BUSINESS OVERVIEW

A leading provider of innovative software solutions and services to the construction industry

THE BAIN CAPITAL ADVANTAGE AT WORK

Software collaboration tools have changed the way businesses operate fundamentally. In labor-intensive industries that made limited use of technology historically, like construction, software creates tremendous efficiency gains for all stakeholders.

Viewpoint, a leading provider of tech to the construction end-market, recognized that shifting their software from narrowly-focused, on-premises delivery to an expansive, cloud-delivered model would generate significant incremental benefits for their customers, in the form of expanded functionality, faster product releases, and lower infrastructure costs.

Bain Capital partnered with Viewpoint on their ambitious product initiatives to execute a four-year run of transformational growth.

That construction companies have been late to the technology party was already an attractive feature of the software opportunity in the sector. We were also attracted to the challenge of adding more functionality to Viewpoint, making it even stickier with customers. Bain Capital collaborated with Viewpoint on an intensive product strategy planning process and ultimately focused on adding functionality that transformed the business and the customer experience.

The thesis we developed with management was that Viewpoint, already a leader in providing accounting functionality to construction projects, also should be providing digital tools to engineers, sub-contractors, architects and others in the field. Given our history building payments companies, we also saw a huge opportunity in payment facilitation.

We supported the plan for expanded functionality and cloud accessibility in partnership with the founder. Critically, we also helped the company reconfigure its pricing and packaging to become a subscription model, which aligned with how Viewpoint’s products delivered value to customers.

The combination of increased stickiness of product and a new subscription revenue model led to a very successful outcome for our own investors and to Viewpoint becoming a star driver of growth as a division of its new owner, Trimble.

In a market where construction companies were piecing together different point solutions from different software vendors, our focus on understanding customer needs holistically was a driving factor in this success story.