SAP may buy stake in Indian ECM vendor NewGen

Rumors are flying that SAP may buy a 15 percent stake in Indian ECM vendor NewGen. According to Alan Pelz-Sharpe at CMS Watch, SAP has been linked with a number of ECM purchases in the past, including most notably Open Text, but has never pulled the trigger. After Oracle bought Stellent to get into the ECM game full bore, it seemed only logical that SAP would follow suit, but so far they have stood pat.

NewGen would be a good choice for SAP, since it has SAP integration in place (but then, so do most ECM vendors). Whether they go forward this time or not remains to be seen. An SAP-sanctioned solution would make a lot of sense, as it could make the argument (as Oracle no doubt has done with Stellent) that its in-house solution would work best with SAP functions. It is certainly puzzling that SAP has held back as long it has. Perhaps a 15 percent stake would be the first step toward a full take-over, but as of now, it's pure speculation. Given its past track record with ECM purchases, it's hard to know what SAP will do this time.

For more information:
- read the full CMS Watch entry