In 2021, I highlighted that Tricentis had become increasingly obsessed with Micro Focus. Well, roll forward a couple of years, Micro Focus has been acquired by OpenText, but the obsession continues. As part of this infatuation, they’ve made some crazy claims, which I will dig into today.
To be fair to Tricentis, I understand why they’re doing it. Mercury Interactive –> HP –> Micro Focus –> OpenText have spent 25+ years developing the test tools market. It’s only natural that Tricentis want to take some of that business. But there are ways to go about it.
SaaS-first mindset
Let’s look at this podcast Tricentis released a few months ago regarding OpenText’s acquisition of Micro Focus.
Cyrus Manouchehrian, Director of Corporate Development at Tricentis, claims, “People should really start looking at vendors that are growing, innovating, and have modern solutions with a SaaS-first mindset. Tricentis has been doing this over the years.”
There’s a heavy implication here: Tricentis is investing in innovation, and OpenText isn’t. Fortunately, that’s not the case. OpenText has committed a huge innovation budget over the next five years and is laser-focused on SaaS products – as Micro Focus were.
Come on, Cyrus, you know better than this.
It is even more surprising that Cyrus would say this, considering who his last employer was. (Cyrus Manouchehrian on LinkedIn). As he says in the video, he previously worked for Micro Focus as a Senior Product Manager. His profile says…
“Responsible for and leading the $100M+ business for LoadRunner Professional and LoadRunner Enterprise (on-premises & SaaS).” So, he would know a thing or two about the Micro Focus SaaS strategy.
Here is just a small sample of the innovative SaaS-based OpenText testing products:
- LoadRunner Cloud – Class Leading SaaS-Based Performance Tool
- ALM Octane – Powerful SaaS-Based DevOps and Agile Quality Management
- ValueEdge Suite – all SaaS-based, including Functional Test – Revolutionary SaaS Based functional test automation
OpenText has many more SaaS-based testing products covering everything you’d ever need, and they’re being regularly updated with new releases roughly every three months.
Modern Test Tools
In this blog in September last year, Jonathan Boswell, Product Marketing Director for Tricentis, said many things that should be fact-checked; here are a couple worth digging into:
Firstly, “If you are a Micro Focus customer, chances are you were already thinking about migrating your Micro Focus tools to more modern alternatives.”
What, why, eh?! This is a bold claim!
I speak to many Micro Focus/OpenText customers and prospects daily, and none of them were or are considering change because they want ‘more modern alternatives’.
Why? Because the OpenText test tools are at the forefront of modern enterprise-grade testing solutions and support the broadest range of technologies and applications. You name it, OpenText offers it within their test tool suite:
- Codeless Testing
- AI-Driven Automation
- SaaS-Based Testing
- Chaos Engineering
- Network Virtualisation
- Service Virtualisation
- DevOps Pipeline Integration
- Value Steam Management (VSM) support
Secondly, “After all, ALM/Quality Center, UFT, and LoadRunner were built long ago to support yesterday’s software development process—not today’s Agile development and delivery cycles”
It’s true that ALM/QC and LoadRunner have a long and distinguished pedigree and have been leaders in the enterprise testing space for 20+ years. But they have evolved with the times.
There are so many thoughts exploding in my head:
- Why is heritage a bad thing? Yes, they supported yesterday’s software development methods, but they also support today’s and will support tomorrow’s. They have been enhanced consistently and are constantly evolving – Check out the video here.
- Companies need flexibility. Many people I speak to are doing a mix of traditional and Agile development, so they need support for older technology and waterfall.
- Compare the appropriate tools. Yes, the tools you name are not built exclusively for Agile development, this is why Micro Focus developed alternative tools years ago:
- LoadRunner Cloud is OpenText’s SaaS-based performance tool
- ALM Octane is OpenText’s Agile/DevOps-focused quality management tool
- ValueEdge Functional Test is OpenText’s SaaS-based AI-powered functional testing tool that enables testing anything on any platform from anywhere
Over the years, many test tools have fallen by the wayside – but the OpenText tools have continued to thrive.
Tools last when they do a good job and result in a positive ROI. If ageism is a reason to stop using software, we should all be hearing about the impending demise of SAP, Oracle, Windows, Linux and the Worldwide Web – all over 30 years old.
However, just like ALM/Quality Center, UFT, and LoadRunner, they’re all still evolving
Spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
I could go on about this all day, as there are several other inaccuracies on the Tricentis website, but hopefully, you get the point I’m making here:
Going after competitors is OK, but at least keep it honest.
This type of marketing used to be called spreading FUD (Fear, uncertainty and doubt). Now we would just call it fake news.
Thinking about it, maybe this is symptomatic of something other than envy. Maybe this is how Tricentis sees the world, through some sort of weird time portal.
Are Tricentis Stuck in the Past?
Does Tricentis’ marketing strategy signal how badly they’re stuck in the past? It is possible they’re out-of-touch with the broader test tool market and how everyone else has moved on.
Think about it, Tricentis staff are comparing their tools to older versions of Micro Focus tools. A quick Google search reveals all the modern features packed into the OpenText tool suite. But perhaps Tricentis, out of fear or ignorance, have just buried their heads in the sand?
Being generous, maybe they’re unaware of the great strides their competitors have made in recent years.
Alternatively, maybe Tricentis people are absolutely aware of the fantastic things happening at OpenText and are using misinformation as their last resort.
I’m not sure which is worse, general ignorance or lazy marketing.
Why OpenText/Micro Focus Customers Should be Excited
Cyrus mentioned the Forrester Wave: “Without a shadow of a doubt, I think that potential customers will start to evaluate vendors that are high in the Gartner Quadrant and Forrester Wave, where we’re quite biased here that Tricentis is a leader.”
As you can see from the Forrester Wave from Q4 2022, Micro Focus is firmly planted in the top right – indeed, higher than Tricentis:
Yes, OpenText will be different, but what I have seen and heard so far has impressed me. There will be investment, there will be innovation, and I fully expect we will continue to see the OpenText tools leading the way.
The world is a big place, and competition is healthy for the industry and customers, not least of all because it drives innovation and advancements. this is good news for all professional software testers. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.
In closing, I wish that Tricentis would choose a more positive form of marketing and focus on singing the praises of their tools rather than attempting to confuse and spread FUD.
OpenText tools are modern, innovative and affordable. OpenText has the perfect test tools for you, regardless of your company’s size, applications, or development methodologies.
