Frequently Asked Questions

Specialty Computer Services, Incorporated was founded by Jim Lewis, on June 26, 1979, in Marshalltown, Iowa, USA

There was a second corporation, Affiliated Service Bureaus, Inc., also founded by Jim Lewis on May 29, 1980. Corporate Secretary of both was Gary Mohr.

 The actual numbers have been lost over the years; however, reviewing the financials that are available show: FY 1983 because we did Golf Handicapping via mail-in scoring, we did business in 20+ states. We also had system/consulting clients in Canada as well as several states. FY 1983 revenues were ~$750k from ~125 customers, with FY 1984 expected to do ~$1m before going out of business. That figure was never realized.  

By 1983 microcomputers, i.e., PCs, became a productive alternative to the Minicomputer Systems we were contracted to integrate as VARs. Our system's sales dropped to almost nothing as the industry quickly evolved. In February 1984 Jim met with attorneys and chose to file volunteer bankruptcy (details are too lengthy to explain here) as an alternative to laying off people and lowering support targets. 

15 plus employees identified and contacted the customers they were supporting, offering to transfer them to other support organizations or write individual contract arrangements. Over the next 2 years the company was transitioned to other suppliers or in-house operations. 

The Lewis family (Nancy, Jim, and the college funds of their 3 children) lost all the money they had lent the company to startup and expand operations.