On April 27 and 28, Partners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions came together in Berlin for DocuWorld 2023 (EMEA). Nearly 600 participants from 25 countries attended.
"This year was our largest Partner Conference ever. The strong attendance really showed us how important face-to-face exchanges are to our Partners. We are pleased to be able to offer DocuWorld as the premier gathering in our field for this," DocuWare Group President Max Ertl noted.
The following week, on May 4 and 5, DocuWorld (Americas) took place in Orlando attracting DocuWare Partners from the US, Canada, and South and Central America, and as far away as Nigeria and Malaysia. Three hundred and thirty-five participants from 15 countries were on hand. Each conference offered the opportunity for updates on the capabilities of the DocuWare solution, exchanging ideas and catching up on the latest developments and trends in the document management industry.
DocuWare celebrates its continued growth
The general sessions, which included presentations from DocuWare Group Presidents Max Ertl and Dr. Michael Berger and DocuWare Corporation President Jim Roberts, were a highlight. Max Ertl proudly looked back on the past financial year and announced the latest figures. Thanks to its strong Partner network, DocuWare has once again managed to record growth of over 20% and acquire over 3,000 new customers. The cloud boom continues with revenue growth of over 47%. New customers are primarily from companies with 10-499 employees.
Dr. Berger's presentation focused on strategic investments for the future including the measures DocuWare is taking to master current challenges in the market and stay on course for growth. This includes investment in optimizing the existing solution as well as our plans for new innovations. The role of artificial intelligence was also up for discussion. DocuWare customers have already been using its proprietary and patented Intelligent Indexing solution for many years, and it still has a lot of potential for future enhancements. In his presentation, Dr. Berger also touched upon the AI projects that the company is currently researching and working on.
Additionally, at the conference in Orlando, DocuWare Corporation President Jim Roberts provided stats on sales numbers for the US regions and information on changes to the sales organization in the US. This was also the first year DocuWare presented the Marketing In Action award at DocuWorld. It honors Partners who are setting a new standard of excellence through their marketing efforts. The top company from the Americas, Metro Sales Inc., received a trophy and $5,000 to use toward a lead generation project. Among the 30 Partner companies who participated in this competition from EMEA, Ricoh España, stood out and took first place.
Learning how to convey DocuWare's value more effectively
In Berlin, bestselling author Philip Semmelroth drew attention to the rapid changes occurring in the world of sales, and in the US, motivational speaker Shari Levitin emphasized the need to re-humanize the sales process by connecting, asking the right questions, really listening and then linking the solution to their customer’s problems -- all delivered in a relatable storyline. Social selling was a big part of both speaker sessions.
A night to remember
The first day of the conference concluded with the "Night of the Champions" in both regions. Dressed to impress, everyone walked the red carpet into a festively decorated hall. After celebrating milestone anniversaries, the Customer Success Champions and Diamond Club Members were officially honored. The networking continued while everyone enjoyed a delicious meal. In Berlin, a magician and a pantomime artist entertained the audience and a live band provided the musical accompaniment. accompaniment. In the US, after Diamond Club members were honored, Partners enjoyed a feast aptly named “Progression of the Seasons” followed by a night of casino games of fun and skill.
Exploring the exhibit hall
At the Ask-the-Experts booths in both EMEA and the Americas, DocuWare staff from marketing, product, preconfigured cloud solutions and artificial intelligence development were available to answer questions.
An accompanying technology exhibition gave attendees a chance to learn about new products, solutions and integration options from the software and hardware sector that expand the use of DocuWare.
This year's exhibitors were:
ancora software Inc., Axon Ivy AG, BCT Deutschland GmbH, PFU (EMEA) Limited, Plustek Technology GmbH, Validated ID, Varelmann Beratungsgesellschaft, Canon (Scanner), natif.ai GmbH, prisma csp GmbH, Evolved Office and James Imaging.
You can find pictures and videos on LinkedIn as many of us were posting live -- just search on the hashtag #docuworld2023.