SOWISO becomes our brand name worldwide: What you need to know

We have news to share with you! Our brand name will now be SOWISO, replacing Bolster Academy worldwide.

We want to take this opportunity to explain the reasoning behind this decision and what it means for you.

A brief history of our name

To give some background, SOWISO is an abbreviation for “Software voor Wiskunde Onderwijs”, which translates to “Software for Math Education” in Dutch.

Our online learning and testing environment started as a spin-off of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Eindhoven University of Technology. Initially, we operated in the Netherlands. Over time, we expanded internationally, partnering with higher-ed institutions and publishers abroad. This enabled us to reach hundreds of thousands of learners in markets like Australia and Scandinavia.

During this internationalization process, we thought we needed a more international name for the non-Dutch-speaking countries. That’s why we transitioned to Bolster Academy while keeping SOWISO in the Netherlands and Belgium.

So, why did we decide to make this move?

The decision to consolidate under the SOWISO brand came from a need to simplify our efforts. Having two names for the same product meant we often had to duplicate our work, and it could also be confusing for our partners.

As our international colleagues and partners have proved, SOWISO is easy to pronounce for everybody. Although minor variations exist in how people say our name, it is always clearly recognizable. Likewise, it is a memorable word that resonates with our Dutch identity.

Moving forward with a single name will streamline our operations and allow us to support our partners and students better. Following the philosophy of our platform, we learn from our mistakes, implement the feedback we get, and keep improving.

What does this name switch mean for you?

If you are a teacher, a student, or any of our partners, you might wonder: Does this change have any implications for me? Don’t worry! This new name won’t affect you at all.

The only slight differences you will notice are that:

1. SOWISO’s logo and name will substitute the previous Bolster Academy ones.
2. You will be redirected to SOWISO’s website if you try to visit Bolster Academy.
3. Our domain cloud.sowiso.nl will be replaced by cloud.sowiso.com.

If your school is using our platform integrated into an LMS, you will need to update some settings. If this is your case, we will contact you, and we can do this together.

We will offer the same products and services (and strive to enhance your journey constantly, as usual).

We’re sure this change will make a positive impact, and we can’t wait to keep providing innovative and effective STEM education solutions under the SOWISO name.

Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact us.