Surf the digital wave

Sitting in Sapient's gleaming Boston conference room, in the glow of a large, flat-screen monitor, Mirick is clicking first through a series of websites, then online games, social networking services, and renderings of an interactive vending machine.

"And there's also this," he said, sliding an iPhone across the table. On the screen is a Coke bottle; a flick of the finger creates an electronic game of spin the bottle. This simple iPhone application, Mirick reports, was downloaded 10,000 times the weekend after it launched.

"It's something else we added to the campaign," Mirick said. "That's our strength, putting all this technology together."

Sapient has been putting technologies together since it was founded in 1990, deftly adapting to emerging trends in technology, marketing, and Internet adoption. "There's been a lot of evolution to our business model," said Sapient president and chief executive officer Alan J. Herrick.

Sapient was well positioned in 2008 to take advantage of a changing business climate. The result is a number three showing in this year's Globe 100. Last year, the Boston company had revenue of $687.5 million, a 21.5 percent uptick, and $62 million in net income, a 311 percent rise over 2007. The company's return on average equity was 22 percent.

What made the difference? Two trends, actually, which align with Sapient's two primary divisions.

The first is what Herrick refers to as the "traditional-to-digital shift in advertising." Sapient's initial rise, during the early days of the Internet, was based on its reputation as a provider of e-commerce platforms for financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of Boston. But in 2006, it purchased Planning Group International, a flashy advertising and marketing firm based in Miami. The acquisition gave Sapient new capabilities in marketing, advertising, and interactive design, just in time to take advantage of an accelerating shift by major corporations to digital campaigns. Sapient's interactive division, which now boasts clients like Coca-Cola, Liberty Mutual, and City Sports, represents a major portion of business, roughly 50 percent and growing.

The second positive trend that Sapient is riding has to do with an increasing demand for information technology strategy, design, and implementation. Sapient Consulting has been quietly growing that part of its business since 2000, when the initial dot-com boom ended. In 2008, Sapient bolstered that side of the house by purchasing London-based Derivatives Consulting Group, a provider of derivatives consulting and outsourcing services to investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers, and commercial banking clients. Sapient's trading and risk management practice now constitutes roughly 25 percent of its business.

Not surprisingly, Sapient's broad array of capabilities are delivered from a far-flung global network of offices in 25 cities. The largest block of employees, 3,500 workers, is in India; North America is next with 2,000 workers; and 870 employees are based in Europe. The total Sapient headcount hovers just under 6,400. That's down 500 from a recent peak, because just this past February Sapient cut approximately 8 percent of its employees, citing the need to "rebalance its workforce" due to the global economic downturn.

Which leaves Sapient, in 2009, still a broadly diversified company, sprawling across numerous businesses and continents.

D.C. Denison can be reached at denison@globe.com.