With software publishing, the journey from launch to maturity is often marked by constant evolution, driven by the needs of the user community. Our journey at Beyond CAD Inc. has been no exception. We launched Beyond Typicals, in 2022, and the response from our early adopters was overwhelmingly positive. However, as we began to grow, so did the needs of our users.
Early Beyond Typicals users were largely engineering firms, public agencies, and construction companies. As they began to fully explore the capabilities of our software, requests started coming in for expanding usage throughout their organizations. Our initial response was a simple one: “Just purchase more single user licenses through our website”. It quickly became apparent, however, that these users were hinting at a need for a more comprehensive solution.
We soon realized that our users were looking for features that would go beyond individual licensing. They wanted enterprise plans, seat managers, and bulk discounts. They were also looking for more flexible payment options, including invoices with different payment methods like credit card, ACH, wire, or physical check. The available purchasing method of entering a credit card on our website didn’t line up with most purchasing and procurement processes in the AEC industry.
We took this feedback to heart and began researching, planning, and developing new features and licensing options to meet these needs. In early 2023 we released a new seat manager and bulk purchase options, including discounts for purchasing 10 or more licenses. We pitched this new offering to our existing customers with high hopes of expanding to more users within these organizations.
However, we quickly learned that while they appreciated our efforts, this solution was not quite what they were looking for. Even though they loved Beyond Typicals for its power of communicating transportation projects, they were concerned about the potential for waste if they bought multiple licenses for users who might not use them. Beyond Typicals, while powerful, isn’t a daily necessity for all users.
This feedback was invaluable. It sent us back to the drawing board, this time with a clearer understanding of what our users truly needed. After extensive brainstorming and development, we came up with a new approach: a virtual floating license and more flexibility for enterprise customers.
This license, though priced higher, could be used by an unlimited number of users, as long as no more than one user was using it at a time. To cater to the needs of power users within organizations, we included 1 virtual floating license and 1 standard, dedicated license as part of this enterprise package. Additionally, we provided options to purchase more concurrent users or standard licenses as part of the enterprise purchase.
It took several more weeks of development and testing to create the licensing technology and integrate it with Beyond Typicals. We needed a more dynamic system that would not only allow users to log in and out of the same license, but also offer much requested analytics for our customers, so they could know who was using the floating license, and when.
When we presented this new plan to our users, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It turned out that this was exactly what they had been looking for, and we’ve been working to get more and more existing and new customers using these virtual floating licenses as part of the enterprise offerings.
If you are interested in exploring this flexible, cost-effective licensing option for your organization, we invite you to reach out to us. We would be more than happy to provide a demo and walk you through how Beyond Typicals can help streamline your operations and how enterprise plans can expand this software throughout your organization.
AI tools assisted in the writing and illustrations of this article