The story
Having purchased the rights to a prototype Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application already being piloted by Sainsbury's and BAA, CEO Colin Smith and his fellow founder directors established the company in London in early 2000 as interest in construction-oriented dot.com businesses began to peak in the UK. Working with such 'blue chip' clients helped BIW market the platform to both existing project supply chains and to new customers, and the business grew rapidly.
By 2003, according to independent research by Compagnia, BIW could claim 26.4% of the UK market, and it was achieving annual revenues of £2.7m, comfortably ahead of its then nearest UK rival, BuildOnline. For a period 2001–2004, BIW also provided its software to Asite which traded as a reseller of BIW's platform until it launched its own collaboration system and became a direct competitor.
In 2003, BIW was a founder member of the Network of Construction Collaboration Technology Providers (NCCTP), then managed by CIRIA and later part of Constructing Excellence. From 2000–2005, Sir Michael Latham, author of the influential Latham Report, served as non-executive Deputy Chairman of BIW.
In January 2005, the company relocated its head office from London to Woking in Surrey. It has maintained a UK software development centre in Nottingham since 2000, and established an offshore software development centre in Vadodara, Gujarat, India in October 2007.
It opened a Middle East office in Dubai in 2006. In 2008, it formed a partnership with Sage to deliver its collaboration solutions to clients in North America.
In April 2006, BIW Technologies won the 'Entrepreneur of the Year' category in the industry's annual Building Awards, being described as a "firm that seems intent on wiping paper use out of the industry altogether".
BIW's customers included Robertson, Sainsbury's, BAA, Argent Group plc, Mace, Bovis Lend Lease, Land Securities, Defence Estates, Interserve and Marks & Spencer. By 2010, it claimed its software was used by over 190,000 registered users in over 14,000 organisations.
From Wikipedia’s article on BIW Technologies, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3