I don’t think I intimated that the takeover was for WCM customer acquisition, but precisely that SDL want some kind of social media marketing tool to plug into their WCM.

My hope on the WCM side is that Tridion becomes a better product as a result of the acquisition. I don’t think that SDL would object to improving their product, would they? And similarly that the takeover opens up opportunities for partners.

My product information may be dated, but it is based on discussions with people who implement the software on a daily basis and on checking information from the corporate website (which I recognise is often the last place to get up-to-date information).

But my experience of customers is that — irrespective of the supplier — they nearly always survive on an earlier version of the software, so the latest product information is of use to people who haven’t bought licences but not much help to people who have.

The reasons for it are broader than the WCM business and it was widely reported that the Alterian “review of the business” was not for an acquisition – http://bit.ly/uDTTu1

However, we can hopefully draw a line under that – it’s an exciting prospect to have Alterian in SDL. Also worth noting – Alterian is being acquired by SDL, not our WCM division.

Your view of the Mediasurface sale to Alterian is also a little off. I don’t claim to be on the inside, but I know the other options facing the business would have mean’t your friends and mine (and me) facing the prospect of “spending more time with the family” back in 2007/8.

Philippe – Did you get a chance to look at some of the more contemporary ways of working with SDL Tridion – besides VB?

http://prezi.com/tzxk2w9ic284/developing-with-aspnet-mvc-and-tridion/

Cheers,

Ian

@iantruscott

Both you and I spoke regularly of the ’synergy’ that was to be had from the acquisition of Immediacy by Mediasurface but we both know it was bullshit. I had a drink last week with the last of the Immediacy folks who have now lost their jobs in the latest rounds of Alterian redundancy. Try telling them it was all about ’synergy’!

Likewise, we both know that the City savvy bosses at Mediasurface sold an underexperienced and naive Alterian a WCM nightmare to save the investments of the chairman et al at a time when the shareprice was plunging.

As Alterian was the only ‘marketing platform’ provider of note in the UK who has gained some market presence beyond the shores of our unilingual island this is as much about the customer base opportunities as it is about anything else.

I really hope that the opportunity Philippe expresses in his final paragraph comes to fruition but in today’s financial climate and with the old guard vendors looking increasingly pressured I fear this will go the same way as other such ’synergetic’ opportunities in this wonderful world of content technologies …

But, I think the main thrust of your post is to discuss the acquisition, rather than a detailed assessment of both products against the market.

I’d suggest that folks need to look beyond the apparent WCM overlap in this acquisition, especially this view that it’s motivated by WCM customer acquisition. A quick look at the numbers just does’t support that.

Alterian are not a proprietary WCM vendor – WCM is just one piece of a broader marketing platform.

I agree Philippe, Alterian were slow to realize the value of the acquired product assets, but consider the value of language technology and SM2 – rather than just WCM.

As this is still ongoing and not done yet, neither company can officially reveal the detail of what the future holds.

Cheers,

Ian

@iantruscott