ACCPAC to expand operations in Middle East

ACCPAC International, Inc., a leading global solutions provider and a division of Computer Associates' interBiz group, have announced that it will soon open a Middle East headquarters based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for sales and service of its increasingly popular business management solutions in 12 countries spanning the region from northeast Africa to the Arabian Gulf.

The regional office will work with local ACCPAC business partners to provide companies in the Middle East with accounting, business management and e-business solutions and will create commercial opportunities for local developers.

"The opening of the ACCPAC Middle East regional headquarters, planned for 1st Quarter 2001, will initiate a series of initiatives planned by ACCPAC in support of Middle East business communities," said Marc Van der Ven, ACCPAC's regional manager there. "ACCPAC will deliver its best-of-breed business management and e-business solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and represent a major driving force for aggressive development of a software industry in the region."

Business in the Middle East has been growing at an exponential rate and ACCPAC plans to play an active role in further driving that growth as it relates to the SME market. For example, ACCPAC said that it will provide advanced educational and productivity enhancing resources for professionals interested in e-business and other accounting and business management solutions in a wide range of industries, educational institutions and professional organizations.

"By working with native developers to devise Arabic solutions for the regional market, and by building stronger strategic partnerships here, ACCPAC is demonstrating its commitment to enhancing and supporting the Middle East software market," said Bill Copeland, ACCPAC vice president of international business.

ACCPAC is also looking to create opportunities for software companies in the region to build add-on modules that support the company's software platforms, and then work with local developers to market their solutions beyond the region to the company's enormous global user base. For more than 20 years, ACCPAC has served the SME marketplace with a range of accounting-based business management solutions. Its solutions are scalable, upgradeable and compatible with multiple databases and operating systems worldwide.

ACCPAC offers advanced B2B and B2C Web store integration with all of its world-class accounting-based software families. These e-business solutions are affordable, adaptable to business practices and available through a wide variety of deployment options.

The company will work closely with regional and international business partners to offer them marketing and technical support tailored to their business areas. The business management solutions company has had a presence in the region for almost a decade through a network of Value Added Resellers (VARs) and business partners. These companies have been individually certified.

Saying it owes much of its success to date to its business partners in the Middle East, ACCPAC announced that it would offer more extensive technical support, faster access to solutions and closer regional team involvement to support their customers. In addition, ACCPAC is investing heavily in devising training for Middle Eastern educational institutions to help build finance and accounting skills required to meet the needs of the Digital Economy.

Zareh Tutunjian, managing director of Systronics, a long-time Dubai-based ACCPAC solution provider and ACCPAC's Middle East Business Partner of Year 2000, said: "We are thrilled to see a direct ACCPAC presence in Dubai! Based on ACCPAC's track record in other international markets, we're confident that they will quickly command a substantial share of this market."