First things first: Who is Acquia?
Acquia is a long-established leader in managing textual website content. With open-source Drupal at its core, the Acquia digital experience platform (DXP) enables marketers, developers and IT operations teams to quickly develop and implement digital products and services.
Widen acquired to expand this DXP strategy
When asked why Acquia has acquired Widen, Lynne Capozzi said that, simply put, it’s to obtain two additional pieces for its DXP platform: DAM and PIM. These additional products will enable users to manage content outside of just text content. Although through Drupal, Acquia has always offered the ability for users to manage their text-based content, the acquisition of Widen will allow users greater control over things like images and videos.
In a statement, Matthew Gonnering, CEO of Widen, said: “Content is the heart of any digital experience. It influences action across marketing channels; email, social media, content management systems, marketing campaigns, ecommerce, product information management and more. By combining with Acquia, a company that shares Widen’s belief that radical innovation starts with commitment to customers and the community, we will continue to rapidly innovate our solutions to support the first and only open digital experience platform.”
Widen’s marketing strategy to remain untouched
Asked about what changes will occur in terms of the actual marketing strategy, Lynne replied: “We’re going to bring Widen into the Acquia family and brand. So, initially, Widen will be ‘Widen, an Acquia Company’, which is what you see on the site today, but gradually we’re going to transition to Acquia DAM, Acquia PIM and so on to bring the brand equity that Widen has over into Acquia.”
“Widen has over 700 customers,” Lynne added. “We want to maintain that customer loyalty and community. All of that will continue – it will just be under the Acquia brand and family.”
Ensuring a smooth transition is the key focus
Asked about what the key challenge is for the marketing team, Lynne said it’s just a case of ensuring a smooth transition for Widen customers. “Widen’s doing some great marketing. The amount of content they provide; the training; the product information; the use cases… All of that will continue. They’re a content machine, and that will continue for customers. Acquia will simply continue to support that.”
Lynne added: “The support that Widen provides its customers through content is actually a best practice, and that’s something we’re going to take over to Acquia.”
Further acquisitions on the cards?
Asked about the longer-term strategy for Acquia, Lynne said: “We’re always looking to expand our DXP platform. We can expand that both organically, by home grown products, and through acquisition, and we will continue to do that. We will continue to expand that portfolio so that we can provide a full DXP solution for customers. That’s our strategy.”
In particular, Lynne mentioned that Acquia is investing in low-code tools for marketers. This will mean users won’t need to continually jump over the wall to IT to get something developed, because they have the freedom to do it themselves.
