Posted on Monday, April 14, 2008

By BRIAN NEILL
bneill@bradenton.com

BRADENTON -- Companies can get overwhelmed by their processes.

For instance, a business might have three different steps to key in a sales order when one would suffice.

Michael Bovaird said he believes such overlapping of tasks not only wastes time, it wastes money. His business, SophLogic, helps streamline a company's operations and lets its owners know at any given moment how every facet of the operation is performing.

"It allows companies to see everything within their organization," Bovaird says. "We call it 'one truth.' "

The products SophLogic sells and implements are created by SAP, a world leader in enterprise resource planning software. The software allows companies to seamlessly monitor everything from sales and distribution orders, to finance and equipment maintenance, all through a single portal.

For example, a manufacturing company that uses three different software systems to track inventory, schedule machine maintenance and keep the books, can use SophLogic's software for all three tasks.

Locally, SophLogic's clients include Bealls department stores and Tropicana, but the company also services out-of-state clients like international pharmaceutical firm Abbott Labor- atories.

Bovaird started ERP Solutions in Canada in 1998. He had worked for an information technology company called Omnilogic. When the company was bought by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bovaird decided to strike out on his own.

Bovaird started the business out of his home and quickly grew it into a $3.5 million-a-year company with six employees.

But leaky lunch bags in the fridge from Bovaird's employees didn't go over with his wife and she shooed him into a modest office space in Calgary, where the company continued to grow.

Tired of high taxes and cold weather, Bovaird moved the company's headquarters to Florida in 2004. Bovaird continued to add employees here through attrition at the Canada offices. He renamed the company SophLogic in 2007.

"As I'd lose a person in Canada, I'd add a person in the U.S.," Bovaird says.

At the time, 70 percent to 80 percent of SophLogic's business was in Canada, with the remainder in the United States. Now the opposite is true, Bovaird says.

The SAP product line is one widely known in industry, Bovaird said. In addition to selling the software, SophLogic provides consulting and tech support services.

A typical business with revenues of $3 million to $4 million would likely pay $20,000 to $30,000 for an SAP system sold through SophLogic, Bovaird said.

However, most companies see a return on investment on the software in less than 18 months because their businesses begin to operate more efficiently with less waste, Bovaird said.

SophLogic has 14 employees and is getting ready to expand from its offices in Peridia Office Park to larger facilities in Braden Woods Office Park in east Manatee County.

The company has current annual earnings of $8.6 million, with a goal of $25 million within five years, Bovaird says.

Joe Iannello, chief information officer and vice president with Bealls department stores, says SophLogic does an excellent job of serving his company's information technology needs.

"We like SophLogic because they approach their services in a professional way," Iannello said. "We've had some good success with them. Michael, who is the president, certainly represents the company very well."

Location: 5227 Office Park Blvd., Bradenton

Founded: 1998

Employees: 14

Contact: 727-7741