BBSes become Big Business
by Patricia Pisarski

Recent estimates indicate that there are approximately 75,000 BBSes
worldwide. Although BBSes have been predominately a US phenomena,
entrepreneurs in Canada, Europe, and South America are joining the
online community at a rapid pace. This astonishing growth is all the
more amazing when you consider that the first BBS went online in
February 1978, thanks to two computer techies who wanted to keep in
touch despite Chicago's wickedly cold winters. Ward Christensen and
Randy Seuss became friends through  a local computer users group and
together wrote the Computer Bulletin Board System (CBBS) using the newly
introduced Hayes modem. Within a few short years, CBBS become available
commercially and spawned an industry that continues to grow at a record
breaking rate.

Dubbed the "electronic meeting place of the 90's", a typical BBS offers
e-mail, public forum areas, interactive games, megs of shareware and
increasingly, online chat. To broaden their appeal, many BBSes join one
or several "nets", such as Fidonet or RIME, which share message bases
(called "echoes") covering a wide variety of topics similar to the
Newsgroups available on the Internet. The echoes run the gamut from
technical topics, like C++ programming, to hobbies, like aquariums or
collecting comic books. Many echoes are devoted to political, religious
or social issues and offer a lively debate on the most controversial
issues. Even a painfully shy and timid BBSer can often be inspired to
express his or her opinion in no uncertain terms behind the anonymity of
an "alias" or screen name. Whatever issue you are "for", there is bound
to be another BBSer who is "against" and who relishes the opportunity to
tell you just exactly why your opinion is 100% wrong. Frequently, such
messages are punctuated with shorthand, such as "IMHO" (in my humble
opinion) or "LOL" (laughing out loud), or with emoticons such as :( or
;). (For the uninitiated, look sideways to see an unhappy face and a
winking smile.)

Often sysops design their board to meet the needs of a specific special
interest group (or SIG). These boards will cover almost every imaginable
interest or hobby. There are BBSes with a handicapped focus or which are
aimed at airline pilots or nudists. (There may even be a BBS for
handicapped pilots who fly in the nude, but I'm not aware of any.) To
find a BBS aimed at your favorite SIG, you need to track down a
"listkeeper". A BBS listkeeper is a sysop who compiles and maintains a
list of BBSes by topical category and makes the list available for
download. A list of listkeepers is available electronically on some
BBSes and available in print in Boardwatch Magazine. (Call 1-800-933-
6038 for subscription information or send e-mail to
subscriptions@boardwatch.com).

Most sysops start their board as a hobby. Often they begin as avid
"board surfers" and get the bug to operate their own BBS.  Most start
out small, with approximately 50% of BBSes operating only one phone
line. Many potential sysops underestimate the time, energy, patience and
devotion (not to mention expense), it takes to run a BBS. Wading through
manuals three feet high isn't very exciting or sexy. After all the
tedious efforts to get a BBS to run smoothly and problem-free, it can be
very discouraging for a new sysop to wait for the (modem) phone to ring.
It may take months and months for a BBS develop a following. A BBS can
quickly turn into a very expensive and time consuming hobby while a
sysop is waiting for his caller base to grow. It's not surprising that
many sysops give up after several months. BBS callers evidence this
disillusionment regularly when they "surf" a local BBS list and hear the
recording of an operator saying "The number you have dialed is no longer
in service."

But, the success stories can be inspiring for the entrepreneur. There
are BBSes that have been in business for over ten years serving millions
of callers and requiring 200+ phone lines. Some, like Exec-PC and the
Well, have expanded to such a national presence that they have almost
outgrown the label BBS and could be more appropriately called a "mini"
online service. The sysops of the biggest and best BBSes realized early
on to treat their BBS as a business with a marketing strategy and well
thought out business plan. They identified who their target market was
and planned accordingly. Statistics (from Boardwatch Magazine, March
'94) show that the average BBS caller is a male between the ages of 20 -
45 with an average age about 36. The online community is still
predominantly male, with female callers only representing 10 - 15% of
BBSers. Despite the popularity of online chat and forum areas, the
majority of callers continue to list their main purpose in calling a BBS
is to download shareware. Since a large percent of BBSers also subscribe
one or more of the major commercial services like CompuServe, Prodigy or
America Online, a business savvy sysop knows that he or she must price
competitively and offer unique value-added services not available
elsewhere.

Recently, businesses have discovered that a BBS is not just for
hobbyists anymore. More and more companies are finding a BBS to be a
cost effective solution for making time-sensitive information easily
available to a geographically disperse group of users. BBSes are quickly
replacing fax broadcasting as a method for disseminating data which
changes daily or even hourly.  Professional associations are using BBSes
to electronically publish newsletters and  to allow members an open
forum in which to discuss issues and exchange advice. Online
connectivity is rapidly becoming the best answer to quick and efficient
communication within an industry or profession.

The first industry to realize the business potential for a BBS was the
computer industry itself. Hardware and software manufacturers have
started to provide 24 hour customer support using BBSes. A recent
article in PC Today ("Online Customer Support", Oct. '94) concluded that
BBSes benefited both the company and the customer -- "For the
businesses, it's cheaper than fielding calls via toll-free phone lines;
for customers, it's more efficient than waiting on hold." By creating a
file of frequently asked questions (FAQ) accompanied by well written,
clear answers and making it available online, a company can
significantly reduce the number of calls to its customer service
representatives. Public forum areas can result in fewer calls, too. It's
likely that if one customer is having a problem with an aspect of the
company's products, others are too and someone has already posted an
answer in an online forum. Additionally, customers can go online to
download software upgrades, bug fixes, and to search for technical
documentation. With increasing postage rates, a software company can cut
costs by making demos and new product information available online while
making customers happy that they don't need to wait several days for the
information to arrive by mail.

The creative and profitable ways of utilizing a BBS are limited only by
an entrepreneur's imagination. Retail businesses are using BBSes to
accept online orders. Two innovative examples are: Peapod Online which
lets customers shop for groceries 24 hours a day and then schedule
convenient home delivery, and PennyWise, a Maryland based office supply
company, that accepts online orders and guarantees shipment within 24
hours. Auto dealers can now offer online showrooms around the clock.
Imagine being able to search a database of used cars, finding that low-
mileage '91 Olds you've been looking for and being able to see a picture
of it without even leaving your home. Hospitals are using BBSes as a
public service to provide health related information  to local
practitioners, pharmacists and the surrounding community. Government
agencies, like the SBA, EPA and IRS, are finding that BBSes are a
convenient way of  making information easily accessible to the public.
With phenomenal growth of the online community, a BBS combined with a
creative concept can make a powerful combination for today's
entrepreneur.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patricia Pisarski is the Vice President of ExpresSearch, Inc. which
designs, implements and operates BBSes for businesses and associations.
Pat can be reached at expresss@aol.com, pisarski@ais.net, CIS 71242,661
or by voice at (708) 304-1048. To logon to the ExpresSearch Demo BBS.
dial (708) 304-9804 by modem, using the logon name "Demo" and password
"Demo".

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Copyright 1995 - Patricia Pisarski and ExpresSearch, Inc. All rights
reserved.