for Free or the Autodesk Docs’ included Content Catalog comes down to your firm’s business objectives. Ask yourself, “Is content management a strategy for my firm?” If yes, a streamlined solution with maximum content management capabilities like AVAIL’s paid subscriptions will serve your team best.
However, if your firm is simply exploring content management, a free solution (AVAIL’s included!) is a great way to get your toes wet and your files managed.
Ready to get started with AVAIL?
Founded in 2016 as a solution for architectural firms to find the information they need faster, AVAIL creates software for the global architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. AVAIL’s content management system (CMS) platform and Revit application tools help designers and engineers take control of their intricate network of files in one visual, streamlined solution. Spun out of ArchVision, a provider of Rich Photorealistic Content (RPC), AVAIL’s customers include industry leaders like Gensler, Perkins + Will, IMEG, LEO A DALY, and Populous.