Microsoft partnership ‘complimentary’ fit from biz growth standpoint: Adobe

After forging a strategic partnership with Microsoft to strengthen cloud-based customer experience management (CXM) tools, software major Adobe has said this partnership is a “complementary” fit for both the companies from the standpoint of business growth.

“The business model is pretty simple I would say. They (Microsoft) will build a lot of platforms and market ecosystem. We focus on selling our solutions. In fact, it is very complementary. We both sell (products) to enterprise companies,” Adobe executive vice-president Abhay Parasnis told FE.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media conference here on Tuesday, the first day of the ‘Adobe Summit 2019’, Parasnis, also the company’s chief technology officer, said, “We both are focused on same markets. We both have shared customers, so it is very complementary from our business standpoint.”

Asked whether the partnership will be based on a revenue sharing model, he declined to comment, stating the company did not disclose any of the partnership contracts. Earlier in the day, San Jose-headquartered software major announced key strategic partnerships with Microsoft, LinkedIn, which the Satya Nadella-led company had acquired in 2016, and ServiceNow to accelerate customer experience management across enterprises. “Customer experience management is the unlock to digital transformation and Adobe is leading the way through continuous innovation in Adobe Experience Cloud and through key partnerships with ServiceNow, Microsoft, LinkedIn and SAP,” Adobe president and CEO Shantanu Narayen said.

“It is clear that Adobe pioneered digital marketing at the enterprise category. But we would not be standing still. We are now focused on helping you capitalise on much broader customer experiences management opportunity. And that is why we built this new platform to address and meet needs of digital enterprises. But, it is also why we are making significant new investments to expand our offerings with Experience Cloud to help you accelerate the next phase of transformation,” Narayen said during his speech in the opening session.At the summit, the company unveiled its latest Experience Cloud innovations, including Adobe Commerce Cloud and Marketo Engage, as well as global availability of Adobe Experience Platform. Notably, the company had acquired Marketo and Magento last year.

Narayen said his company’s investment in the Experience platform was significant, and both Marketo and Magento were demonstrating success in integrating with its systems. The software company also unveiled the next generation of Adobe Sensei, its AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning technology, that is embedded into its Experience Cloud solutions, driving deeper insights, real-time decisioning and smarter work flows.

Asked about further acquisitions for inorganic growth, Narayen said right now his company would not go for any aggressive acquisition. “Having said, that we are looking for some small company. We would be unlikely to tell you which company I was looking.” Adobe had reported an annual revenue of approximately $9.03 billion in FY18, which represented a 24% year-on-year growth.