Focusing on Document Conversion to eForm, Same Design 100%, Arabic Searchable 100%!
Businesses cannot thrive when vital information remains trapped within physical documents and papers.” This realization prompted Omar Naser, CEO of Software House, to pioneer innovative solutions that reveal data and accelerate digital transformation across the Arab world.
Naser’s passion for software and its limitless possibilities took root at an early age through part-time coding projects. However, it was 15 years ago that he fully committed himself to Software House, with the goal of delivering cutting-edge automation tools tailored for the regional market.
“One of the biggest challenges I saw was the inability to seamlessly extract text from paper documents and convert it into usable digital data,” he explains. “Existing Arabic optical character recognition (OCR) software just didn’t provide the accuracy required.”
This pain point represented a fundamental roadblock for both government and private sector organizations striving to modernize operations and optimize workflows. After all, accessing information trapped within physical files is a tedious, error-prone, and inherently inefficient process. Naser recognized that solving this void required an alternative solution to an Arabic OCR solution purposefully engineered to handle the nuances of the language and regional document architectures. His team’s solution? Automation software suite.
Underpinned by Software House’s proprietary applications, automation seamlessly converts using Beehive Suite, which will enable users to have electronic documents with fully searchable data available for decision-makers to build reports based on. Intelligent data capture capabilities facilitate automated information extraction, classification, and safe storage within databases or content management systems.
The impact has been transformative across highly document-intensive sectors like banking, legal services, government administration, and more. Organizations can finally break free from the shackles of unwieldy paper file rooms by unlocking the invaluable data within. “Our focus is delivering tools that empower the workforce and streamline operations through automation,” says Naser. “When documents can be quickly digitized and intelligently processed, employees gain exponential productivity, and businesses can drive innovation.”
As the Arab region continues to accelerate its digital transformation initiatives, pioneers like Omar and Software House are paving the way by tackling fundamental technological challenges. With automation platforms bridging the gap between legacy processes and cutting-edge capabilities, the future belongs to those who can harness data’s full potential.
Below are the interview highlights:
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional journey and your company’s contribution to the business world?
We worked on developing software that allows redesigning (in a very easy and fast way) all documents and papers used in daily work into electronic documents and keeping the same design at a minimum, in addition to a workflow to automate daily work and move to electronic work.
What differentiates us from major international companies operating in the Middle East? Our applications ensure a hassle-free digital transformation in a short time (without any opposition from the end user) and support 100% Arabic.
We also provide customized solutions according to the customers’ requests so that we guarantee them a digital transformation without any issues or challenges, regardless of their type. In a commercial sense, this topic has provided us with a unique business opportunity and a wide market that includes about 22 countries and a population of approximately 473 million people.
Who has been your greatest source of inspiration in your career, and why?
Our scientists during the period of the distinctive Islamic civilization, and the reason for naming our company name is after the House of Wisdom in Baghdad (one of the most important scientific houses that were established in Baghdad), and I am a defender of the use of our Arabic language, and I wanted to offer something for this great language that exceeds in technical capabilities in all languages of the world, this distinction and great potential for it requires additional work for programming companies to benefit from it, but Western companies will not invest in a language except by the return on investment, and this left gaps and issues that need solutions We worked to close them and provide solutions about them.
Can you share a personal leadership philosophy or guiding principles that have contributed to your and your company’s success?
- Believing in the goal you seek to achieve and committing to work on it regardless of the difficulties and challenges (and there are many of them).
- Vision and Strategy: I am committed to articulating a clear vision for the company and developing strategic plans to achieve our goals. This involves setting ambitious yet realistic objectives and empowering my team to innovate and execute effectively.
- Continuous Learning and Improvement: I embrace a growth mindset, constantly seeking opportunities for learning and development, both personally and organizationally. I encourage experimentation and iteration, recognizing that failure is often a necessary step on the path to success.
Every leader faces challenges. What are some significant challenges you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome them?
- Financial challenges: Our business requires years of working through a team before reaching products that achieve commercial profitability, and the issue of funding has suffered. When we were looking for funding, many investors refused because our business was not clear from a commercial point of view and the extent of its return (especially in the development stages). We faced it with patience and sacrifices from our team and our families.
- Challenges of innovation and change: We faced the difficulty of convincing customers of the concept of remote work; this culture was not widespread, but the Corona issue provided a real-life experience for the concept of switching to remote work.
- Time management challenges and time pressures: We faced many situations where the customer required certain features in our system. In many cases, by working more and working later, it was solved, but in other cases, we were not successful.
- Decision-making challenges: We encounter them by getting advice from others and specialists; the more the opinion is shared with others, the closer it is to the right one.
Could you highlight a few key milestones or achievements that you are particularly proud of?
- Developing innovative products: We have developed innovative products in the Arab market that are unconventional; these products have created added value for users in the Arab region.
- Working on large projects: In the last phase, we participated in working on some big projects, and this created a kind of self-satisfaction that our long work path had a result.
- Satisfaction from customers Hearing words of praise from our clients about our work and our commitment to achieving the best workmanship.
- Providing solutions for the Arabic language We provided something that serves the Arabic language and helps the Arabic user.
Innovation is crucial in today’s business landscape. How do you foster a culture of innovation within your organization?
- Encourage creative thinking: Any ideas and suggestions that add to the work are taken and used.
- Stimulate continuous learning and development: Sending employees to training courses to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies is offered to keep the business up-to-date with the latest technologies.
- Encourage collaboration and interaction: Respect and friendship are treated within the company, where employees feel safe and comfortable.
- Provide rewards and promotions: Employees who contribute to the generation and successful implementation of new ideas are recognized and honored, whether through
financial rewards or professional promotions.
What kind of impact do you hope to make in your industry, and what legacy would you like to leave behind?
We seek to achieve sustainable success for the company, leave a specialized and large company in the field of software with hundreds of employees, and provide additions in the field of Arabic.
We would like to leave a distinctive footprint in the business world in the Arab countries, and for this company to prosper and become one of the companies that provide technologies and solutions to our Arab world.
What advice would you offer to emerging business leaders striving to make a positive impact in the Middle East?
- Understand the local market and culture: Make sure you have a deep understanding of the local market and culture in the region where you operate. This requires listening to people’s needs and aspirations and delivering solutions that effectively meet those needs.
- Dedication to quality and customer service: Deliver quality products, and provide customer service.
- Constant evolution: Be willing to use new technology to develop your products and processes.
Where do you see the business landscape in the Middle East heading in the next 5–10 years, and how do you plan to stay at the forefront of these developments?
The landscape is shifting to
- Continued digital transformation
- Growing reliance on mobile and its applications
- Increasing reliance on artificial intelligence and its uses
- Analyzing big data and trying to explore the future
- Cybersecurity is taking up more and more space.
We are staying ahead of the curve through increased investment in new technologies and the continuous development of our software.
Can you provide a glimpse into your future endeavors and projects that our readers can look forward to?
Expanding in the Middle East and Africa by opening several branches
