Bull's user group close to collapse

THE Bull User Society is losing members and support from Bull, and might be on the brink of closing down after 34 years in operation, writes Joanne Wallen.

The group has called an extraordinary general meeting for Wednesday 23 September in London ?to discuss the options available to the society?.

Chairman Keith Ward said the society is ?trying to address the problem?, but is unsure why membership is decreasing, and what measures would help it to retain existing members and recruit new ones.

Membership has fallen to 100 corporate members, from 600 at its peak. The number of members determines the level of subsidy it receives from Bull.

Rob Hailstone, senior analyst at Bloor Research, said the demise of the group would be a loss for Bull?s users as it was an ?incredibly valuable pressure group?.

User groups need to re-invent themselves to be less generic and offer more specialist sub groups, as well as using new technology such as the web, said Hailstone.

?It may be more appropriate to have only one or two big meetings a year, although soon even these could be done on the web,? he said.

Ward said: ?Part of the problem is that mainframe hardware and software is now so reliable that users no longer have those sort of issues to discuss.?

He added that specialist groups established for areas such as system auditing and the public sector were worth preserving.

Conversely, the Hewlett-Packard Computer Users Association (HPCUA) is thriving, with over 400 corporate users in the UK and 25 new members in the last six months.

HPCUA UK has six full-time staff funded from the services it provides, including a membership secretary, and meets six times a year to set strategy. Bull?s group is run purely by volunteers.