There they go again! Extending what already has become a lengthy run of acquisitions, Open Text yesterday announced its intention to buy Metastorm and add BPM to its stockpile of ECM-related functionality.
Now don’t get me wrong; not only is there nothing wrong with this means of extending one’s product line, some would say it’s much better than trying to build it all oneself! And it makes particular sense in this context: it gives Open Text a quality play in the BPM arena, while Metastorm receives a more holistic home in which to operate.
But at the same time, customers are cautioned to remember that the announcement of an acquisition is not the same thing as a product integration, any more than it is an organizational integration. Meaning: it will take some time before the offerings and the business units will operate as different slices of a single pie – even after the deal closes (expected by the end of March).
A statement of the obvious? Of course. But the “obvious” often gets overlooked in the rush to choose and implement technology – especially in the realm of ECM suites, where “how integrated is it really?” is an oft-asked question.
Read the Open Text official announcement here.