Documentum Partners Praise EMC, Buy But Have Concerns

Does EMC's acquisition of Documentum make sense?

Many Documentum partners think so, and believe it will have a positive impact on their business. Some, however, worry that EMC's approach to services could supplant Documentum's more partner-friendly model.

But for most partners, that remains more of a long-term worry than an immediate concern. EMC officials, after closing the $1.48 billion acquisition of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Documentum last month, said the company will continue to operate as an independent EMC division under the direction of former president and CEO Dave DeWalt, who retains the title of president and is now also an executive vice president of EMC. That includes maintaining its own sales channels and technology partnerships.

>> Partners expect Documentum to benefit from EMC's financial strength and marketing muscle.

To Documentum solution providers such as DeepBridge Content Solutions, New York, which focuses on the media market, that makes good sense. "I like what I'm hearing about the intelligent way they're handling the merger, which is they're pretty much leaving things alone," said Tony Freeman, executive vice president of DeepBridge. "They're not asking EMC sales reps to sell enterprise content management systems and they're not asking content management guys to go around selling big hard drives."

While it may take a year or more for technology synergies from the marriage to become evident, partners expect in the short term that Documentum and its solution providers will benefit from the greater financial strength and marketing muscle that EMC brings to the table, which Freeman called "rocket-fuel" effects.

Other solution providers agreed. "Indirectly, it does help us because there is going to be a lot more marketing by Documentum," said Jim Nasr, CEO of Amerdia, a Documentum consulting firm in Smyrna, Ga. "If it warms up the market, it will mean more opportunity for all the partners."

Solution providers also say they expect new market opportunities to be opened by the merger. For example, customers that consume a lot of storage also tend to require content management solutions and vice versa.

Partners also expect EMC's large direct-sales channel to be a significant source of leads for them. "We think EMC's marketplace will open Documentum up to more opportunities and, therefore, more service opportunities for us," said Ellen Reilly, vice president of Fujitsu Consulting, Edison, N.J.

But others fear that the merger could become a double-edged sword if Documentum partners come under pressure to push EMC storage solutions. More broadly, some partners fear that the danger would come from EMC subordinating Documentum's strategy to its own desire to sell more storage products.

Scott Doughman, senior vice president of SCT, Malvern, Pa., which OEMs Documentum's platform for its "digital campus" solutions targeted at colleges and universities, said EMC did a lot of due diligence in selecting Documentum, and he believes Documentum is moving in the right direction, though he is still cautious. "I want to make sure they don't end up dwarfing Documentum or derailing them from the direction they were taking their technology," he said.

However, Doughman,like many of Documentum's partners,sees the merger largely as a positive move in the long term. While SCT is focused on front-office solutions and end-user touch points rather than infrastructure, he sees value in the full information life-cycle strategy. "I see the blurring of the line and the evolution of our offering to reach further into the campus and serve their end-to-end needs," he said.

A few partners that are already fully engaged with both Documentum and EMC, such as Fujitsu Consulting and Dimension Holdings, Reston, Va., are particularly bullish on the marriage. Both report strong sales of EMC's Centera fixed-content storage array and envision more product synergies in the future.

"We couldn't be more excited because Fujitsu is a huge EMC partner globally," said Fujitsu's Reilly. "[EMC CEO] Joe Tucci's life-cycle management is exactly where we're coming from, from cradle to grave. We couldn't be happier."

But is Reilly worried about EMC taking more of the Documentum services for itself?

"EMC does have a services business. We'll see where that plays," she said. "That's something we're wary of and are keeping in mind."

Jerry Rodriguez, EMC business development manager for Dimension Data, is not worried about any changes to Documentum's professional services strategy. He pointed out that EMC is moving toward a more partner-centric model and that now, more than ever, it will need partners that can deliver both storage and content management solutions.

"Hopefully what happens is as the information life-cycle-management approach becomes more adopted across the IT world, there is a potential for lots of business for us and EMC," he said. "We're trying to focus strategy around scaling to put people in place to deliver more of the solution."