“Since joining the Laserfiche team in 1997, BMB has focused on bringing Laserfiche solutions to forward-thinking MENA organizations,” said Sean Tang, Vice President of International Business at Laserfiche International. “After growing Laserfiche sales in the region by 35% in 2010 and becoming a Million Dollar Distributor for the first time, BMB has taken its business to new heights this year, exceeding 2010 sales revenues in the first six months of 2011.”

As exclusive Laserfiche distributor, BMB manages Laserfiche’s reseller channel in the MENA region. With a direct presence in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya and Lebanon, BMB oversees all implementations of Laserfiche enterprise content management (ECM) solutions in the area.

According to Muath Khatatbeh, CEO of Laserfiche reseller Itqan Technologies, “We have a great relationship with Laserfiche and the BMB team. BMB provides presales and implementation support and strategic guidance in closing large deals.”

In May, BMB hosted and helped organize the 4^th Annual Laserfiche International Conference, which featured 40+ class sessions for more than 150 attendees across the MENA region. At GITEX this year, Laserfiche and BMB will debut Laserfiche Mobile™, a new iPhone app that allows organizations to extend DoD 5015.2-certified records management all the way to mobile devices.

Nizar Ghannam, COO of BMB, said, “With its comprehensive ECM capabilities, support for the Arabic language and the new iPhone app, Laserfiche is the top ECM choice for Middle Eastern companies of all sizes. We look forward to further developing the Laserfiche channel in the MENA region so that even more organizations can benefit from this elegant ECM technology.”

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche® has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—use Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

The Laserfiche ECM system is designed to give IT managers central control over their information infrastructure while still offering business units the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. The Laserfiche product suite is built on top of Microsoft® technologies to simplify system administration, supports the Microsoft SQL platform and features a seamless integration with Microsoft Office® applications and a two-way integration with SharePoint®.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche®, Run Smarter® and Compulink® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

BMB and Laserfiche present Solidere with the 2011 Laserfiche Visionary Award. L-R: BMB's Nizar Ghannam, Zahi Naamani, Afif Soubra and Laserfiche's Sean Tang.

“Despite tough economic times, travel restrictions and security issues, we saw remarkable international VAR and end-user participation,” says Maya Abou Jawdeh, ECM Channel Development Manager at conference co-host, BMB sal. Jawdeh credits the dedication of the BMB and Laserfiche team for creating an organized, lively event. “Everyone was eager to participate and expressed enthusiasm for attending future Laserfiche/BMB events—it was a very collaborative atmosphere.”

Attendees were able to choose from more than 40 different class sessions over three days, including interactive lab sessions, roundtables and customer success stories. Taught by BMB and Laserfiche staff, and featuring Laserfiche users and resellers as guest presenters, the conference sessions offered something for everyone interested in bolstering their content management knowledge.

Conference attendees networking before classes.

Day one kicked off with a keynote from Ms. Phyllis Chen, Managing Director of Laserfiche International, followed by the welcoming speech from Mr. Nizar Ghannam, BMB’s Chief Operating Officer. Classes geared toward end users and businesses as well as intermediate and advanced technical training were offered, in addition to customer success story presentations that described real-world implementations of Laserfiche ECM.

Afif Soubra from Beirut-based real estate company Solidere discussed their use of a Laserfiche Rio system to manage reconstruction and development projects in Beirut’s City Center in the presentation, “Rio is the Way to Go for Solidere.” “Solidere is very satisfied with its choice to adopt Laserfiche ECM. Users are interested in the friendly interface and administrators appreciate the way the system is managed. After implementing Laserfiche in two major divisions within our company, we look forward to expanding to the remaining divisions in the coming months.”

Ghannam (L) and Tang (R) present a Partner Excellence Award to Muath Khatatbeh from Itqan Technologies.

Muath Khatatbeh and Mustafa Siddiqui from Laserfiche reseller Itqan Technologies presented on behalf of client Aspire Zone Foundation on how Laserfiche Rio is allowing them to move to a totally paperless environment, while Khurram Jamal from reseller Pixel Digital spoke about how the Dubai Police utilize Laserfiche to archive forensic photographs and other evidence to help catch criminals in the session “Laserfiche Helps in Archiving Forensic Evidence.”

Solidere was also one of six customers honored with Visionary Awards for their dedication to excellence, leadership and innovation in implementing Laserfiche solutions. Other organizations included Service Informatique de l’Armee (Algeria), Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudi Arabia), Ministry of Petroleum (Saudi Arabia), Al Watany Bank of Egypt (Egypt) and BankMed (Lebanon).

For Mr. Abed-el-Kader Amine of BankMed, this was his third year attending the Laserfiche International Conference. “Each year we find something new and helpful at the conference,” Amine says. “Now, we’re utilizing open database connectivity (ODBC) and Laserfiche database schema to successfully create and run our own custom reports.”

Itqan Holding from Qatar and Integrated Solutions for Business (ISB) from Saudi Arabia were also honored with Partner Excellence Awards in recognition of their outstanding service and technical innovation for their customer communities.

A special exhibitor area highlighted event sponsors, including:

• Diamond sponsor ForeFront Technologies (Fujitsu and Kodak) from the UAE.
• Gold sponsor Nashua Limited from South Africa.
• Platinum sponsor Image Systems-Canon from Lebanon.
  

  Attendees gather for lunch on the first day of the International Conference.

For the 4th consecutive year, BMB and Laserfiche have made a strong commitment to educating the MENA market and transferring knowledge to the region’s large customer base and resellers. “It’s our priority to respond efficiently to market competitiveness,” says Nizar Ghannam, COO of BMB. “We strive to optimize our efforts as we see specific needs emerge in the MENA region, and both users and partners are clearly pleased with Laserfiche products as indicated by the strong attendance of this year’s conference. It’s this dedication that ensures a successful conference—people are proud to be part of the Laserfiche community year after year.”

“Each year, more leading companies worldwide are looking at ECM as a foundational component of their information governance framework,” said Phyllis Chen, Managing Director at Laserfiche International. “This educational conference will highlight how Laserfiche increases operational efficiency while providing centralized administration, department-level flexibility and comprehensive security.”

During the conference, participants will be able to choose from four tracks of more than 40 classes that are personalized to the needs of users, administrators, developers and resellers. Organizations will learn ECM best practices and industry-tailored ways to maximize the value of Laserfiche in their organizations with hands-on labs and product overviews.

Laserfiche will also honor six customers that have demonstrated dedication to excellence, leadership and innovation in implementing Laserfiche solutions: Service Informatique de l’Armee (Algeria), Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudi Arabia), Ministry of Petroleum (Saudi Arabia), Al Watany Bank of Egypt (Egypt), Solidere (Lebanon) and BankMed (Lebanon).

Itqan Holding from Qatar and Integrated Solutions for Business (ISB) from Saudi Arabia will be honored with Partner Excellence Awards in recognition of their outstanding service and technical innovation for their customer communities.

“Laserfiche is fortunate to have a strong network of outstanding international resellers,” said Sean Tang, Vice President of International Business at Laserfiche International. “The winners of this year’s Visionary Awards could not have achieved such extraordinary levels of success without the skills, knowledge and experience of their resellers.”

The 2011 Conference is co-hosted by BMB sal, exclusive distributor for the MENA region. Laserfiche resellers participating in the conference include ISB (KSA), Total Technical Triangle (Saudi Arabia), OFFTEC (Palestine), Kuwait United Company (Kuwait), Itqan Holding (Qatar), Handynet (Algeria), Pixel Digital Systems (UAE), Tafeel IT Co. (Saudi Arabia), Guard Solutions (Sudan), Mohsin Haider Darwish LLC (Oman), Solutions Middle East (UAE) and First Leader Trading LLC (UAE).

About Laserfiche
Since 1987, Laserfiche® has used its Run Smarter® philosophy to create simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions. More than 30,000 organizations worldwide use Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche® and Run Smarter® are registered trademarks of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

Registration is open now. For more information on registration, hotel reservations, transportation or Visa arrangement, please e-mail LICT@bmbgroup.com or call +961 1 294504 ext. 1172 or ext. 1176.

This year, the 4th Annual Laserfiche International Conference returns to the Habtoor Grand Hotel Convention Center and Spa May 4-6, 2011. With three jam-packed days of more than 40 classes in four tracks, you won’t want to miss out!

For more information on registration, hotel reservations, transportation or Visa arrangement, please e-mail LICT@bmbgroup.com or call +961 1 294504 ext. 1172 or ext. 1176.

The Laserfiche International Conference returned for the second year in a row to Beirut, Lebanon, co-hosted by Laserfiche and Middle East and North Africa Laserfiche distributor BMB sal. It offered four tracks personalized to the needs of users, administrators, developers and resellers with hands-on labs and product overviews covering every aspect of Rio enterprise content management and Avante business process management. “Last year, we had just two tracks, so doubling the tracks this year made a huge difference. All the attendees were impressed,” says BMB Sales Manager Roula Chehab. “There was a chance to learn more as they got divided into smaller groups. Attendees also liked how diverse the demonstrations and topics covered in the labs and lectures were.”

Attendees at the International Conference checking in

Mohamed Al-Baff, IT Manager of Millennium Group Services, agrees. “The conference made me exchange ideas and see the best tools on a range of perspectives about Laserfiche that affect my daily work,” he explains. “It also gave me the opportunity to engage in lab sessions where I could work directly on virtual servers to test all features and see results immediately, something that I wouldn’t do on my own server.

“We’ve been working with BMB on upgrading to Avante and had seen many demos that recreated our main business processes, so it was certainly interesting to attend sessions about Workflow since we’ll be using it soon,” Al-Baff adds.

Chehab notes that attendees’ enthusiasm was matched only by their eagerness to expand their use of Laserfiche. “A lot of companies have Process Reengineering Units or Quality Departments whose main focus is to design and establish all the business processes enterprise-wide, and they’re looking to Workflow to do it,” she says. “The Workflow labs were all packed, because people really wanted to use and test Workflow themselves. Although I have to say what people liked the most about it was the simplicity of the Workflow Designer.”

Laserfiche staff that travelled to Beirut was likewise impressed and encouraged by the enthusiasm of attendees. “Everyone understood that Laserfiche is easy to administer and easy to install, so it confirmed that everything we say about Laserfiche makes sense to everyone,” says Laserfiche Presales Engineer Justin Jones.

A packed class at the International Conference

Another message that struck home was Agile ECM engineered with Laserfiche and Microsoft technology, says Chehab. “People are really beginning to understand the value of a single system that can accommodate deployments over multiple locations, work with an existing portal strategy like Microsoft SharePoint, allow for unlimited servers with named users, and offer Workflow and Web Access and advanced auditing. The conference gives people a chance to really experience first-hand what that functionality would look and feel like within their organizations – not just now but in the future.”

One such attendee was Abed-el-Kader Amine, Information Technology System and Application Administrator for BankMed sal. “The conference brought an added value to my knowledge of Laserfiche, especially lab sessions covering the Workflow and the integration with SharePoint,” he says.

At the conference, the following users were recognized with Visionary Awards for their demonstrated dedication to excellence, leadership and innovation in implementing Laserfiche solutions:

• Mobile Interim Company 2 (now known as MTC Lebanon).
• BankMed, Lebanon.
• National Transportation Authority, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• Ministry of Defense and Aviation Medical Services Department, Saudi Arabia.
• Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Laserfiche's Sean Tang with Visionary Award winners

“The winners of this year’s Laserfiche Visionary Awards could not have achieved such a high level of success without the knowledge and experience their resellers brought to the table,” says Laserfiche International Business Director Sean Tang. “We’re very impressed with all that they’ve achieved.”

After the success of this year’s conference, the stage is set for the Fourth Annual Laserfiche International Conference. “We’re already looking forward to next year’s conference,” Tang says. “We’re planning on another vibrant gathering of our international community from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Region.”

“Leading companies around the globe are turning to ECM to improve their information management architecture,” said Laserfiche Senior Vice President Chris Wacker. “This educational conference will highlight how Laserfiche increases operational efficiency by providing centralized administration, standards and control while still offering department-level flexibility.”

At the conference, Laserfiche will debut the Arabic version of Quick Fields 8, a document imaging and capture front-end for the Laserfiche ECM product suite that captures and indexes unstructured content from paper forms, faxes, databases and software applications.

Laserfiche will also honor five customers that have demonstrated dedication to excellence, leadership and innovation in implementing Laserfiche solutions: Mobile Interim Company 2 (now known as MTC Lebanon); BankMed, Lebanon; National Transportation Authority, UAE; Ministry of Defense and Aviation Medical Services Department, Saudi Arabia; and Saudi Arabian Airlines.

“Laserfiche has a network of outstanding international resellers, including BMB Group from Lebanon; Integrated Solutions for Business (ISB) from Saudi Arabia; and Mazroui & Partners (MAP) from the United Arab Emirates,” said Sean Tang, International Business Director at Laserfiche. “The winners of this year’s Laserfiche Visionary Awards could not have achieved such a high level of success without the knowledge and experience their resellers brought to the table.”

Laserfiche resellers participating in the 2009 conference include BMB Group (Lebanon), ISB (KSA), MAP (UAE), Al Zayani (Bahrain), ARCOM (KSA), Computer Information Technologies (Libya), Expert Business Solutions (Kuwait), First Leader Trading (UAE), Global Technology Services (UAE), Guard Solutions (Sudan), Handynet (Algeria), Itqan Technologies (Qatar), OFFTEC IT Solutions (Jordan), Pixel Digital Systems (UAE), Solutions Middle East (UAE) and Efor Technology (Turkey).

About Laserfiche

Laserfiche® creates simple and elegant enterprise content management (ECM) solutions that help organizations run smarter. Since 1987, more than 27,000 organizations worldwide—including federal, state, and local government agencies and Fortune 1000 companies—have used Laserfiche software to streamline document, records and business process management.

Laserfiche distributes its software through a worldwide network of value-added resellers (VARs), who tailor solutions to clients’ individual needs. The Laserfiche VAR program has received the Five-Star Rating from Computer Reseller News/VARBusiness magazine.

Laserfiche is a registered trademark of Compulink Management Center, Inc.

For more information, please contact:
Maya Abou Jawdeh, BMB, Tel: +961-1-294504 /ext:176,
Email: maya.aboujawdeh@bmbgroup.com