Lexmark adds content management to portfolio
Printing company Lexmark is building up its software arm with the purchase of enterprise content management (ECM) developer, Perceptive Software, as part of the company's efforts to move beyond just providing the hardware for print and document management services.
According to Lee Lee Ken, general manager of enterprise sales and services, printing solutions and services at Lexmark Asia-Pacific, ECM is a "growing segment" for the company in the enterprise space, which makes the decision to fork out US$280 million to acquire Perceptive Software earlier this week a sound one.
"The software business provides new revenue streams in software maintenance and professional services that are not paper usage-dependent," Lee added in the e-mail to ZDNet Asia.
Additionally, Perceptive Software's products offer quick and easy integration with existing legacy systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, which would help Lexmark better assimilate the new buy into its portfolio of offerings, she noted.
Lexmark Chairman and CEO Paul Curlander, said in a press statement that the acquisition "builds upon and strengthens [Lexmark's] current industry workflow solutions" and will broaden the portfolio to existing customers, which include those utilizing its managed print services.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Lee said the Perceptive Software acquisition will Lexmark from other hardware competitors and be a "core component" for the company's long-term strategy to build its business around industry workflow solutions, software and services.
Perceptive Software is expected to be a standalone entity within the Lexmark organization with current president and CEO, Scott Coons, retaining his current title as well as acquiring a new position as a Lexmark vice president reporting directly to Curlander.
Asked if there will be any major organizational changes within the company, Lee revealed that one of the main reasons Lexmark sealed the purchase was Perceptive Software's human capital, as well as its software technology and path-to-market knowhow.
As such, while the companies will "review redundancies", she expects the "vast majority of [Perceptive] employees" to be retained.