Documens Boss

2009 has been a special year for many of the companies we have been in contact with in the ECM, BPM & BPO sector. At the beginning of the year, the majority of the companies stated quite confidently that they didn’t expect to encounter any significant problems caused by the credit crisis. On the contrary, the majority of them believed in the forecasts of many analysts or guru’s that the crisis would work out well, generating increased demand for ECM and BPM solutions. The general consensus was that there would be a greater need for compliancy and an increasing need for records management to ensure all information remained accessible.
 
 
During Q2 we witnessed a significant change in attitude as a significant number of companies were simply confronted with a shortfall in demand from their existing clients, where projects were put on hold, delayed or even worse, cancelled. In addition, winning new business from new clients became more competitive than ever. We noticed that a considerable number of companies were confronted with price erosion.
 
 
We were first aware of the change in attitude when we witnessed an enormous increase in demand for our M&A services from companies who had become distressed and simply wanted to re-evaluate their strategic growth options. During Q2 and Q3, this interest was primarily from companies interested in finding a potential buyer. We had expected much more interest on the acquisition side of the M&A equation, but this didn’t occur until Q4, when we observed strong demand for our buy services. Several new buy mandates were signed up during this period.
 
 
Perhaps quite obviously, and in line with the above, we also noted a drop in our executive recruitment figures during 2009, though this began in Q1 and had already picked up again during Q3. We are currently seeing strong demand for new investment in sales capacity and senior management placements. 
 
 
All in all, 2009 was a bit of a rollercoaster in Europe. There were unexpected changes, sometimes very late in the M&A process. A few deals didn’t complete because of the credit crisis, simply because the buyer had to borrow money which wasn’t available at sufficiently attractive rates. In 2008, similar deals would have gone ahead.
Despite the rollercoaster effect, 2009 was a good year for us. We had predicted a perfect year for our business and whilst it turned out fine, we hope that 2010 will be a bit less nerve racking than 2009.
 
 
I would like to wish all of our clients a relaxing holiday period and look forward to meeting up early in the New Year.