ECM Report

Nice product synergy and what appears to be a good price make this deal a win for the Stellent community. But what of the Optika community?

Product Synergy
At first glance, when looking at the product offerings from each company one would surely notice what appears to be very similar product stacks. Both claim to provide document management, document imaging, records management, and collaboration. Stellent brings Web Content Management expertise and Optika brings Imaging and better Workflow. What doesn’t appear on the surface, however, is the robustness of each these areas of core functionality. In actuality, Stellent and Optika, in many ways, are inverted mirrors of one another when looking at their crossover offerings. Where one has a weakness, the other has strength. Optika has roots embedded deeply in the imaging and workflow arena where they had been a technical innovator for years, though they have stagnated a bit recently. Those core competencies will significantly enhance the Stellent offering. Though the backend infrastructures are not on the same page (J2EE vs. MS), from a purely product perspective, I think this is actually a very good fit.

Stellent and Optika Customers
Based on the product synergy, I don’t know how they couldn’t see this as a positive deal. Of course, execution is key, but the pieces are there for a solid offering.

Stellent Investors
The dollars and cents of the deal itself, at least after my cursory glance, appears to be a pretty good bargain. Assuming the technology plays together and the Optika channel can be smoothly transitioned to a Stellent channel, the combined entity should be in a position for growth.

Optika Investors
Probably a group with a potential beef. The Optika stock holders did NOT receive any sort of premium. At current prices, they are pretty much getting face value. Basically a straight conversion from one stock to the other. But as all deals, the merits of the combined entity moving forward will ultimately determine their success (or failure).

Summary
As we are seeing with the rest of the industry, the niche players are likely going to have a hard time competing with their larger competitors with broader ECM offerings. Like many other companies that have been recently acquired, Optika’s products are probably a better fit as a component of a larger solution than the entire solution itself. The combined solution offered by Stellent, if executed upon properly, has much potential.