Adobe unveils new strategy to support Lebanese businesses

Adobe Systems incorporated MENA plans to make its leading creativity and business productivity applications more accessible to Lebanon’s business community and design industry professionals via a new productivity strategy that will center on its immensely popular Creative Suite 5 (CS5) and the Adobe Acrobat application software. As part of the strategy, Adobe is offering Lebanese businesses discounts of up to 70 per cent on the published Middle East price of CS5 and Acrobat.

Salwa Faour, Representative of Mohammed Al Safadi, Lebanon's Minister of Economy & Trade, said, “Adobe’s move to offer a substantial discount on its Creative Suite 5 and Acrobat mean that the business community as a whole and particularly the SME sector, which is pivotal to the Lebanese economy, can benefit from the company’s latest product offering, as affordability of software is often a key consideration among businesses. The impact of Adobe’s latest strategic initiative on countering software piracy in Lebanon is also expected to be profound.”

“Lebanon represents a highly competitive and fast growing regional economy, which is why we are exploring better ways to serve this vibrant market. We will start by better aligning our pricing, anti-piracy and business strategies with the unique needs of the country’s design professionals and small and medium enterprises (SME). We intend to complement the steady growth of Lebanon’s business sector by providing products that greatly enhance their productivity,” said Naser Samaenah, Regional License Compliance Manager ME & North Africa, Adobe Systems MENA.

“Adobe has always been focused on extending its support to its user community. In this regard, we are now focusing our attention on the Lebanese market to educate users on how they can enhance their efficiency and output using Adobe Acrobat and Creative Suite. A significant step towards this end is our decision to make our software more affordable to businesses and the creative industry in Lebanon. While on the one hand this move will encourage the business community in Lebanon to adopt genuine software, which in turn will lead to greater security and better performance; on the other, it will support the country’s fast-growing economy,” added Samaenah.

Jawad Al Redha, Business Software Alliance (BSA) Chair, Gulf Region, said, “Through this move, Adobe has once again set a fine example by making their widely used software more affordable to businesses, which can now invest only in genuine software and benefit from its optimal performance and be assured of an enhanced level of productivity and efficiency. Organisations need to be fully aware of the adverse consequences of using pirated software, both on their operations and the national economy as a whole since violating intellectual property rights can gravely compromise a country’s revenue earning potential and also result in loss of new job opportunities.”