Comparing Smart Communications and OpenText: What Matters Beyond Technology

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications 

Choosing the right customer communications management (CCM) platform requires evaluating more than product features. The best CCM vendors combine strong technology with industry expertise, proactive customer success, transparent product roadmaps, and long-term strategic partnerships. Organizations replacing legacy CCM platforms (like OpenText) often prioritize these factors alongside technical capabilities. 

Smart Communications has earned recognition for its best-in-class technology, technology that’s backed up by customer references, leader placement in analyst reports on AI, and innovation awards. But, selecting a CCM platform involves more than evaluating features and architecture alone.  

The real differentiators come down to whether your vendor understands your industry, listens to your unique challenges, and invests in your long-term success. Technology provides the foundation, but your vendor partnership determines whether you build something that lasts.  
 
As we grow, many of our newer clients have decommissioned legacy technology from OpenText in favor of SmartCOMM™ and SmartIQ™. If your goal is to choose a strategic partner that can elevate your customer experience, not just supply technology, start with these three questions:   

Many CCM vendors treat all customers the same, running the same implementation playbook, same support approach, and same compliance advice regardless of industry context. They react to your regulatory questions rather than anticipating them and strategizing with you to determine the best way to navigate change. 

Given increasingly complex compliance considerations, organizations operating in regulated industries like insurance, healthcare, financial services, and government, must look beyond platform functionality and evaluate whether vendors bring meaningful industry expertise to the relationship. Industry context can influence everything from regulatory preparedness to implementation approaches and communication strategies. 

Smart Communications supports customers through dedicated Vertical Specialists who maintain active engagement across their respective industries and track regulatory developments that will impact your business months or years before implementation deadlines arrive: 

 With Smart Communications, your concerns are heard and understood by people who understand your organization’s compliance context, competitive pressures, and customer expectations because they work exclusively in your industry. 

Organizations increasingly expect customer success models that extend beyond reactive support, but many vendors lack the professional services expertise to provide detailed sector-specific guidance. In contrast, Smart Communications assigns Customer Success Managers who work proactively with customers to identify opportunities for optimization, share relevant resources, and support long-term value realization. 

When additional expertise is needed, your CSM can engage with our Vertical Specialists to support the industry-specific challenges and evolving business requirements. Your CSM also guides you to new content and information relevant to your specific situation: case studies from similar organizations, regulatory updates affecting your communications, new capabilities that address challenges you've mentioned. This active partnership model means you're not just getting support; you're getting strategic guidance from people who know your industry and are aligned to your outcomes. 

3. Is Your Vendor Transparent About Its Product Roadmap? 

A vendor that doesn’t understand your shifting needs and share its roadmap leaves you unprepared for the future. With account manager churn destroying institutional knowledge at many vendors, misalignment with customers becomes inevitable as technology, regulations, and industry trends shift. 

Smart Communications supports customers through ongoing engagement models intended to strengthen alignment and future planning. 

Visibility into future platform direction helps your organization make more informed technology decisions. We provide customers with insights into roadmap priorities and opportunities to provide feedback that can help shape future investments.  

Relationship continuity plays an important role in long-term success. Our customers benefit from consistent points of contact who understand their business goals, operational requirements, and evolving priorities over time. 

We also invest in customer communities and peer collaboration through annual events like INNOVATE, where customers across the globe can exchange implementation approaches, optimization strategies, and industry perspectives.   

How Smart Communications Compares to OpenText 

Independent Recognition of Smart Communications  

Smart Communications is regularly evaluated by independent analyst firms across customer communications management, workflow automation, and digital archiving capabilities.  

These recognitions provide third-party validation of platform capabilities and ongoing    investment in innovation: 

These recognitions reflect how the platform is evaluated across multiple categories relevant to regulated customer communications. They also highlight a broader market shift toward cloud-native, AI-enabled customer engagement platforms that extend beyond traditional CCM capabilities.  

What Separates Success from Expensive Disappointment 

Technology creates the foundation for customer communications transformation, but many organizations also evaluate the expertise, guidance, and partnership models that help maximize value over time.  

Smart Communications combines technology investment with industry knowledge and ongoing customer engagement to support organizations as they evolve their communications strategies over time.  

Ready to Meet the Team? 

To learn more about us and how we can develop a strong partnership, reach out today. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What should I look for in a customer communications management vendor? 

CCM applications often last for years, so you need a vendor that has a long track record of delivering technology ahead of trends, innovating to the regulations impacting your organization, and helping clients maximize the value of the technology they provide.  

Q: Is technology the only factor when choosing a CCM platform? 

Definitely not. If the technology isn’t supported by a team that knows about all the changes impacting your industry, applications, and customers; you won’t be able to communicate at the scale and scope you want to serve your clients. Look for an organization with excellent account managers, strong support, post-sale success teams, and vertical experts who interface regularly with the development teams. Seek vendors with awards from customers in similar industries with similar applications, public case studies, and video testimonials. 

Q: Why do organizations replace legacy CCM platforms?

CCM platforms are often in place for 10 years or longer. Organizations replace legacy technologies for a variety of reasons, including: 

Q: Why is product roadmap transparency important? 

Product Roadmap transparency is critical for planning for the future. A vendor with a customer-facing roadmap, active Customer Advisory Board, and vertical experts who understand the industry is in position for long-term vendor customer alignment. Vendors must understand customers to ensure successful adaptations to whatever the future brings for technology, regulations, and customer preferences.