AI has become the latest must-have in every architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firm and manufacturer. But amid the frenzy, Autodesk’s largest North American partner is urging clients to take a breath. Before they can build with AI they must lay a foundation.
“Too many customers have bought into AI, the latest shiny object,” said Mike Hagedorn, vice president of services and products at IMAGINiT Technologies during Autodesk University 2025 in Nashville. We are in, appropriately enough, a BBQ restaurant. However, the talk is all business.
“Firms have invested in an AI engine, spent $100,000, and then had to start from scratch because their data and processes weren’t ready.”
Hagedorn has spent the past year creating what he calls a “journey to AI,” a carefully staged approach that prioritizes clean structured data, standardized processes and cross-enterprise integration — all before any AI technology is switched on. His message has found an eager audience: 216 people tuned in to his most recent webinar The AI Journey: From Foundations to Real-World Impact. He has presented on the subject to more than 150 customers.
From Reseller to Strategic Advisor
IMAGINiT, traditionally an Autodesk software reseller, has been repositioning itself, or as Mike calls it, evolving and transitioning, expanding with its services. Hagedorn oversees consulting, training, technical writing, and internal products such as Clarity and Pulse. The company employs subject matter experts across industries ranging from manufacturing and civil infrastructure to construction and facilities management.
IMAGINiT’s support team handles customer calls with uncommon efficiency—70% are resolved on first contact without escalation. “It’s not a traditional help desk,” Hagedorn said. “Our people are experts.”
At the same time, Autodesk itself has been shifting strategy. Last year the software giant rerouted all subscription transactions directly through its own platform, upending the traditional reseller model. “We maintained, but we’ve had to expand and diversify,” Hagedorn said. IMAGINiT now resells Bluebeam, white-labels Canvas, and invests heavily in services.
The Clarity Shift
A centerpiece of IMAGINiT’s portfolio is Clarity, historically an on-premise task automation tool. The product is moving to the cloud with AI features in development. That transition reflects both customer demand for flexibility and resistance in some quarters—particularly government clients who require localized deployments.
At a recent Clarity event, 75 users gathered to hear updates. “We’ve got really embedded customers,” Hagedorn said. “But the future is cloud, and the user interactions will look very different.”
Pulse: From Point-to-Point to Hub-and-Spoke
Perhaps the most strategic development is Pulse, IMAGINiT’s integration platform. Originally a point-to-point tool, it was rebuilt 18 months ago into a hub-and-spoke system. Today it has 27 connectors, linking Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) to SAP, Vista, Procore, SharePoint, and other enterprise systems.
“More connectors being added on a regular basis,” says Mike.
“We can move data bidirectionally,” Hagedorn said. “Think about the AI implications. I can now send AI-ready data to different entities and interact with their engines through Pulse.”
That capability has broad relevance as customers wrestle with fragmented information. In construction, project costs might live in SAP while models sit in Revit and field data resides in Procore. Pulse is designed to close those gaps.
Scanning as a Service
IMAGINiT has also launched scanning as a service, dispatching teams to digitize buildings, retail outlets like McDonanld Starbucks and hospitals, office buildings and powerplants. Seven scanning crews are currently active along the East Coast.
The scans can be quite detailed.
“We can capture detail down to a fire alarm’s serial number,” Hagedorn said.
Point clouds are imported into Revit, AutoCAD, or Inventor, creating detailed digital twins. Object recognition algorithms can then locate specific elements—fire extinguishers, windows, or ducts—across entire buildings.
“This is where AI becomes practical,” he said. “You can query the model: ‘Show me all the fire extinguishers in this facility,’ for example. That’s real value.”
Partnerships with hardware providers such as Leica have strengthened the offering. “They’ve been a really good partner,” Hagedorn said, though he also sees competition from Trimble, Matterport, and European entries into the U.S. market.
Data Maturity: The Hidden Barrier
Despite the technological advances, most firms falter on fundamentals. IMAGINiT applies a maturity assessment that grades customers on a five-point scale across seven categories, including data quality, definitions, and standards. Many score around 2.5.
“Something as simple as a mullion might be represented differently in SAP, Revit, AutoCAD, and by vendors,” Hagedorn said. “That inconsistency undermines everything.”
The remedy, he argues, is tedious but transformative: cleaning data, aligning definitions, and streamlining processes.
“Even if it takes 12 months to reach a pilot, you see ROI along the way,” he said.
Beyond the Hype: Education and Integration
Customers must be warned of inflated expectations, such as the viral Belgian ad for an employment agency that joked, “Hey ChatGPT, finish this building.”
Such slogans tend to mislead.
“Yes, AI is real. Yes, you must plan for it,” Hagedorn said. “But don’t just buy the shiny object. Until business leaders define what they want AI to do, it won’t deliver value.”
He points to frameworks taught at MIT and Harvard, which present AI adoption as a layered model. Technology sits near the top; the base is business goals, processes, and data.
For now, Hagedorn believes integration is the bigger growth market. “Collaborating across departments and external partners is where business is changing fastest,” he said. “That’s why Bluebeam exists. That’s why Pulse exists.”
Industry Crossovers: Fusion, FlexSim, AutoCAD
Autodesk’s own portfolio is evolving. Fusion 360 is maturing into a broader product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, competing with giants like SAP and Oracle. IMAGINiT is pairing Fusion with FlexSim, a discrete-event simulation tool.
“FlexSim is opening doors because a lot of ERP groups don’t handle simulation well,” Hagedorn said. “We’re finding real success running plant simulations—traffic patterns, put-away schemes, production lines.”
Meanwhile, AutoCAD remains resilient, particularly in the utilities sector. “There’s a huge installed base with complementary add-ons for distribution and electrical lines,” he said. Upcoming changes at GIS leader ESRI could also ripple through, forcing utilities to reconsider their CAD platforms.
Civil 3D and Plant 3D remain staples, and scanning is increasingly paired with these tools to create richer models.
The Reality Capture Race
Autodesk exited the hardware side of reality capture, but demand has only grown. While IMAGINiT favors Leica devices, the company still “tries to stay agnostic,” Hagedorn said. “Customers shouldn’t be stuck with one solution.”
The value is immediate. “Point clouds can now be tied into AI queries,” he said. “It’s not just a picture. It’s data you can transact with.”
Autodesk’s Changing Relationship with Partners
Hagedorn looks at the tension between Autodesk and resellers more positively as “challenges and opportunities” as the company strengthens direct ties with enterprise accounts while still relying on partners.
Facing Autodesk’s increased direct sales, IMAGINiT has expanded its range of applications for Autodesk products as well gone beyond Autodesk’s orbit. It now also attends to Bluebeam and Canvas users, and just like it did for users of Autodesk applications, offers offers customized training and bespoke development for non-Autodesk applications as well.
“We’re trying to offer solutions to the problems customers are experiencing,” Hagedorn said.
AI as Trigger Event
Despite his caution, Hagedorn insists AI is different from past technology waves. “IoT and sensors gave us data. AI is the key to unlocking it,” he said. “This is the trigger event. If you’re not doing it, you’ll be left behind.”
Even small gains matter. Reducing a request-for-information turnaround from ten weeks to 14 days can be decisive in competitive bidding. Generative design tools promise further acceleration.
Yet pitfalls remain. “If you have bad data and bad processes, AI will give you bad results that much faster,” he warned.
Educating the Market
To address the gap, Hagedorn has become part evangelist, part educator. He cites his own background in data transformation and decades of experience in cross-industry change. “What’s happening in retail is happening in healthcare. SAP, Salesforce, Autodesk—they’re all grappling with the same questions,” he said.
He frames his role not as building AI engines but as building rules, models, and roadmaps. “We’ll let others supply the technology. Our job is to make sure customers are ready to use it.”
Looking Ahead
For all the caution, Hagedorn is optimistic. “AEC firms are slow to change, but look at the last 15 years—they’ve gone from siloed departments to strategic enterprise partners,” he said. “The world is changing.”
He sees incremental steps toward a future where scanning, integration, and AI converge into fully baked 3D models. “It’s still five years away,” he said, “but the progress will be steady.”
In the meantime, IMAGINiT continues to balance its traditional strengths—training, support, implementations—with forward-looking bets on AI and integration.
“We want companies to be successful,” Hagedorn said simply. “That’s our job.”