OpenText buys Cordys to expand BPM and case management

WATERLOO, CANADA: OpenText, a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM), has acquired BPM market leader Cordys.

The addition of Cordys affords OpenText customers the most comprehensive set of EIM and BPM software from a single vendor. Customers leveraging the benefits of their software today include: Siemens, Mercer, Pacific Blue Cross and Tata Steel. Cordys is based in Putten, The Netherlands.

"OpenText envisions a world where information and processes are fully integrated, enabling the next generation of Enterprise Information Management applications with out-of-the-box software," said OpenText CEO, Mark J. Barrenechea.

"The acquisition of Cordys will enable OpenText to offer the strongest process and case management platform in the business. It means that we are now able to offer the broadest set of BPM technologies, including a 100 percent native cloud-based BPM platform and PaaS solution, cloud orchestration, integration ESB, rules engine, business activity monitoring, social and mobile interfaces, and an application development environment all from a single vendor and single platform."

The acquisition also enables OpenText to more aggressively leverage indirect market channels such as ISVs, SIs, and MSPs, who will find the new BPM features and SaaS and PaaS deployment options to be an attractive platform for creating process automation solutions for their customers.

Increased system flexibility

The Cordys platform will enable OpenText to take a leadership position in cloud-based BPM and PaaS technologies, which due to the flexibility of systems development, are considered to be the fastest growing segment of the BPM market. The Cordys BOP (Business Operations Platform) was built from the ground up for the cloud, and features a multi-tenant SOA-based architecture with cloud orchestration capabilities to give OpenText customers the ability to choose from on-premises, cloud, or hybrid deployment for optimal systems performance and efficiency.

OpenText's customers will also benefit from many other technologies acquired through Cordys, including an enterprise service bus (ESB); a composite application framework (CAF) for rapid application development which includes mash-up and mobile interfaces; a process rules engine; process analytics and business activity monitoring (BAM); and master data management functionality.

The Cordys platform will provide OpenText customers with a robust platform suitable for all types of process and case-oriented workloads from a single system, and its highly modular architecture supports co-existence with other BPM systems, ECM (Enterprise Content Management) and CEM (Customer Experience Management) products, as well as third-party systems.

"We are very excited to be part of the OpenText family," said Art Landro, CEO of Cordys. "Our products will add exceptional value to their EIM suite of solutions, and will position OpenText as the leader in the cloud and PaaS marketplace. Together, we can provide customers and partners with a multi-tenant BPM and case management solution with cloud and hybrid deployment options, as well as support ISVs and MSPs looking to take solutions into their markets. The advanced BPM and PaaS technologies of Cordys, and the impressive resources, customer base, and global reach of OpenText make us the perfect team at the perfect time to take a leadership position in this expanding market."

Powerful process automation roadmap

The Cordys acquisition, together with the purchase of ICCM Solutions (announced July 31, 2013), extends OpenText's existing BPM and case management offerings to meet the needs of the most demanding enterprise customers. Highlights of the broader process automation portfolio include:

* The Cordys platform will be referred to as "OpenText Cordys" and will complement OpenText's existing BPM offerings.

* The existing BPM products will continue to be strategic offerings for on-premises solutions deployment, and will continue to receive product enhancements, full maintenance and support services, and professional services support in perpetuity.

* OpenText is planning to offer a unified user interface across its core on-premises BPM systems so that users can easily and uniformly access work items across multiple process engines.

* ICCM's Assure remains the solution for customers wanting to build smart process applications in-house, and also as the foundation for OpenText's packaged smart process applications offerings. OpenText Assure runs today on top of the OpenText MBPM platform and it will also be ported to the OpenText Cordys platform to give customers the flexibility to deploy their smart process applications in the cloud or on-premises.

The transaction is now complete and the approximate purchase price was $33 million.