Why? Because EMC wouldn't focus on Documentum the way Documentum Inc. did, and that that lack of focus might impact his career as a seasoned Documentum professional.

King of Gloom and Doom, I called the guy. I pointed out all the reasons why the EMCing of Documentum could be a good thing.

But today, and, yes, today is just a data point, I think he may be right. Why?

Well, first because of what Chuck Hollis says in his in his June 25, 2007 blog post.

And Then Came SharePoint.......

For many years, people interacted with Documentum in a variety of ways, including eRoom.

And it was pretty clear to many of us that this would solve one of the fundamental challenges facing newer ECM applications -- no one had to learn anything new. Users could work in their native Microsoft environment, and get the back-end power that Documentum brought to the table.

I summarize the above to say something like:

"We surrender, Microsoft does it better"

"If you can't beat'em, join 'em"

and maybe even,
"We have more lucrative items on our agenda"

Now business-wise this may be a smart move. Why innovate when you can collaborate? I say this in jest.
Here's the EMC spin: The user is more comfortable with a Microsoft interface than with anything we can hope to create.

EMC is better at capturing content (CAPTIVA) and for managing it once it is stored (Documentum).

EMC is, after all, Where Information Lives, not how it's accessed or how it's presented.

At least one of our customers has already ingested EMC Kool-Aid. How do I know? "Well It's pointless to have Documentum without Captiva. It's all about Information Storage and retrieval," were his exact words.

So what does this mean to those of you who have built your careers as front-end Documentum experts? It's probably too soon to tell, but it's also the first time in my twelve plus years as a Documentum recruiter that I've heard EMC/Documentum say something like,

"Sharepoint was going to be such a powerful tool that everyone would want to use it. There was the problem, and there was the opportunity. So EMC wisely invested in a robust set of hi-def interfaces between Documentum and SharePoint/MOSS." (Hollis)

Where does that leave the Documentum Professional?

With the need to figure out how this affects them and to then position him/herself accordingly.

No Gloom and Doom from me. Not yet. Maybe not ever. The trick is to keep your eyes open AND on the road, and to do so NOT ONLY IN EMC World, but outside it too.

Any thoughts? You can post here or e-mail me directly Virginia@brilliantleap.com