Kofax, a supplier of Intelligent Automation software to automate and digitally transform end-to-end business processes, has announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Nuance Document Imaging (NDI), a division of Nuance Communications, Inc.
NDI provides software to help organizations optimize their information-based capture and print processes from being labor intensive, error prone and costly, into becoming highly efficient, automated and secure, according to a Kofax press release. The company’s products assist organizations in complying with information security policies and regulations, reducing risk and ensuring employees have complete control over documents and information. Nuance’s cross-platform compatibility provides seamless deployment across multi-function printers (MFPs), printers, desktops and mobile devices. Nuance solutions deliver a consistent, familiar and intuitive user-experience for more efficient and natural interactions with technologies used to create, capture, print and process documents.
“Through the acquisition of Nuance’s document imaging division, Kofax will drive customer value by adding key technologies, including cloud compatibility, scan-to-archive, scan-to-workflow, print management and document security, to our end-to-end Intelligent Automation platform,” said Reynolds C. Bish, Chief Executive Officer of Kofax. “In addition we will now be able to combine the best capture and print management capabilities available in the market into one product portfolio.”
NDI is the recognized leader in worldwide device and print management. More than 6 million knowledge workers use NDI’s Capture and Workflow solutions. The company has more than 100,000 active deployments of its print management solutions. Through today’s acquisition, Kofax becomes the global leader in capture and print management, according to Kofax.
“Nuance’s comprehensive solutions allow organizations to streamline and eliminate gaps across the full spectrum of workflows spanning the lifecycle of documents from origin to archiving,” said Al Monserrat, EVP & General Manager, Imaging Division at Nuance Communications. “With Kofax, our customers will benefit from the complementary and expanded capabilities of Kofax’s Intelligent Automation platform with solutions that cater to their unique needs.”
The transaction is expected to close by the end of Q1, 2019.
Scott’s Upshot
We didn’t see this coming, but should have. Typically, Nuance is the company doing the acquiring. It seems like it was only last year””and it was””when Kofax was acquired by Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, from Lexmark International on May 3, 2017 when Lexmark’s new owners, NineStar, formerly Apex Technology, decided they didn’t want to be in the software business. Thoma Bravo acquired Kofax, ReadSoft, and Perceptive Software, the three brands making up Lexmark’s enterprise software business. Perceptive Software was then sold to Hyland Software, Inc., an existing Thoma Bravo portfolio company. Kofax and ReadSoft now operate under the Kofax Brand.
Now that we’ve got that straight, the Nuance portfolio, which is quite extensive, does indeed position Kofax as the global leader in capture and print management, as noted in the above press release. Any lessons learned by this acquisition is never underestimate the power of private equity money. We’re seeing its impact in the dealer channel, and now we’re seeing it in the solutions channel, we’re seeing it in the supplies space, and it’s only a matter of time before it has an equally prominent impact in the hardware space.
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