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Tatjana
Dzambazova
Autodesk
Petite, vivacious and brilliant, with a fiery passion for architecture and enthusiasm for technology, Tatjana Dzambazova is an inspiring force in Autodesk's quest for service excellence and customer satisfaction.
Born, raised and educated in Macedonia, Tatjana participated as a student representative in several international architectural and design seminars, and established contact with learning institutions throughout Europe.
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Since graduating in 1989, Tatjana has developed superb communication and organisational skills, which have enabled her, after years of practice in several architectural practices, to run her own design office, initially in Vienna and later in London. She joined Autodesk in a technical support position towards the end of 2000 and less than a year later was appointed the company's Technical Application Manager for Architecture for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She describes herself as "a positive and enthusiastic thinker who works well with people from different cultures and backgrounds".
She maintains that the key to her success is her unerring belief in providing first-rate customer service and establishing excellent client relationships. Admitting that she was initially
sceptical of Autodesk's philosophy of "designing systems for customers", she says that she has been impressed over the years with the company's commitment and dedication to providing their customers with workable solutions.
With over five million users in more than 160 countries, Autodesk aims to create customisable, flexible systems that are compatible worldwide. As clients are now expecting far more from architects in terms of projected maintenance and renovations, the focus of technical developers and managers like Tatjana is to produce products that "cover the lifecycle management of a building". Software with embedded intelligence is now able to show, right from concept phase, which parts of the building are likely to be demolished, maintained or renovated in the future. All the data about a building is used, not only for the construction of the building, but also for the facilities management process during the entire lifecycle of the structure.
One of the aspects of her work nowadays that excites Tatjana most is the movement back to a spatial way of thinking, which is being facilitated and encouraged by new features and tools in architectural software. For the past twenty odd years, architecture has been carried out in a primarily 2D environment, largely because of the limitations imposed by software. With new developments, the data for each component of a building is stored from the outset in a 3D building model, enabling architects to view the volumes and spaces of their creations immediately, which she says "is how architects think naturally".
Software is developed according to technical requirements, and is then customised to respond to user feedback. And according to Tatjana, there is plenty of user feedback! This, she maintains, is the only way to ensure a product that will be of full benefit to its end user, the architect. In order to develop and perfect architectural tools, you must not only think like an architect, but listen to their input and criticism too. This way of thinking also explains why over 60% of Autodesk's architectural technical development staff are qualified architects.
Visiting South Africa for the second time, and having recently attended a technical camp in Nice for the EMEA partners, Tatjana is impressed by the enthusiasm and willingness of local companies to adopt new technologies, and says that Southern Africa is a positive and highly underestimated market, with a keen local technical channel.
With architectural projects now happening globally, across geographic divides, it is encouraging to see companies like Autodesk creating universally accepted products, and inspiring to know that people like Tatjana are indeed paying heed to the requirements of their biggest supporters - their clients.
http://www.autodesk.com
Article by: Karen
Eicker, Johannesburg (June 2003)
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