Partnerships Take Technology into new Geographies

This week both NovoDynamics and KnowledgeLake announced interesting partnerships that will help them expand into new geographical markets. In conjunction with the recent GITEX show, held in Dubai, Novo, a recognition technology specialist, announced that ForeFront Technologies, a VAD that focuses on the Middle East and Africa, will be carrying its OCR software. KnowledgeLake, which develops software for document image-enabling Microsoft SharePoint, announced that PFU will be introducing its technology into PFU's ECM practice in Japan.

Novo, which first came onto our radar screen because of its Arabic OCR technology (it currently supports Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and English languages as well), exhibited at GITEX. "This show covers all areas of IT and expects over 140,000 visitors before the week is over," reported Art Nichols, Novo's VP of Global Sales, who attended the event. "Forefront is a large Fujitsu and Kodak distributor that also sells Kofax and now NovoDynamics NovoVerus."

Georges Mehchi, CFO and Managing Partner for ForeFront sounded pretty excited about the partnership. As quoted in a press release,  “The intelligence that NovoDynamics has built into NovoVerus’ software truly raises the bar for language detection, recognition and data extraction, taking Arabic and multilingual OCR to an unparalleled level! Introducing this technology into Middle Eastern and African markets will be life changing, not only for Arab nations, but globally.”

 The KnowledgeLake-PFU partnership was a natural, seeing how the ISV is now a wholly owned subsidiary of PFU. Said Ron Cameron, president of KnowledgeLake in a press release, "“This natural progression of our partnership with PFU will extend their already successful ECM practice to include SharePoint ECM. As SharePoint continues to gain momentum in the Japanese marketplace, we hope this partnership promotes the profile and perception of Microsoft’s platform by providing value around its robust ECM capabilities. We are grateful for this opportunity and I couldn’t think of a more suiting partner in this effort than our parent company, PFU."

I don't think there is any question that we are truly working in a global economy today. Yes, there are certainly hurdles to be cleared to be successful doing business in multiple countries, but working with strong partners, like the ones that NovoDynamics and KnowledgeLake have chosen, represents a great way to clear these hurdles.

QAI Re-Ups Multi-Million Deal with NIH

Fulton, MD-based document imaging services specialist Quality Associates, Inc. (QAI) has signed another five-year contract with the National Institute of Health. The contract, which has one base year band four renewal options, is initially valued at $18 million. It's the second consecutive such contract for QAI, which offers both document conversion and systems integration services.

According to the press release, "Efforts to transition NIH’s grant applications function to a paperless process will thus proceed uninterrupted and benefit from the expertise accrued during the initial contract period. In addition, the new contract expands the service offerings QAI will provide NIH. Notably, QAI will offer 508 compliance consulting and training and will design, install and manage end-to-end electronic content management (ECM) systems. QAI’s Microsoft Gold Certified SharePoint subsidiary, DocPoint Solutions (DPS), will spearhead the design and installation of a comprehensive end-to-end SharePoint ECM."

DocPoint Recognized as Top SharePoint Integrator

DocPoint Solutions was recently recognized by TopSharePoint.com on a list of SharePoint consulting companies. From the press release, "According to the website, the list serves as a resource for organizations seeking a consulting company with SharePoint branding experience and a history of successful project implementations using the SharePoint platform. The complete list contains 53 U.S. and international firms known for their SharePoint expertise."

DocPoint, which was recently featured in our premium edition of DIR, specializes in building document imaging applications on top of platform. It is a spin-off of long-time imaging service bureau and systems integrator QAI. Both organizations are based in Fulton, MD.

Canon Announces New Solutions-Focused Subsidiary

In a move that may have been somewhat previewed (check out the last two paragraphs) during our recent meeting with Canon at the AIIM On Demand show in March, Canon USA has lauched a new, wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to expanding Canon’s overall solutions business." Known as "Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Canon USA "is targeting the company to exceed $500 million in sales by 2014."
Imaging and records management, business process optimization, security, ERP, cloud computing, IT services, and healthcare are all mentioned in the release. It doesn't say if M&A will be involved. Canon technology and that from leading "third party partners" will be utilized. We hope to have more on this in an upcoming premium issue.