When Nien-Ling Wacker started writing software in her home, creating Laserfiche in 1987, her goal was to be able to search thousands of pages of documents that had been scanned.
Today, in the bright new headquarters of Laserfiche in North Long Beach, nary a piece of paper can be found. CEO Chris Wacker — Nien-Ling Wacker’s husband — and Chief Technology Officer Karl Chan have led the firm to a digital-first, cloud-based data system driven with learning artificial intelligence. Laserfiche sells both generic and customized data-handling solutions around the world.
On Monday, Aug. 1, Chris Wacker handed the reins to his more than 30-year partner, Chan, who now is CEO. Wacker remains chairman of the board and admits “my heart will always be with Laserfiche.”
Nien-Ling Wacker died in October 2014 of breast cancer. By that time, Laserfiche had been headquartered in Long Beach for 13 years. The firm had leased offices in Torrance and Redondo Beach before finding a building to buy on Long Beach Boulevard north of the 405 Freeway.
“Most of the building was leased,” Wacker recalled, “so it was paying for itself. As leases came up, we didn’t renew them, and we grew.”
Grew is a bit of an understatement.
In 2001, Laserfiche had about 75 employees. Today, there are more than 400 people drawing checks from Laserfiche, with offices around the world. Laserfiche has data centers (cloud farms) in Oregon, Canada and most recently Ireland; offices in Toronto, London and Hong Kong; and a satellite office in Shanghai.
And it all starts in Long Beach.
In April, Laserfiche opened a new 102,840 square-foot building at 3443 Long Beach Blvd. A three-level Laserfiche parking garage is next door. The complex is only a bit more than a block away from the company’s headquarters for the last 20 years.
The building could accommodate 550 workers. It’s more than a little ironic, Wacker admitted, that the building opened as people were just coming out of the pandemic and remote work situations.
“We do have a hybrid working situation,” Chan added. “Some people can work fully remote, some come in. Some are here one day a week, some one day a month.”
Laserfiche has a strong core of employees.
“We have very high caliber people,” Wacker said. “We need to give them the room, the freedom to grow.”
One of Laserfiche’s hallmarks, Chan said, is the ability to work with customers to provide solutions to their particular issues. Long Beach’s location between Orange County and Silicon Valley makes that service even easier, Wacker said. The 405 Freeway is less than a mile away from headquarters, too.
While the location and the availability of an affordable building might have brought Laserfiche to Long Beach originally, the company has made the city its own. The firm, its employees and Wacker himself are involved in nonprofits and service agencies. And the city government has contracts with Laserfiche for several areas of software and data processing solutions.
Wacker said he was proud Laserfiche has continued to be in the forefront of the technological evolution and revolution while still focusing on customer service. He and Chan both said that the key to 35 years of success has been the culture created by Nien-Ling and nurture by Chris Wacker.
“With all these changes (in technology) what makes us Laserfiche is that we are empowering people to use that technology,” Chan said. “Things will continue to change, technology will change. But our mission will remain the same.”
Wacker said he plans to explore other issues, such as the metaverse and other technologies, while still keeping a finger on the Laserfiche pulse. He added that he’s excited to see where Chan and the rest of his team will take the company.
But ultimately, he said, Laserfiche has become a sort of legacy.
“Nien-Ling established the culture that we carry on today,” Wacker said. “That’s what the effective ones leave behind. What’s embodied here, that’s the legacy. She remains alive through us, and the cultural character will carry on.”
