History
Sopheon began in 1993 as Netherlands-based PolyDoc. Building on unique competencies in linguistics and language management, the company created software applications that allowed organizations to capture, organize and access knowledge through structured authoring tools, terminology management and thesauri. Use of this technology was focused on specific processes such as hospital protocol management and the sharing of quality standards.
In November of 1999, PolyDoc added to its knowledge harvesting and content dissemination competencies by acquiring AppliedNet, a leading UK supplier of knowledge management solutions and products with particular skills in search and portal technologies. Besides extending the intellectual property of the group, this acquisition added strength in implementation services and significantly expanded PolyDoc's market presence in the UK. Coincidental with its acquisition of AppliedNet, PolyDoc changed its name to Sopheon.
With innovative, commercially promising software tools in place, Sopheon next looked for an opportunity to integrate content into its solutions and to gain a foothold in the US market. In September of 2000, Sopheon completed the acquisition of Teltech Resource Network Corporation, a leading US knowledge management and research services organization. With a 16-year history, Teltech immediately gave Sopheon a diversified, blue-chip US client base. As a part of the strategy for globalizing its research services offering, in July of 2001 Sopheon acquired the Technology and Information Services division ("AIT") of Aventis Research & Technologies, Frankfurt, Germany.
In November of 2001, Sopheon acquired UK-based Orbital Software, whose expertise expanded the capacity of Sopheon’s solutions to provide access to unstructured information within the product innovation process. In June of 2003, Sopheon sold its US-based Information Management division to Find/SVP Inc. The transaction enabled the company to follow through on a strategic decision to concentrate more strictly on its rapidly growing software business. This focus centered on Sopheon’s flagship offering, the Accolade® * product life cycle management (PLM) system.
Following its market introduction in 2001, Accolade had quickly evolved to a position of leadership in the product portfolio management submarket of PLM. In 2005, Sopheon noted the start of an important trend. Major suppliers who had entered the market with mature applications such as product data management and design software were beginning to shift their attention toward promising, emerging submarkets, including product portfolio management. The arrival of additional providers has increased demand for the specialized innovation process automation and governance capabilities offered by Accolade. This is resulting in more sales opportunities for Sopheon and an accelerated transition in the overall maturity of our market from the early adopter stage to increasingly broad end-user acceptance.