Buzzsaw, a venture originally backed by Autodesk capital and now wholly owned by the company, has weathered the Internet Bubble. So it was fun last week to meet in San Francisco with Chad Baldwin, the Product Manager for Buzzsaw, which has a staff of 125 people (and still provides free sodas). Buzzsaw claims 120,000 users, 2 million downloads per month, and management of 3 million files.

So adoption is definitely occurring, frequently by larger customers with national portfolios, like Disney, Toys R Us, and Wyndham Hotels. These firms often need to coordinate dozens of geographically dispersed contractors, architects, and other professionals. And these companies are big enough to force service providers to use a common system.

But challenges remain. Not just for online project management services like Buzzsaw, but for any other "digitization"
of the real estate process. No matter how intuitive the interface, it's still a different process. While it's true that electronic data makes you much more efficient, getting the data online isn't without pain. Hey, that's why I frequently add humor to the Dispatch.

--Peter Pike