Growth of BSD SpecLink^®

With the current edition of the BSD SpecLink^® CD, BSD SpecLink celebrates its 10th anniversary. BSD SpecLink was launched in March of 1996 as a 16-bit software product with no customers. Early adopters who were tired of the limitations of word processing jumped at the new product, propelling SpecLink to immediate success. By the end of its first year, BSD SpecLink was generating enough revenue to cover its direct expenses. More gratifying was the fact that most customers kept their subscriptions after one year of use. In fact, SpecLink’s renewal rate has been continually high, and currently exceeds 85 percent. This percentage represents those customers who renew in time to keep the same subscription anniversary. It does not include many more customers who drop their subscriptions temporarily and buy a new subscription at a later date.

The chart attached to this article shows the overall growth in the number of individual firms listed as current BSD SpecLink customers. It does not show even greater growth in the number of individual offices, since many of our customers have multiple locations. It also does not address even greater growth in the number of actual users, because many of our newest customers are larger firms with a need for multiple concurrent users.

One of the most gratifying aspects of this business has been the loyalty of our subscribers. In reviewing our records for this article, we were pleased to find nearly 100 current customers who have been with us from the start (see related article in this issue). We have always prided ourselves on keeping the customers’ needs foremost in our management of product development, and BSD’s technical support group deserves a large measure of credit for helping our users get maximum benefit from the software.

Over the years, there have been improvements to the software and updates to the data in each and every quarterly update. However, there are a few noteworthy advances that really stand out. A 32-bit version of the software, BSD SpecLink+, was launched on the Winter 2000 CD. While the new version gained new sales, many of BSD’s original customers liked the 16-bit version so well that it was continued in parallel with the new version for over three years. In the Fall of 2004, another milestone occurred when the CSI-DBIA PerSpective product was merged into BSD SpecLink. The new, expanded database made BSD SpecLink the only product available anywhere with specifications and features that are useful for all phases of a project, from performance specs appropriate for initial programming all the way through construction administration reports. Also in the Fall of 2004, BSD SpecLink became the first product to offer specifications organized according to CSI’s new MasterFormat ™ 2004. It remains the only product that allows users to flip any project, including office master projects, back and forth between the old 16-division format and the new 50-division format, with a single mouse click.

With this anniversary, BSD would like to thank the thousands of users who have made BSD SpecLink such a success over its first ten years. One of our best sources of new sales has been the referrals we have received from current customers. Testimonials from many of these customers are posted under Success Stories on BSD’s website. It is our goal, as we continue to improve our product, to merit the continued loyalty of our users and friends and to be able to post many more of these stories.