A Brief History of SoniClear

20 Years of SoniClear

In a recent interview, Lynn, our Marketing Director, explored SoniClear's journey with Founder Alan Bartholomew. Over two decades, the company has adapted to technological advances in digital recording, continually reshaping how meetings and hearings are documented. Looking ahead to 2025 and the continuing AI revolution, SoniClear remains committed to innovation driven by customer needs and feedback.

What inspired you to start this company?

AB: Originally, SoniClear was designed a system for what we now call podcasting. We won Best in Show at Internet World 2000, ahead of hundreds of large companies at that show. Unfortunately, we were about five years ahead of our time for that idea. When describing SoniClear to my local city council member, she suggested SoniClear would be great for their council meetings.

The resulting product, Gov Recorder, has been used now for over 20 years for recording government meetings, and simplifying the process of creating minutes. From there we had requests to update SoniClear for court reporting, recording administrative hearings, and to help with the court reporter shortage in courts around the country.

What has been the key to the success of SoniClear?

AB: Our innovation is a direct result of listening to our customers' needs. We focus our feature development based on customer feedback. And we make sure that every customer has the software, hardware, training and support they need to optimize their experience with SoniClear.

How has SoniClear adapted to major industry changes?

AB: Two decades ago, we were replacing cassette recorders! Things have dramatically changed since then. We have been continually adding features into our software that take advantage of the latest technologies.

For example, transcription was a request that our customers had voiced for years—as many of our customers are required to create documentation like meeting minutes and verbatim transcripts from their recordings. AI has allowed us to offer Transcriber 10 with speed and accuracy that we could not have imagined when we started this business. Today, we keep identifying areas where AI can enhance our features. It's an exciting time in software development.

How are you preparing the company for future growth and innovation?

AB: We are starting to work with more international clients as governments and courts worldwide start to modernize. We just released our first foreign language version of our software—Spanish SoniClear—designed specifically for Mexican clients who are expressing a lot of interest in our products. We are excited about these new partnerships and are thrilled to take part on a global scale.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your entrepreneurial journey?

AB: Customer success is our primary metric for achievement. We're passionate about understanding how our products empower professionals and are deeply gratified when our customers receive recognition for their use of SoniClear in their workplaces. Our goal is to boost our customers' productivity while simultaneously alleviating their stress.

Learn more about our latest product Transcriber 10 in our product overview video.  Contact SoniClear Sales today for more information or call 626.584.9706