Autodesk Licensing and Working from Home

With the news and office discussions being monopolised by talk of the Coronavirus, a common issue being debated is what do you do if you or your employees are unable to come into the office?

The primary focus in these situations should be the well-being of your employees, whilst ensuring the continuity of your business. Fortunately, Autodesk subscription benefits enable your users to work away from the office and use their licences from home.

How this works varies depending on your current licence deployment.

Single-User Licensing

Autodesk single/named-user subscriptions entitle you to install your software on up to three devices. These should not be held at the same location, with the primary example being an installation on a workstation in the office, laptop and desktop at home. You do not need to do anything special to enable this flexibility, simply assign your licences to your users as per usual. Once the user logs into their Autodesk Account, all their assigned products will be visible, and they will be able to install and activate. These installations are not to be used concurrently (ie. at the same time on two devices), instead this benefit is to enable flexibility for users to work in different locations. If one of the devices is shared, this can pose a compliance risk and as such, if a laptop is provided on a temporary basis, the software should be removed once returned.

Multi-User/Network Licensing

For multi-user/network licences, there are two options. The first is to check out a licence when in the office for later use at home. Of course, this requires your users to be aware they will be out of office for some time. As a default, a licence will be returned after 30 days, this can be modified via an options file to a timescale appropriate to your needs. Contact us for support on how to do this.

The second option is to request a home use licence. This will provide an activation for your licence to be used away from the office. There are conditions to this type of access – one of which being you cannot install more than the number of licences you have. You can read all the terms here: Autodesk Subscription Benefits.

To request a home use licence, follow this link: Request a licence to use at home.

Useful Links:
Autodesk Terms of Use: https://www.autodesk.com/company/terms-of-use/en/subscription-benefits#home

Autodesk Account: https://accounts.autodesk.com/

For guidance on the impact of remote working on your critical IT infrastructure, please read our blog "Ensuring your Business Continuity during the Current Coronavirus (COVI19) Outbreak"

Author

Billy Sherard

Since joining Symetri in 2011, Billy has been supporting customers understand and maximise the investment made in their Autodesk portfolio.