OpenText's CEO and CTO, Mark Barrenechea on Leadership and the Future of Web Content Management
Every year, Gartner publishes its report, The Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, and every year the industry waits to see where and how those little blue dots will move about, as a reflection of Gartner’s in-depth analysis of leading vendors.
Looked upon by many as a guide for companies to evaluate which Web Content Management 
solution would be right for their business, we here at CMS-Connected are always happy to see numerous vendors included in the report that we know very well. We often create a few conversations following the release focused on the recognition within the report, and showcase details of the platforms themselves but admittedly, when I reflect on the various businesses, I look through the lens of leadership and wonder what is on the mind of those at the helm of these companies, the CEOs themselves? Thankfully, upon reaching out, I was fortunate enough to gain access to the great mind of OpenText's CEO and CTO, Mark Barrenechea to discuss leadership, OpenText's recognitions by Gartner, and what trends and innovatons he sees on the horizon.
As CEO, what do you feel are the fundamental elements to leading a successful company?
"You do not need to be the smartest person in the room, but you need to be the best student and ask lots of questions. This means listening – to your employees, your management team, but most importantly to your customers. OpenText is 100% focused on delivering the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) solutions that our customers need to digitally transform their businesses. An example of this is our approach to the cloud. In today’s market the cloud plays a key role in digital strategy. OpenText is committed to having all our products and solutions available in both the OpenText Cloud, as well as third-party cloud providers. But, we also understand the cloud isn’t right for every customer. While all products are available in the cloud, we also deploy our solutions on-premises and in a hybrid environment that combines both deployment options.
Our mandate is to be our customers’ most trusted partner, to build strong relationships, and to make them hugely successful. This is a goal from the top of the organization down. To be successful, you have to listen to your customers to understand how to help them succeed, so you can succeed as well."
What do you feel OpenText has done to contribute to their recognition in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and how do you intend on keeping up that momentum?
"There have been two key factors to our success in the WCM space over the last 12 months.
The first is the release of OpenText Release 16, the most functionally and integration-complete Enterprise Information Management (EIM) platform on the market today. The OpenText Experience Suite - our WCM offering within Release 16 - helps customers to harmonize customer-centric technology applications across every department in the organization, whether the organization’s first priority is to get a handle on all of the rich media (video, audio, print, imagery, etc.) or to streamline its communications, invoices, or web presence.
The second key factor was our acquisition of the WCM and CCM assets from HPI. Bringing TeamSite and Exstream into OpenText, and immediately integrating them into the complete Release 16 EIM platform, has been key to delivering our Engagement to Insight vision for customers."
What are your thoughts on the WCM space? For example, what trends do you see on the horizon or where do you think we will see the most innovation in the coming months?
"The main trend will be the integration of analytics and insight - not only in the WCM space, but across all enterprise software solutions. Gaining insight should no longer be considered an 'add-on'. Organizations of all sizes need to maximize the value of the information at their disposal, and WCM can offer incredible insight into the behavior and preferences of the customer.
We have just announced the availability of Release 16 Enhancement Pack 2 (EP2), and a big focus of that release was around adding analytics capabilities, and enhanced user experience, across the entire product portfolio."
Laura Myers
A digital business, marketing and social media enthusiast, Laura thrives on asking unique, insightful questions to ignite conversation. At an event or remotely, she enjoys any opportunity to connect with like-minded people in the industry.