This week, Dell announced the possible sale of EMC’s Enterprise Content Division (ECD) to OpenText.
We believe this to be the beginning of a new era for Captiva, ApplicationXtender and InfoArchive software, including further development and value-add for end-users and accelerated sales growth for channel partners.
EMC Software Products Affected
The ECD division of EMC (formerly IIG) is comprised of the following software products:
- Captiva: advanced document scanning, capture and OCR software
- ApplicationXtender (AX): mid-market document management and workflow automation software
- InfoArchive: enterprise-level archiving of both structured and unstructured data
- Documentum: enterprise-level document management software
- Leap: enterprise-level content apps
The MetaSource Take
When Dell first purchased EMC last year, we suspected it may be an opportunity for them to sell their electronic document and information management portfolio since both Dell and EMC have their roots in hardware. That is exactly what seems be to happening and we couldn’t be happier.
We believe the sale of ECD to OpenText will be beneficial for their end-users, value-added resellers (VARs) and MetaSource in the following ways:
- This is a strategically important buy for OpenText who paid $1.6 billion for the ECD
- OpenText gains the leading advanced capture software in the market (Captiva), and mid-market document management software (AX) that continues to gain market share
- The addition of InfoArchive gives OpenText a powerful way to migrate structured and unstructured data from legacy systems for current and future OpenText customers
- The entire staff of ECD is moving over: all the people you know will continue to develop, sell and support the acquired software
- ECD executives view this as the best possible outcome for their software business
Simply put, we feel that both Captiva and ApplicationXtender will see accelerated sales growth and now have the opportunity to reach their full potential now that they are owned by a top-tier enterprise content management (ECM) software company.
Comments from Dell
According to David Goulden, president of DELL EMC: “We are pleased that this will open up new opportunities for ECD customers, partners and team members. The transaction is expected to close in 90 to 120 days. Terms of the agreement can be viewed in the press release.
“In determining the best long-term future for ECD, we wanted to create a business with a leading position in Enterprise Information Management. We looked for a partner that shares our vision for the transformation to digital business, our passion for the role of information in the digital world, and the breadth of capabilities to help our customers like you realize that vision. We also sought a partner that shares our commitment to deliver a world-class total customer experience. And, we wanted a partner that values the industry knowledge, innovative mindset and unique talents of our team. I am very pleased to say that we found all of that in OpenText, an industry leader with 9,200 professionals worldwide.
“After the transaction closes, we expect that you will continue to realize value from your ECD investments and gain additional value from OpenText’s enriched portfolio, whose complementary strengths will produce a leader in both ECM and EIM: an organization with the financial strength, talent base, and global go-to-market scale to best serve your organization and its needs.
“Additionally, Dell EMC and OpenText will work closely together after the transaction closes for the benefit of our mutual customers. To underscore our joint commitment, OpenText and Dell EMC also announced today our intent to enter into a strategic commercial partnership to expand customer offerings and better serve customer needs.”