Though not as well known as some Texas-based, Gimmal is one of the most established Information Governance software vendors and has been for many years. However, in the past couple of years, it has been on a spending spree. Indeed, in the past couple of weeks alone, it has made two acquisitions. So what’s going on? To figure that out, we need to step back in time.
Gimmal was founded by industry veteran Mike Alsup in 2002 and focused initially on developing and implementing Documentum solutions, later expanding to embrace the wave of interest in Microsoft SharePoint. Over the years, it established itself as a key player, and over time, product developer in the ECM and Records Management sector, particularly in highly regulated industries. However, things changed significantly in 2017 when Gimmal was acquired by Rubicon Technology Partners, a private equity firm with a history of building collaborative efforts across its companies’ portfolio. Since that time, Gimmal (under the Rubicon portfolio) and now led by CEO Mark Johnson, has acquired (In all likelihood more acquisitions are in the works):
Prodagio Software (2016) – Contracts Lifecycle & Accounts Payable
RecordLion – Information Governance
Infolinx – Physical Records Management
ECM Wise – File Migration
So in three short years, Gimmal is rising the food chain to become a key player in the industry. Though still focused on regulated industries, its reach is expanding well beyond its traditional focus. And this is where things become interesting, for if we were to believe the industry hype, a firm like Gimmal would not be in growth mode. Instead, it would be weathering a storm of big brands like Microsoft, Box, Dropbox & Amazon essentially commoditizing their markets. In reality, though, as we have loudly proclaimed regularly in our research, information management is complicated and hard to do well, indeed in a world of more and more information and increased regulation, the challenges grow more significant by the day.
Moreover, as the most recent acquisition of Infolinx indicates, paper documentation is not going away at the pace or rate people imagined. Scanning bureaus are plentiful and profitable, and physical storage needs continue to grow. Though some Information Management software that was once costly and complex is now cheap and easy to use, the sheer volumes that firms have to manage daily overload their capacity to effectively govern and manage the information. AI & Machine Learning play a significant role in today’s Information Management world, as does the Cloud. We believe Blockchain will also play a role as we move forward. Yet for all the improvements in technology, Information Management remains (largely) a services business. Even so, you can’t easily rip and replace or conveniently forget existing data and content mountains. Nor can you ignore the danger of dark data silo’s and very few are truly prepared or able, to meet demanding regulatory compliance requirements, even in the most regulated industries. An AI-driven Information Management sector is already with us, technically. But practically, we have a very long way to go and many files, documents, folders, and data to deal with in the here and now.
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