They have been called ‘systems of record’ – the repository documents and other unstructured data reside at rest. Where they can be searched, managed, viewed and have a records plan placed around them incase of litigation or government inquiry. They have been called ‘image stores’, ‘enterprise content management’ (or ECM for short) and ‘enterprise file sync and share’ (or EFSS). Now the lexicon has shifted to ‘content services platforms’, ‘content collaboration platforms’ or ‘document store’.
The leader in this space in terms of choices is far and away OpenText. The serial acquirer of companies owns no less than:
- OpenText Content Services – Generally sold by SAP for SAP environments
- Documentum – Legacy enterprise repositories that once ruled acquired from EMC
- Application Extender – Embedded workgroup-level uses acquired from EMC
- OpenText Core – Their cloud attempt…now with esignature
- InfoArchive – A pay-by-terabyte archive
- eDocs – Generally found in legal environments
Not to mention all the other systems that hold onto files as they come in the door (paper capture and fax) or get generated going out the door (all the customer communication management systems like Document Sciences and Xtreme), focus on rich media/DAM and on and on and on. Throw on top of it their Magellan Big Data platform for metadata to live to analyze. The result is insanity.
Referring to the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant on the space, they state as their three biggest issues as:
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OpenText has a broad but often overlapping Content Services Platforms portfolio, including the Extended ECM Platform and Documentum. The Extended ECM Platform appears to have the most strategic focus. Customers evaluating OpenText products as new purchases should scrutinize the respective offerings’ strengths and roadmaps. This will help them determine which product will meet their long-term needs.
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Reference customers expressed frustration when it comes to negotiating with OpenText — a complaint backed up by our interactions with Gartner clients. This applies to both new implementations and renewals or extensions of existing contracts (including maintenance renewals and product upgrades). OpenText is the subject of more inquiries from Gartner clients about license audits than any other CSP vendor.
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Reference customers frequently described OpenText projects as complex and time-consuming, primarily due to the extensive range of functionality available in the platform.
Helping you maneuver your options
InfoDNA Solution has worked in the content space for over 15 years and helped clients with these types of decisions. But they need to start with knowing where you are today to formulate a future, and our people and Topla technology can help you understand what the right answer should be in this convoluted world. Rather you want to stay on-premise or move to the cloud, InfoDNA is ready to quickly get you there.
