Not sure about the partnership between IBM & FileNet that you speak of other than basic platform support etc that no enterprise software vendor could exist without. FileNet and IBM have traditionally been very fierce competitors in the imaging space. In fact it is highly unusual not to see both on a short list for high end imaging. Far from consolidating with a partner – my take is that they have consolidated with a rival that often got the better of it.

Likewise on the BPM front, I agree that all BPM/workflow by defintion is process oriented. But they are all not equal. For high volume fixed image/document throughput FileNet is the clear leader in the market, and this alone adds nicely to IBM’s porfolio.

Basically now you have a choice of IBM/FileNet or arguably EMC (who have improved in this area recently, though they still have a lot of integration and alignment work left to do particurlay with the Legato portfolio) and I guess somebody like Hyland making up the numbers.

For buyers I think of high end imaging systems (many of them)it is a big loss of choice.

I also wonder about your comment on ECM being difficult to articulate its value?? As a software category it is growing at a pace far higher than almost any other category, and we (Wipro) are booming in the area (2100 consultants focused on this alone globally)

Not sure about the partnership between IBM & FileNet that you speak of other than basic platform support etc that no enterprise software vendor could exist without. FileNet and IBM have traditionally been very fierce competitors in the imaging space. In fact it is highly unusual not to see both on a short list for high end imaging. Far from consolidating with a partner – my take is that they have consolidated with a rival that often got the better of it.

Likewise on the BPM front, I agree that all BPM/workflow by defintion is process oriented. But they are all not equal. For high volume fixed image/document throughput FileNet is the clear leader in the market, and this alone adds nicely to IBM’s porfolio.

Basically now you have a choice of IBM/FileNet or arguably EMC (who have improved in this area recently, though they still have a lot of integration and alignment work left to do particurlay with the Legato portfolio) and I guess somebody like Hyland making up the numbers.

For buyers I think of high end imaging systems (many of them)it is a big loss of choice.

I also wonder about your comment on ECM being difficult to articulate its value?? As a software category it is growing at a pace far higher than almost any other category, and we (Wipro) are booming in the area (2100 consultants focused on this alone globally)

Not sure about the partnership between IBM & FileNet that you speak of other than basic platform support etc that no enterprise software vendor could exist without. FileNet and IBM have traditionally been very fierce competitors in the imaging space. In fact it is highly unusual not to see both on a short list for high end imaging. Far from consolidating with a partner – my take is that they have consolidated with a rival that often got the better of it.

Likewise on the BPM front, I agree that all BPM/workflow by defintion is process oriented. But they are all not equal. For high volume fixed image/document throughput FileNet is the clear leader in the market, and this alone adds nicely to IBM’s porfolio.

Basically now you have a choice of IBM/FileNet or arguably EMC (who have improved in this area recently, though they still have a lot of integration and alignment work left to do particurlay with the Legato portfolio) and I guess somebody like Hyland making up the numbers.

For buyers I think of high end imaging systems (many of them)it is a big loss of choice.

I also wonder about your comment on ECM being difficult to articulate its value?? As a software category it is growing at a pace far higher than almost any other category, and we (Wipro) are booming in the area (2100 consultants focused on this alone globally)