OpenText bolsters AI agents, analytics; previews roadmap

OpenText's customers now have access to new content analytics tools, pre-built Aviator generative AI agents, and Experience Platform data management and communications capabilities from its latest quarterly release, Cloud Editions 24.4.

The company released the tools this week in conjunction with OpenText World 2024, its annual user conference, which was held in Las Vegas. Headlining the major update across all applications was OpenText Analytics, which incorporates formerly separate AI tools for sensitive and personally identifiable data classification, analytics and risk detection into one API. It is targeted at financial and healthcare customers, who use such tools for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and HIPAA compliance processes, among others.

Some of the cloud services were developed from properties OpenText acquired from Micro Focus for $6 billion two years ago. Deep Analysis founder Alan Pelz-Sharpe said OpenText made out well in the deal, having sold off some pieces, such as Micro Focus's hardware divisions. The gem of the acquisition, he continued, may end up being Vertica, which creates massively parallel processing databases.

Vertica is now integrated into the OpenText public cloud and embedded into many of OpenText's large-scale data products, business intelligence, and reporting tools, said Muhi Majzoub, OpenText executive vice president and chief product officer.

"It's clearly dawned on OpenText that Vertica was probably the jewel in the Micro Focus crown," Pelz-Sharpe said. "They've got a much more cohesive story on unstructured and structured data in the world of AI, and that there are real integrations with Vertica into Aviators [and other services]. They've done a lot in a year."

Among its AI agents, OpenText released an updated DevOps Aviator, which taps GenAI to surface user stories and to turn video software testing into manual steps for finding software defects. Content Aviator enables users to query unstructured data while preserving data access policies. Generative AI also drives Corporate Help Desk, which combines IT, HR and job-function help desks into one operations hub. OpenText joins other big tech companies, such as Microsoft and Salesforce, in developing purpose-built AI agents.

Also in the 24.4 release were cloud migration accelerators for Exstream customer communication management (CCM), which very large customers use to manage digital and paper messaging. For example, a U.S. national bank could deliver financial disclosures tailored to each state's compliance mandates where it has customers. According to Pelz-Sharpe, government, healthcare and financial institutions -- all highly regulated -- remain heavy users of CCM systems, which are rules-based and unlikely to be replaced with AI anytime soon.

Many CCM systems remain on-premises, but some longtime cloud-averse companies are rethinking their stances. Still, many of them will never go to the cloud -- and even if they do, these hidebound rules-based CCM systems are unlikely to be given over to AI anytime soon because they work well now as they are, Pelz-Sharpe said.

"My gut, based on my research over the years, is that 80-plus percent of CCM is still on-premises," Pelz-Sharpe said. "That market's been going through a big transition, but if you have a huge government department like Social Security or a big insurance company that is insuring people across 50-plus states, you're not going to rip those things out in a heartbeat."

Majzoub also previewed what OpenText has planned for its 2025 roadmap. More purpose-built AI agents are in the works, including those for CX and for content authoring, as well as autonomous testing tools for those agents.

Don Fluckinger is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial. He covers customer experience, digital experience management and end-user computing. Got a tip? Email him.