Pelz-Sharpe Alan Pelz-Sharpe

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SAP, EMC, and Open Text - Who cares?

22-Feb-2010

Tags: Component Content Management, Digital and Media Asset Management, Document Management (ECM), E-mail Archiving and Management, Enterprise Collaboration & Social Software, Enterprise Search, Portals and Content Integration, Web Content Management, Marketplace at Large, Selecting Technology, Vendor Viability & Financials

Over the last few weeks there has been a flurry of media interest in the fact that SAP is reselling EMC Documentum and Open Text products. It's a flurry (bordering on blizzard) that is of little or no relevance to actual buyers of these software products. 

Though critical to the vendors themselves, and interesting to a tiny subset of society who actually find "the market" of interest, it has little relevance to buyers of these technology offerings. Whether you buy directly from the vendor, through a partner like SAP, or from any other part of a vendor channel, you will be buying exactly the same software, at pretty much the same price.

What should be important to you the buyer, is that you find a seller that you can relate to and can trust. A seller who understands, or at least makes a good effort to understand, your specific needs and concerns. Never assume (as so many others have to their cost) that buying directly from the software developer will ensure you have people there that understand you, or  understand the product they are selling.  The truth is that deciding who to buy from can be as much a part of any good due diligence program as can selecting the preferred technology. And just as surely watching market moves such as those of the past few weeks is little more than a distraction.

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