LaserFiche Launches Certification Program

Solution providers applauded LaserFiche's new certification program and beefed-up channel sales organization, introduced at the company's annual partner conference in Long Beach, Calif., on Friday.

The document imaging software developer, now billing itself as a digital records management company, was also heavily promoting the pending release of its DoD-compliant records management module, due out in the first quarter.

But partners were mostly reacting positively to the privately held company's investment in its sales channel under the direction of Gerald Bengtson, a former American Honda Finance vice president who was hired by company founder and CEO Nien-Ling Wacker in December as president and COO.

Among other things, Bengtson added a new tier of management to the sales organization with the promotion of Bill Kouzi, director of commercial sales, to vice president of global sales and distribution. The company also made four director-level appointments to strengthen management with plans to double sales over the next two years.

"It's encouraging to see LaserFiche investing profits back into the company," said Robert Porter, owner of R&S Integrated Products & Services, Lakeland, Fla., a 10-year partner with 25 employees. "They've identified the right people to manage, and there going to have results-oriented criteria, which is something we've lacked in the past."

Roberts said the company is also raising the bar for its partners, including the introduction of the certification program, which he said was needed as the platform became more feature-rich.

While the company has provided general training programs, it plans to begin introducing certifications around individual products. The first set of one-day training sessions will be introduced in February for its records management module. Kouzi said the company is introducing five product certifications.

Kouzi said LaserFiche was not planning to greatly expand on the 500 active partners the company has now. Rather, he said the company is focusing on growing it business with current VARs, as well as attracting a more selective group of reselling partners.

He said in the past LaserFiche had partnered with any company that could put up the money, but that was no longer going to be the case. "We're going to build a stronger name for LaserFiche where we're going to attract tier-one VARs," he said.

That's just fine by Kevin Knebel, a one-time Dell sales director who launched a LaserFiche business two years ago, Walkerimaging.com, Austin, Texas, which now has three employees. "It's good for me now," he said. "When I started out a few years ago, I don't think the process was as selective. Now they want a business plan ... Hopefully, this will limit the number of VARs in the central Texas area."

Partners also applauded a sales reorganization that gives them one regional sales representative as opposed to different sales representatives for commercial accounts and government accounts. The company will now have five vertical-market sales representatives that will work through the regional sales representatives.

"Before, we had to answer to too many people," said Michael Bragg, a sales representative at DSS, a LaserFiche partner in Southfield, Mich., who added: "I see LaserFiche is getting more organized."