As a university professor and an engineer, the
husband and wife team of Amin Ismail, Ph.D. and
Rhonda Copley had a lot going for them when they
founded Praxis Software, Inc. (PraxSoft) as a small
engineering consulting firm. However, expertise in
business was not among their strong points. It was
during a 2005 meeting with a U.S. SBA Business
Opportunity Specialist that Copley explained her
firm’s desire for business advice, particularly with
market expansion and navigating the intricacies of
selling to the government. “We needed to ensure that
strategic decisions for our business and resource
allocation were appropriate and wanted expert advice
from experienced business professionals who had
worked with successful entrepreneurial firms,” said
Copley. The U.S. SBA recommended the SBDC at UCF’s
Advisory Board Council as a way to access the needed
expertise. PraxSoft was accepted into the program
and a board of advisors was hand-picked comprised of
experts in the fields of finance, government
contracting, law, marketing, and strategic planning.
The board kicked off their first meeting in early
2006. “We have a strong technical background,” says
Ismail, “but having an advisory board has helped us
from a business and financial point of view.”
“The board members have given so unselfishly of
their time and have been able to share so much of
their experience with us, that it’s been
invaluable,” reports Copley. In fact, during their
two terms in the program, PraxSoft’s volunteer
advisors donated more than 300 in-kind hours of
service to the firm, representing a market value of
$36,623 pro-bono consulting services. Copley worked
with her board’s CFO to develop models for product
pricing, cost of goods sold and margin analysis.
Another board member assisted PraxSoft with
government contracting and how to take full
advantage of their 8(a) certification. “We didn’t
know how to operate in the Federal/Military
environment and he helped guide us,” comments
Copley.
When Copley and Ismail moved the business from Ohio
to Central Florida in 2004, they began development
on a group of products to collect real-time data
from remote wireless sensor devices and deliver it
via multiple communication methods. Their unique
combination of RFID and wireless sensor node
technology is utilized in the firm’s three main
products: WeatherActive™, SensorActive™ and
AssetActive™. Today, PraxSoft has more than 1,000
customers in commercial and government markets as a
developer of cutting-edge products that integrate
hardware and software in order to improve asset
management in wastewater/storm water, public safety
and other government operations. Recently, the firm
won a contract through the Florida Department of
Forestry to use their RFID and wireless sensor node
technology to track Wildfire Suppression Resources.
All of the expert assistance PraxSoft received from
the SBDC at UCF has paid off for the company. Since
becoming a client of the Advisory Board Council,
PraxSoft has achieved a 540% increase in revenues,
doubled their number of employees and quadrupled
their office space. |
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Rhonda Copley and Jill Kaufman
"Each member of the advisory board has their own
strengths and areas of expertise which we have
learned from. As individuals they have mentored
young business owners. As a group they have
helped contribute to the success of Praxsoft."
“We have a strong technical background,but
having an advisory board has helped us from a
business and financial point of view.”
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