It doesn't seem like a big deal, but apparently the closing of the sale of Kofax's hardware distribution business has been delayed for a couple months. According to this article, the deal, which was announced in January and originally expected to close in March, will now close next month. According to an analyst quoted in the article, "Kofax has confirmed that the delay is due to a combination slightly longer timescales to create the required legal entities and to complete the necessary regulatory filings in order to complete the spin off and transfer of the business to the new owners, Hannover Finanz. The delays have been particular issues in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and certain other countries."
The sale of the $130 million, slightly profitable business, will net Kofax some $20 million that it is expected to use for acquisition. Interestingly, when I talked with Tony Barbeau of Kodak Document Imaging, we compared Kodak's sale of its microfilm business to Kofax's sale of the hardware distribution business. Both businesses were actually the foundations of the entities that are now selling them. In the early days, profits from each were used to fund new businesses that have now overtaken the legacy operations.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Kodak Sells Micrographics Business
Yesterday, Kodak announced it had "completed the sale of certain assets of its microfilm products and equipment business to Eastman Park Micrographics, Inc." Eastman Park is a Dallas-based entity founded by former Kodak executive and long-time document imaging entrepreneur William "Sonny" Oates. Basically, Eastman Park will be taking over all sales and distribution of Kodak microfilm and micrographics equipment. However, the film will continue to be manufactured by Kodak in Rochester and carry the Kodak brand name.
I caught up with Tony Barbeau of Kodak Document Imaging who indicated the move was designed to enable Kodak to focus more completely on its digital business - which is the strategic direction of the company. Kodak's document scanner and imaging business grew out of the micrographics business in the late 1980s and 1990s. In early 2001, we reported that Kodak's digital document imaging and micrographics businesses combined were approaching $1 billion - with digital sales poised to overtake micrographics sales for the first time that year.
Barbeau indicated that the sale would affect about 10 Kodak employees. He said that while sales of many forms of traditional microfilm are shrinking, archive, preservation microfilm sales continue to grow.
More in our next premium issue.
I caught up with Tony Barbeau of Kodak Document Imaging who indicated the move was designed to enable Kodak to focus more completely on its digital business - which is the strategic direction of the company. Kodak's document scanner and imaging business grew out of the micrographics business in the late 1980s and 1990s. In early 2001, we reported that Kodak's digital document imaging and micrographics businesses combined were approaching $1 billion - with digital sales poised to overtake micrographics sales for the first time that year.
Barbeau indicated that the sale would affect about 10 Kodak employees. He said that while sales of many forms of traditional microfilm are shrinking, archive, preservation microfilm sales continue to grow.
More in our next premium issue.
Monday, April 04, 2011
Document Image Management Market Study
I'm not exactly sure who these guys are, or how they conducted their research, but I thought it was pretty cool that someone tried to size the document image management market. This comment in the press release announcing the report struck me as a bit odd: "witnessing relatively slow growth rate of 12 percent in comparison to the overall document management systems market." Personally, I don't think 12% is that slow. I'm not exactly sure what they're comparing our market to, if that's slow.
Does anyone have additional info on the quality of this report?
Does anyone have additional info on the quality of this report?
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tidmarsh Joins Box.net
I haven't seen any confirmation of this yet, but it was certainly the talk of AIIM. The CEO of Box.net, which advertises itself as an on-line content management firm, apparently gave a great keynote at the recent AIIM/Global 360 event. From what I've picked up, it has a cool interface for on-line file collaboration and a SaaS sales model. Tidmarsh worked at Documentum and then EMC's Content Management division, for some time, most recently as a chief marketing officer.
At the event, she told us she was leaving EMC and handed off her keynote to Jeetu Patel, CTO of EMC's Information Intelligence Group. Box.net is apparently pretty hot, and according to this Forbes article has raised somewhere around $70 million in venture capital. So, I guess they can afford someone with Tidmash's experience. I'm guessing Tidmarsh is being brought on board to help expand the breadth of the company's content management offering and wouldn't be surprised to see them add some capture technology in the near future.
At the event, she told us she was leaving EMC and handed off her keynote to Jeetu Patel, CTO of EMC's Information Intelligence Group. Box.net is apparently pretty hot, and according to this Forbes article has raised somewhere around $70 million in venture capital. So, I guess they can afford someone with Tidmash's experience. I'm guessing Tidmarsh is being brought on board to help expand the breadth of the company's content management offering and wouldn't be surprised to see them add some capture technology in the near future.
Friday, March 25, 2011
AIIM Wrap-up
Just finished up another great week at the AIIM show. This year's show was held in Washington, DC - a great city, but it can be a very expensive place to go for an event. Next year's event is apparently scheduled for June 12-14 at the Javits Center in New York City. New York in early June seems like a great time for the event, but, per our last post, it will also be the first year when the "AIIM" name will not be used. The event has been re-branded as Info 360. On Demand looks like its keeping its name.
From what we understand, ITEX will not be co-located with the two events next year. The feedback we got this year was that you had pay an extra $250 for an ITEX badge and that the monitors were checking badges. I know I tried to get on the ITEX floor and had to point out that my press credentials were good for both events. Anyhow, I heard ITEX is heading back out to Vegas.
This year's AIIM show was certainly the quietest I've ever seen. Yeah, there were still more than 130 vendors there, but almost nobody, except for Canon, had a large booth. And the number of presentations and booth shills to attract attendees' interest was very low. There were times when I almost felt I had to whisper to avoid from being overheard. The few exhibitors that gave me positive feedback about the attendance indicated that they had made several appointments ahead of time to create their own traffic. (In show organizer Questex's defense, this is what they have been telling people to do for years.)
The Microsoft Pavilion, which we figured had about the fifth of the exhibitors looked crowded, but that may have just been because there were so many vendors crowded into a relatively small space, and each vendor had multiple staff there.
For me, the event was once again a great networking opportunity, although there were certainly less people there to network with than in years past, but still enough to fill up my dance card for three days. We'll have plenty of coverage in upcoming issues of DIR.
From what we understand, ITEX will not be co-located with the two events next year. The feedback we got this year was that you had pay an extra $250 for an ITEX badge and that the monitors were checking badges. I know I tried to get on the ITEX floor and had to point out that my press credentials were good for both events. Anyhow, I heard ITEX is heading back out to Vegas.
This year's AIIM show was certainly the quietest I've ever seen. Yeah, there were still more than 130 vendors there, but almost nobody, except for Canon, had a large booth. And the number of presentations and booth shills to attract attendees' interest was very low. There were times when I almost felt I had to whisper to avoid from being overheard. The few exhibitors that gave me positive feedback about the attendance indicated that they had made several appointments ahead of time to create their own traffic. (In show organizer Questex's defense, this is what they have been telling people to do for years.)
The Microsoft Pavilion, which we figured had about the fifth of the exhibitors looked crowded, but that may have just been because there were so many vendors crowded into a relatively small space, and each vendor had multiple staff there.
For me, the event was once again a great networking opportunity, although there were certainly less people there to network with than in years past, but still enough to fill up my dance card for three days. We'll have plenty of coverage in upcoming issues of DIR.
Friday, March 18, 2011
AIIM Being Dropped from Show Name
Just got an e-mail from AIIM - the trade organization today to that effect: "The Info360 event taking place from March 21 – 24 in Washington, DC will be the final "AIIM" Show to bear the AIIM name."
I'm really not sure that this means or what exactly AIIM was doing for the show anyhow, aside from holding it's annual awards dinner in conjunction with it. And if AIIM stops doing that, it would probably hurt the networking aspect of the show, which is really the best part for many people
I'm sure we'll find out more next week.
I'm really not sure that this means or what exactly AIIM was doing for the show anyhow, aside from holding it's annual awards dinner in conjunction with it. And if AIIM stops doing that, it would probably hurt the networking aspect of the show, which is really the best part for many people
I'm sure we'll find out more next week.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sharp Introduces New MFP Interface
According to the Sharp press release, "Operating in a manner similar to today's most advanced smart phones, Sharp's new user interface provides easy access to all MFP features, each of which are viewed as familiar icons. Users can perform all tasks using "flick," "tap," "slide" and "drag" gestures on the color LCD touchscreen. Icons perform the tasks the user expects them to, and the system guides the user based on the previous commands to help them execute desired functions more quickly. This "smart" user experience dramatically reduces the learning curve, leading to more widespread use of advanced functions like duplexing, staple sorting and others."
There is a video on the press release link that does a good job showing some of the features that are described. The page preview and manipulation features are especially cool. In conjunction with the release of the new interface, which is debuting on three A3 products and will eventually be available throughout Sharp's product line, Sharp is debuting its OSA 4.0 platform - designed specifically to work with the new interface. OSA, for open systems architecture, is Sharp's toolkit for integrating applications, like ECM and capture, with its MFPs. It was one of the first Web-based platforms for achieving this type of integration.
There is a video on the press release link that does a good job showing some of the features that are described. The page preview and manipulation features are especially cool. In conjunction with the release of the new interface, which is debuting on three A3 products and will eventually be available throughout Sharp's product line, Sharp is debuting its OSA 4.0 platform - designed specifically to work with the new interface. OSA, for open systems architecture, is Sharp's toolkit for integrating applications, like ECM and capture, with its MFPs. It was one of the first Web-based platforms for achieving this type of integration.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
SourceCorp Merging With HOV Services
SourceCorp, which began life as a document imaging service bureau roll-up, has entered into an agreement to merge with HOV Services. HOV Services is an India-based document services outsourcing specialist that acquired SourceCorp competitor Lason back in 2007. Back in the late 1990s, Lason and SourceCorp (then known as FYI) engaged in a bit of a bidding war for service bureaus. SourceCorp, which was founded by executives from outside our industry, took a more fiscally responsible to the roll-up. I remember a conversation with a few SourceCorp execs at AIIM 1998, who accurately predicted the impending fall of Lason - which actually had three ex-execs go to jail for stock fraud, or something along those lines.
Lason was eventually bought by the investment group Charterhouse for something like $25 milllion and some assumed debt. Charterhouse, which also had an investment in document capture ISV Top Image Systems, then flipped Lason for $148 million to HOV three years later. At the time, the combined company was estimated to have more than $200 million in annual revenue. SourceCorp, which reported revenue of greater than $400 million in 2005 as a public company, was sold to the investment firm Apollo Management in 2006 for $475 million. I thought SourceCorp had dispersed some of its businesses since then to narrow its focus, but we'll estimate that the new HOV/SourceCorp entity is worth at least $500 million annually. Definitely an interesting starting point for a BPO business.
Lason was eventually bought by the investment group Charterhouse for something like $25 milllion and some assumed debt. Charterhouse, which also had an investment in document capture ISV Top Image Systems, then flipped Lason for $148 million to HOV three years later. At the time, the combined company was estimated to have more than $200 million in annual revenue. SourceCorp, which reported revenue of greater than $400 million in 2005 as a public company, was sold to the investment firm Apollo Management in 2006 for $475 million. I thought SourceCorp had dispersed some of its businesses since then to narrow its focus, but we'll estimate that the new HOV/SourceCorp entity is worth at least $500 million annually. Definitely an interesting starting point for a BPO business.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Big Capture Projects Continue
By most accounts, the last three months of 2010 were a good time for the capture industry. ReadSoft, Kofax, and Top Image Systems, three publicly traded companies, each announced strong calendar fourth quarters. And that momentum appears to have flowed over into the first part of 2010. Top Image recently announced this $760,000 deal for the Argentinian Census. According to Omri Gelb, executive VP, it is TIS's 11th census win in the last year.
Utilizing automated data capture on census forms seems to have become a no-brainer. In a census that was fraught with budget overruns in other areas, scanner vendor ibml has announced that "its high-speed document scanning technology played a key role in helping the Lockheed Martin-led Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) team complete the 2010 U.S. Census forms processing operation on schedule and under budget." From the ibml press release, "the team was able to process as many as 2.5 million 2010 Census forms every 24 hours during peak production. Lockheed Martin used 44 ibml ImageTrac scanners across three data capture centers to capture images from more than 165 million 2010 Census forms."
Finally, what report on the document capture space would be complete without mention of Kofax, which recently announced a $900,000 invoice processing deal. It's a combination Kofax Capture/KTM and Markview workflow deal - the type Kofax envisioned when it bought 170 Systems about a year and a half ago.
Utilizing automated data capture on census forms seems to have become a no-brainer. In a census that was fraught with budget overruns in other areas, scanner vendor ibml has announced that "its high-speed document scanning technology played a key role in helping the Lockheed Martin-led Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS) team complete the 2010 U.S. Census forms processing operation on schedule and under budget." From the ibml press release, "the team was able to process as many as 2.5 million 2010 Census forms every 24 hours during peak production. Lockheed Martin used 44 ibml ImageTrac scanners across three data capture centers to capture images from more than 165 million 2010 Census forms."
Finally, what report on the document capture space would be complete without mention of Kofax, which recently announced a $900,000 invoice processing deal. It's a combination Kofax Capture/KTM and Markview workflow deal - the type Kofax envisioned when it bought 170 Systems about a year and a half ago.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
MS SharePoint 2011 Conference Registration Open
I mainly note this because the 2009 conference, at which SharePoint 2010 was previewed, was one of the best conferences I've ever been too. There were more than 7,500 people there, it was sold out, there was a waiting list, and it was well run. Plus, we all got to see what was going to be included in SharePoint 2010 and why it is going to have such a large effect on the ECM industry as we know it.
I know I vacillate back and forth over how much influence SharePoint is going to have on the document imaging market, but after talking with a pair of SI's today, I am lifted back out of the trough of disillusionment and into being a believer again. Basically, it seems that to do true ECM in SharePoint, in anything close to an out-of-the-box way, you need to have 2010 installed. Currently, as the product just came out last year, that is not the case at many sites. Also, there seems to be a bit of a lack of knowledge out there about how to actually unleash SharePoint's true ECM capabilties.
Basically, the solution seems to be (and more on this in my next premium issue) marrying people with ECM process knowledge to SharePoint - so they can apply that knowledge to SharePoint applications. There are reasons this isn't happening full-force yet, but that could/should change in the future. (This is the kind of stuff I'll discuss.) Anyhow, here' s the link to the SharePoint 2011 MS Conference.
A lot of imaging players are sponsors, of the MS SharePoint event, incluidng KnowledgeLake, who's a platinum sponsor. KLake will be holding its own first ever user event in conjunction with the Microsoft event. The MS event runs Oct. 3-6 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with KLake's event being held the preceding weekend.
Speaking of events, SharePoint looks like it's going to have a huge presence at the upcoming AIIM Info 360 event being held at the D.C. Convention Center later this month. The floor plan shows like 25 ISVs (maybe some integrators in there) in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion, not to mention KnowledgeLake, which is next door. A quick look at the exhibitor list, shows like 138 total exhibitors, so once again it should be a good show for DIR and anyone else looking to do some networking.
Apparently, Hyland Software will be missing for the first time since I started covering the event for DIR back in 1998. That show was in Anaheim and from what I understand that was Hyland's first big coming out party after they had gotten a bunch of money from someone for their check imaging technology. At the show, then CEO Packy Hyland, Jr. handed me a card on which he listed his position as "One Happy Dude" and told me his goal was to grow Hyland larger than FileNet. They've certainly come pretty close. I'm not sure how much their really big AIIM booths over the years helped them, but apparently, they've moved on from that strategy.
Anyhow, ping me if you want to get together at AIIM
I know I vacillate back and forth over how much influence SharePoint is going to have on the document imaging market, but after talking with a pair of SI's today, I am lifted back out of the trough of disillusionment and into being a believer again. Basically, it seems that to do true ECM in SharePoint, in anything close to an out-of-the-box way, you need to have 2010 installed. Currently, as the product just came out last year, that is not the case at many sites. Also, there seems to be a bit of a lack of knowledge out there about how to actually unleash SharePoint's true ECM capabilties.
Basically, the solution seems to be (and more on this in my next premium issue) marrying people with ECM process knowledge to SharePoint - so they can apply that knowledge to SharePoint applications. There are reasons this isn't happening full-force yet, but that could/should change in the future. (This is the kind of stuff I'll discuss.) Anyhow, here' s the link to the SharePoint 2011 MS Conference.
A lot of imaging players are sponsors, of the MS SharePoint event, incluidng KnowledgeLake, who's a platinum sponsor. KLake will be holding its own first ever user event in conjunction with the Microsoft event. The MS event runs Oct. 3-6 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with KLake's event being held the preceding weekend.
Speaking of events, SharePoint looks like it's going to have a huge presence at the upcoming AIIM Info 360 event being held at the D.C. Convention Center later this month. The floor plan shows like 25 ISVs (maybe some integrators in there) in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion, not to mention KnowledgeLake, which is next door. A quick look at the exhibitor list, shows like 138 total exhibitors, so once again it should be a good show for DIR and anyone else looking to do some networking.
Apparently, Hyland Software will be missing for the first time since I started covering the event for DIR back in 1998. That show was in Anaheim and from what I understand that was Hyland's first big coming out party after they had gotten a bunch of money from someone for their check imaging technology. At the show, then CEO Packy Hyland, Jr. handed me a card on which he listed his position as "One Happy Dude" and told me his goal was to grow Hyland larger than FileNet. They've certainly come pretty close. I'm not sure how much their really big AIIM booths over the years helped them, but apparently, they've moved on from that strategy.
Anyhow, ping me if you want to get together at AIIM
Monday, March 07, 2011
Kuwait Document Management Conference
Just got an e-mail announcing the Kuwait Documentation and Archiving Conference and Exhibition, being held April 4-5. Thought this was kind of cool because we've been discussing the Middle East as an emerging market for our technologies. From the speakers, it appears the technology is very much in the early stages of adoption, as it seems at least half are academics. I also only see one exhibitor - Sultan Records Management ( gotta like that name) signed up so far. They have like five media partners though, so let's hope some publicity leads to more interest. It seems to be being put on by group called Promedia International that does quite a bit of Kuwait. It's also being held under the "under the patronage of" H.E. Dr. Mohammad Mohsin Al Busairy, Minister of Communications, Kuwait.
Harvey Spencer has also tentatively scheduled a speaker from the Middle East at his upcoming capture conference.
Harvey Spencer has also tentatively scheduled a speaker from the Middle East at his upcoming capture conference.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Jan Andersson Leaving ReadSoft
You've probably already seen the report that ReadSoft's Jan Andersson is giving up his position as CEO of the company he co-founded 20 years ago. Instead, Andersson is taking a seat on the board of the $96 million document capture and business process automation specialist. The official word from Bob Fresneda, the managing director of ReadSoft's North American operations, is that Andersson wants to be able to lead from a board position, rather than having to focus a considerable amount of time on ReadSoft's day-to-day operations.
"Taking a company from a start-up to a $100 million company is a different job than trying to double that $100 million business," said Fresneda. "It takes some of the same vision, ability, and desire, but you can't do that while worrying about the day-to-day operations of the company."
"Taking a company from a start-up to a $100 million company is a different job than trying to double that $100 million business," said Fresneda. "It takes some of the same vision, ability, and desire, but you can't do that while worrying about the day-to-day operations of the company."
That seems like a fair statement.
Andersson's announcement came after the company announced a successful fourth quarter, for which it reported 7% revenue growth (13% measured in local currencies) over the 2009 fourth quarter and a 73% growth in operating profit. For the year 2010, revenue growth was nearly flat, with ReadSoft reporting a 6% growth when measured in local currencies. Operating profits were up 93% to almost $9 million. Clearly, however, when compared to Kofax's reported 20% growth in software revenue for the final six months of 2010, ReadSoft was losing some market share to its top competitor.
While 2009's 6% growth could be attributed to the economy, flat growth in 2010, while your competition is growing well into double-digits, is tough to swallow.
Andersson has certainly done a great job at ReadSoft for a number of years. ReadSoft was clearly an innovator in document-capture-based invoice capture systems, as the first ISV to realize how important a workflow piece was to the invoice equation, when it bought the SAP-experienced development organization Ebydos. But, in recent years, the rest of the market has been catching up, and ReadSoft hasn't been able to answer with another big move. Maybe Andersson felt it was time to give someone else a shot at doing that as CEO.
There's a lot of speculation I can make, and I'll do some of that in next week's premium issue, as well as have some more insights from Fresneda. For now, we wish Jan and the rest of ReadSoft the best with this transition. As a $100 million software vendor with a worldwide footprint and multiple Global 200 accounts, this is not an organization in trouble, but if ReadSoft wants to keep up with the aggressively moving Kofax, it's probably a good time to make some changes.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
BancTec Names President for Americas
Maria L. Allen has been named to what I believe is a new post as the Dallas-area-based document and transction capture specialist. Allen is Banctec's new president for the Americas, as well as a corporate senior VP.
Like a lot of the management staff that BancTec has brought on in recent years, Allen is a former EDS employee who was VP of global financial services outsourcing for HP Enterprise Services (where she oversaw worldwide BPO operations, portfolio strategy, and business development) before joining BancTec in August 2010. For the past six months, she had been serving as BancTec's group VP of global strategy and market development.
BancTec CEO and Chairman J. Coley Clark is also an ex-EDS exec who joined BancTec in 2004. Since Clark has joined the company, BancTec has increased its BPO revenue more than 10-fold, through a combination of acquisitions and internal growth. In 2009 (the most current public filing), BancTec listed $93 million in BPO revenue. This accounted for more than a third of BancTec's overall revenue of $273 million. BPO is obviously an important part of BancTec's strategy going forward, as the other three areas of its business all reported a decline in 2009.
In 2009, $147 milllion was reported as coming from the Americas region, which Allen will oversee, and $126 million from EMEA.
Like a lot of the management staff that BancTec has brought on in recent years, Allen is a former EDS employee who was VP of global financial services outsourcing for HP Enterprise Services (where she oversaw worldwide BPO operations, portfolio strategy, and business development) before joining BancTec in August 2010. For the past six months, she had been serving as BancTec's group VP of global strategy and market development.
BancTec CEO and Chairman J. Coley Clark is also an ex-EDS exec who joined BancTec in 2004. Since Clark has joined the company, BancTec has increased its BPO revenue more than 10-fold, through a combination of acquisitions and internal growth. In 2009 (the most current public filing), BancTec listed $93 million in BPO revenue. This accounted for more than a third of BancTec's overall revenue of $273 million. BPO is obviously an important part of BancTec's strategy going forward, as the other three areas of its business all reported a decline in 2009.
In 2009, $147 milllion was reported as coming from the Americas region, which Allen will oversee, and $126 million from EMEA.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Document Boss on Metastorm Acqusisition
Because the deal is not closed, apparently Open Text is not saying anymore than they already have (which hasn't been much) about the Metastorm acquisition. I really have not been able to find too much in depth analysis on the deal, but the best work I've seen is this piece from Document Boss.
Here's an excerpt: "BPM is increasingly being seen as the backbone of the ECM and related technology sector - the glue for managing the processing,collaboration and workflow of documents and data. Metastorm was a pure play BPM software provider, embracing Enterprise and Business Architecture, Business Process Analysis, and Business Process Management from a pure play platform approach...This acquisition is not only a good bolt- on to allow Open Text to further expand their ECM offering, but it allows them to be positioned as more of a major player in the BPM space, with access to increased market opportunities.
"In addition, the acquisition of Metastorm by Open Text speaks volumes about the importance of BPM and accompanying analytics, and we expect more core ECM companies to add robust BPM capabilities throughout 2011."
Here's an excerpt: "BPM is increasingly being seen as the backbone of the ECM and related technology sector - the glue for managing the processing,collaboration and workflow of documents and data. Metastorm was a pure play BPM software provider, embracing Enterprise and Business Architecture, Business Process Analysis, and Business Process Management from a pure play platform approach...This acquisition is not only a good bolt- on to allow Open Text to further expand their ECM offering, but it allows them to be positioned as more of a major player in the BPM space, with access to increased market opportunities.
"In addition, the acquisition of Metastorm by Open Text speaks volumes about the importance of BPM and accompanying analytics, and we expect more core ECM companies to add robust BPM capabilities throughout 2011."
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Open Text Buys Metastorm
So, by now, you've probably seen the announcement that Open Text has bought Metastorm. The question I have is why. Not that Metastorm isn't a good company in a good market - it's just that this seems like a bit of an odd deal for Open Text - most similar to the ECM ISV's acquisition of IXOS way back in 2003.
Why is the deal odd? Well, Open Text, which usually drives a pretty hard bargain, agreed to pay $182 million in cash for Metastorm, which depending on who you believe is 2 to 2.5 times Metastorm's annual revenue. My information had Metastorm on track for more than $90 million in 2009. The Seeking Alpha Web site apparently had the same info that I did, but is also reporting that "Open Text indicated that Metastorm was generating $70-75m in sales....However, we suspect that guidance assumes a bit of revenue write-downs and (perhaps) a bit of sandbagging."
Either way, Open Text does seem to be paying a bit of a premium by its standards, even if Metastorm has shown some impressive growth- it was reportedly a $25 million company just five or six years ago - and is in the fairly hot BPM space. The fact that Open Text is buying anyone that large for 2 to 2.5 times revenue in a still shaky economy comes as a surprise. I remember being similarly surprised by the 1.5 times revenue premium Open Text paid for IXOS eight years ago (IXOS was not in a hot space), but that deal's primary driver was that it gave Open Text an in with SAP, which it has certainly leveraged successfully.
Was the Metastorm deal something orchestrated by SAP, similar to Open Text's acquisitoin of Captaris for the capture technology that was immediately embedded in an SAP OEM offering? I don't know, but I certainly suspect there is more to this deal than meets the eye.
Any thoughts?
Why is the deal odd? Well, Open Text, which usually drives a pretty hard bargain, agreed to pay $182 million in cash for Metastorm, which depending on who you believe is 2 to 2.5 times Metastorm's annual revenue. My information had Metastorm on track for more than $90 million in 2009. The Seeking Alpha Web site apparently had the same info that I did, but is also reporting that "Open Text indicated that Metastorm was generating $70-75m in sales....However, we suspect that guidance assumes a bit of revenue write-downs and (perhaps) a bit of sandbagging."
Either way, Open Text does seem to be paying a bit of a premium by its standards, even if Metastorm has shown some impressive growth- it was reportedly a $25 million company just five or six years ago - and is in the fairly hot BPM space. The fact that Open Text is buying anyone that large for 2 to 2.5 times revenue in a still shaky economy comes as a surprise. I remember being similarly surprised by the 1.5 times revenue premium Open Text paid for IXOS eight years ago (IXOS was not in a hot space), but that deal's primary driver was that it gave Open Text an in with SAP, which it has certainly leveraged successfully.
Was the Metastorm deal something orchestrated by SAP, similar to Open Text's acquisitoin of Captaris for the capture technology that was immediately embedded in an SAP OEM offering? I don't know, but I certainly suspect there is more to this deal than meets the eye.
Any thoughts?
Xerox Acquires ISV/SI
Last week Xerox acquired DocuShare systems integrator WaterWare Internet Services. Water Ware, which is based in Northern California, near the Palo Alto Xerox office where DocuShare is developed, will do professional services and software development related to implementations of Xerox DocuShare implementations. They were doing this on their own previously, but now will do it in conjunction with the Xerox sales team.
WaterWare has already developed some software applications around DocuShare, including at least a couple that include some document capture functionality. We did a story last year on one of WaterWare's implementations at an L.A.-area hospital. WaterWare is named after founder Mark Waters who is now Xerox's DocuShare Solutions manager. We'll have more on this in our next premium issue.
The acqusition of an ISV/SI like WaterWare is another indication of MFP vendors' desire to move more deeply into software and services. I'm not sure that this fufills my beginning of the year prediction that an MFP vendor will buy a capture ISV, but on a small scale, this is certainly an example of that.
WaterWare has already developed some software applications around DocuShare, including at least a couple that include some document capture functionality. We did a story last year on one of WaterWare's implementations at an L.A.-area hospital. WaterWare is named after founder Mark Waters who is now Xerox's DocuShare Solutions manager. We'll have more on this in our next premium issue.
The acqusition of an ISV/SI like WaterWare is another indication of MFP vendors' desire to move more deeply into software and services. I'm not sure that this fufills my beginning of the year prediction that an MFP vendor will buy a capture ISV, but on a small scale, this is certainly an example of that.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Kofax Posts half-year results
The much-anticpated Kofax six-month results have been announced. As expected, they are impressive. Kofax reported 20% growth in its software business, up to $121.7 for the half-year period ending Dec. 31. Kofax also reported an adjusted EBITA of $23.5 million - up 192% from the previous year's six-month period. Kofax now has $69 million in cash (and from what I gathered talking to him a couple weeks ago, CEO Reynolds Bish is itching to invest that money, plus the $20 million from the distribution business sale, in an acquisition.)
Bish said in a press release related to the results that he expects, "our software business revenues to grow by approximately 14% on an organic, constant currency basis during this current fiscal year....we have now raised our longer term, sustainable target closer to a 20% margin."
CFO J.R. Arnold had this to say on Kofax's renewed success through its channels, "We continue to realize benefits from our hybrid go-to-market model with revitalized performance in our indirect channel, which generated 56% of applications software license revenues....OEM/POS revenues increased 6% to $12.7 million from $12.0 million in the prior year, reflecting a continuing recovery in this area of our business."
The hardware business, which was recently sold, continued to struggle. Said Arnold, "Revenue in the hardware business decreased 10% to $59.9 million in the first half of fiscal year 2011 from $66.8 million in the prior year, and its adjusted EBITA decreased to $0.2 million from $2.0 million."
Bish had previewed some of this success a couple weeks ago, but apparently for investors, the proof is in the pudding. As of this post, the stock had jumped 18% today, from somewhere around 3.5 pounds per share to over 4.25. Good momentum at Kofax. Let's hope it's a sign of strength throughout the industry...although at the recent Transform event in San Diego, Bish did say his goal was to "crush the competition."
Bish said in a press release related to the results that he expects, "our software business revenues to grow by approximately 14% on an organic, constant currency basis during this current fiscal year....we have now raised our longer term, sustainable target closer to a 20% margin."
CFO J.R. Arnold had this to say on Kofax's renewed success through its channels, "We continue to realize benefits from our hybrid go-to-market model with revitalized performance in our indirect channel, which generated 56% of applications software license revenues....OEM/POS revenues increased 6% to $12.7 million from $12.0 million in the prior year, reflecting a continuing recovery in this area of our business."
The hardware business, which was recently sold, continued to struggle. Said Arnold, "Revenue in the hardware business decreased 10% to $59.9 million in the first half of fiscal year 2011 from $66.8 million in the prior year, and its adjusted EBITA decreased to $0.2 million from $2.0 million."
Bish had previewed some of this success a couple weeks ago, but apparently for investors, the proof is in the pudding. As of this post, the stock had jumped 18% today, from somewhere around 3.5 pounds per share to over 4.25. Good momentum at Kofax. Let's hope it's a sign of strength throughout the industry...although at the recent Transform event in San Diego, Bish did say his goal was to "crush the competition."
Monday, January 31, 2011
OCR Accuracy Benefits
One of the often under-rated benefits of automated data capture technology is the accuracy improvement it can bring to a process. I was just typing a colleague's business card info. into Outlook (yes, I still sometimes use Outlook), and I accidentally typed the fax number into the field for cell phone. Luckily I caught it and saved myself the pain of hearing a loud screeching sound when I thought I was dialing a mobile phone number. As I typed in the correct number, I realized that would not have happend had a I scanned the card and used my OCR-enabled business card software, which I typically use for batch capture only.
So, yes, while we usually like to stress the productivity benefits - less manual keying - of OCR applications, there are certainly accuracy benefits as well, that can potentially further contribute to the ROI - how much depends on the value of your downstream data. Which brings me to a second instance of inaccurate data entry that I ran into this weekend: My wife had recently purchased a memorial service (I don't know if purchased is the right word, but...) for her father-in-law in our family's name. Well, wasn't it quite a surprise, when I received the church bulletin this week and saw the service was being held in memory of me! Whoops. The flowers have certainly brightened up the house though.
So, yes, while we usually like to stress the productivity benefits - less manual keying - of OCR applications, there are certainly accuracy benefits as well, that can potentially further contribute to the ROI - how much depends on the value of your downstream data. Which brings me to a second instance of inaccurate data entry that I ran into this weekend: My wife had recently purchased a memorial service (I don't know if purchased is the right word, but...) for her father-in-law in our family's name. Well, wasn't it quite a surprise, when I received the church bulletin this week and saw the service was being held in memory of me! Whoops. The flowers have certainly brightened up the house though.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Recent ECM Headlines
Lot of great news stories moving over the past few weeks, that you'll see links to in our free e-mailer tomorrow. If you're not getting it, you can sign up by signing up for a free trial subscription to our premium newsletter.
Some of the featured ECM headlines in tomorrows e-mail will include:
IIS Secures Venture Funding
Open Text Earns DoD 5015.02 Joint-Certification with SharePoint 2010
Major Publisher Licenses CVision's PDFCompressor
Square 9 Softworks Partners with Pintey Bowes Canada
Some of the featured ECM headlines in tomorrows e-mail will include:
IIS Secures Venture Funding
Open Text Earns DoD 5015.02 Joint-Certification with SharePoint 2010
Major Publisher Licenses CVision's PDFCompressor
Square 9 Softworks Partners with Pintey Bowes Canada
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New Kennedy Digital Archive
Today is being celebrated as the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. That is the one that contains the line, "Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country," among others. In honor of this anniversary, last week, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and the National Archives and Records Administration unveiled a digital presidential archive "providing unprecedented global access to the most important papers, records, photographs and recordings of President John F. Kennedy’s thousand days in office."
The new archive contains approximately 200,000 pages, 300 reels of audio tape containing over 1,245 individual recordings of telephone conversations, speeches and meetings, 300 museum artifacts, 72 reels of moving images and 1,500 photos. Technical details are available in this white paper. Technology partners participating include AT&T, Raytheon, Iron Mountain, and EMC. There are plans to digitize more materials as "staff and resources" become available. The library can be accessed at www.jfklibrary.org.
We'll conclude with this visionary quote by Kennedy, who seems to have predicted the rise of the document imaging industry, "through scientific means of reproduction…and this will certainly be increased as time goes on, we will find it possible to reproduce the key documents so that they will be commonly available…” Who knew?
The new archive contains approximately 200,000 pages, 300 reels of audio tape containing over 1,245 individual recordings of telephone conversations, speeches and meetings, 300 museum artifacts, 72 reels of moving images and 1,500 photos. Technical details are available in this white paper. Technology partners participating include AT&T, Raytheon, Iron Mountain, and EMC. There are plans to digitize more materials as "staff and resources" become available. The library can be accessed at www.jfklibrary.org.
We'll conclude with this visionary quote by Kennedy, who seems to have predicted the rise of the document imaging industry, "through scientific means of reproduction…and this will certainly be increased as time goes on, we will find it possible to reproduce the key documents so that they will be commonly available…” Who knew?
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