Artifact Details

Title

Professional Services History Meeting

Catalog Number

102657948

Type

Document

Description

The Software Business History Committee organized a meeting with eight of the professional services industry pioneers to discuss their experiences in starting, growing (and later selling) computer programming services and consulting firms during the 1950s through the 1980s. Among the topics discussed were: successful (and unsuccessful) business models; systems and application programs; selling services and establishing customer relations; recruiting and retaining employees; competition and cooperation; the significance of ADAPSO; financing companies and selling companies; and key events which shaped the industry's growth and culture. Lists were constructed of many of the principal companies and some of the other industry pioneers. This will serve as the starting point for constructing a professional services industry genealogy. In addition, oral histories were taken of four of the pioneers in attendance: Werner Frank, Jay Goldberg, Barry Goldsmith and Robert Patrick, the transcripts of which are posted at this CHM oral history website. There are previous oral history interview transcripts of Lee Keet, Oscar Schachter and Larry Schoenberg posted at cbi.umn.edu and an extensive memoir written by George Trimble that was published in the Annals of Computing History.

Date

2006-02-15

Contributor

Ances, Carol Anne, Editor
Frank, Werner L., Interviewee
Goldberg, Jay, Interviewee
Goldsmith, Bernard "Barry", Interviewee
Grad, Burt, Moderator
Keet, Lee, Interviewee
Patrick, Robert L., Interviewee
Schachter, Oscar H., Interviewee
Schoenberg, Lawrence, Interviewee
Trimble, George, Interviewee

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Mountain View, Calif.

Extent

41 p.

Category

Transcription

Subject

Frank, Werner; Goldberg, Jay; Goldsmith, Bernard; Keet, Lee; Patrick, Robert; Software business history; ACT; ADAPSO; AGS; Applied Data Research (ADR); AT&T; Business models; C-E-I-R; CGA; Computer clones; Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC); Computer Task Group (CTG); Computer Usage Company (CUC); Equimatics; financing; IBM 360 (Computer system); IBM unbundling; Informatics; Leasing; Principal companies; Principal pioneers; Professional Services; Recruiting employees; Selling companies; Service Bureau Corporation (SBC); Software Design Associates (SDA); Systems Development Corporation (SDC); Turnkey Systems Inc (TSI); Schachter, Oscar; Schoenberg, Larry; Trimble, George

Collection Title

Oral history collection

Credit

Software Industry Special Interest Group

Lot Number

X3805.2007