Talk:Precisely (company)

Requested Changes to Syncsort Wikipedia Listing
My name is Michael and I work in corporate communications at Syncsort. The current page is out of date, has a long list of products that is more marketing content that summarizing what Syncsort sells. I would like to share some changes that would fix the problems with accuracy about Syncsort, what Syncsort sells and Syncsort’s history and remove marketing-centric long product lists. I am hoping a disinterested editor might take a look to let me know if they have any feedback, and approve all suggested updates that meet Wikipedia criteria. My suggested changes are at this link Michael at Syncsort (talk) 19:16, 10 October 2018 (UTC)

Reply 10-OCT-2018
Please provide additional references from third party sources which are not reporting on company issued press releases, interviews, or other company sourced information. Regards,  Spintendo   21:21, 10 October 2018 (UTC)
 * 1) References 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are sources describing announcements made by the company, either general-type announcements of the company's activities (i.e., ref note #1, Syncsort has a vision to expand its big iron to big data addressable market) or announcements made through a proxy reporting on a company acquisition (i.e., ref note #3 Syncsort Strikes Again, Buys Trader's For HA as reported by IT Jungle). In the course of making these announcements, the company states various claims in those articles about its business, which have then been highlighted for use in this proposed Wikipedia request, with the company announcements working as the references. This is not impartial reporting on the company's abilities, which is what many of these claims are doing (e.g., "Optimize helps manage legacy system and cloud data infrastructure, including optimizing workloads, tracking capacity, and improving performance," as referenced by note #1 or  International sales visibility was accelerated after Computerworld published a front page story about the performance of the product, ostensibly as referenced by the non-existing note #10 [See point 2 below]). References where the company is not the sole provider of this information would be better suited to make these claims, as articles where the company is the dominant source of information are not the best to be provided.
 * 2) Reference 10 does not link to anything.
 * 3) Reference 12 does not provide a page number.

Suggested changes to content about former Syncsort CEO Aso Tavitian
Here's some suggested edits with relevant information about former Syncsort CEO Aso Tavitian's contributions to Syncsort. I am affiliated with Syncsort (head corporate communications) and am hoping an editor can take a look at these suggested changes. who helped me before with a prior request.

Michael at Syncsort (talk) 13:50, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Syncsort update at Pitney Bowes
Hello! I've proposed updating language related to Syncsort within the Pitney Bowes article at Talk:Pitney_Bowes. The current text is factually accurate but does not confirm the acquisition's completion and uses less than ideal sourcing. I'm submitting this request on behalf of Pitney Bowes, and I'm seeking assistance from editors to review this request and update the article on my behalf. Might someone watching this page be willing to help?

Thanks in advance. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:49, 16 March 2020 (UTC)
 * This request has been answered. Inkian Jason (talk) 16:12, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Request for Infobox Updates
Hello, I'm part of the communications team at Precisely and I have a few suggestions for improving the accuracy and readability of this page. I am familiar with Wikipedia's COI guidelines and will not be making any changes myself, so I'm hoping editors watching this page will be able to assist me. The best place to start is probably infobox, as it currently features one major inaccuracy and several incomplete or missing fields.

Our corporate headquarters is located in Burlington, MA (not New York and New Jersey, as currently listed). This is confirmed on the Global offices page of our website and in press coverage of the relocation, such as this article in BostInno.

The same BostInno source could be cited as a more recent confirmation of the number of employees (2,000 is still correct).

The infobox currently lacks a revenue figure. This Wall Street Journal article confirms Precisely's annual revenue was $600 million in 2020.

For the key people listing, would it make sense to add our our CFO (Pat Collins) and COO (Eric Yau)? Those positions seem to be listed on infoboxes for other private companies, and can be confirmed here.

I would also love to add the company's logo to the infobox. Could somebody help me with this? The company's logo file is available on our website.

Again, I will not be making any of these edits myself due to my conflict of interest, so I'm really hopeful editors can implement these updates after reviewing them. Happy to answer any questions. Preciselyned (talk) 17:45, 15 June 2022 (UTC)


 * I have made all your requested changes, except for adding the CFO and COO, as I don't think that level of personnel detail is warranted here. Better would be to add prior CEOs, prior revenue and staffing figures, etc.  Remember that this article is for the entire history of the company, not just the way it is now.  In particular, Syncsort the sort product was well known back in the IBM mainframe era, and the article needs to reflect that.  Wasted Time R (talk) 22:57, 15 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello there! It looks like my request above has been largely implemented by Wasted Time R. Very much appreciate your assistance with this! I will now close the request, as this matter has been resolved. Thanks again! Preciselyned (talk) 21:23, 27 June 2022 (UTC)

History section request
Hello Wikipedia editors. As noted in my Infobox request above, I work with Precisely and am seeking updates to this article. I'd like to address the History section next. I've put together a draft below that revises the current material to present a clearer, less convoluted accounting of Precisely's origins and growth. I aimed to improve readability and sourcing throughout, while also trying to maintain key claims from the existing text.

Whitlow Computer Systems

In 1968, Duane Whitlow and Stan Rintel founded Whitlow Computer Systems, a small company that developed high-speed data sorting software for mainframe computers. The SyncSort program that Winslow wrote operated faster than IBM's proprietary sorting programs, and by 1975 the company was used by more than half of Fortune 50 companies.

Syncsort

Whitlow Computer Systems formally changed its name to Syncsort Incorporated in 1981. The product name was stylized as SyncSort, with the second 'S' capitalized, while the company name retained the regular spelling. A 1983 survey of IBM customers running OS, OS/VS1, or MVS found that 75 percent were using SyncSort, and only 18 percent were using the IBM-provided sort utility.

In the 1990s, the company expanded into client/server environments with a Unix-based sort utility and a backup product. The company also developed data protection technology for Novell, but eventually transitioned its data protection focus to NetApp environments.

In 2004, Syncsort introduced DMExpress, which added extract, transform and load (ETL) integration capabilities, metadata management, and improved job management.

In April 2008, Insight Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Georgian Partners, Goldman Sachs, and other investors bought a majority interest in Syncsort.

In July 2013, Syncsort announced its data protection business would be spun-off, and later that year it was sold to an investor group led by Bedford Venture Partners and Windcrest Partners. Flavio Santoni, CEO of the newly formed data protection company, told CRN that "I joined Syncsort in 2009, and it was clear the company had two separate businesses: ETL and data protection. Both had different customers and dealt with different purchasing people. They were really two stand-alone businesses."

Later that month, Lonne Jaffe became CEO and Syncsort began a series of acquisitions that broadened its scope into the big data sector. In September 2013 Syncsort acquired Circle Computer Group, a mainframe data migration provider. In March 2015, Syncsort acquired William Data Systems, a network monitoring and security software company.

In October 2015, Clearlake Capital Group acquired Syncsort. Syncsort's president Josh Rogers was appointed CEO, with Lonne Jaffe remaining as a senior advisor to Syncsort’s board.

In August 2016, Syncsort acquired UK-based Cogito, a mainframe software company. The move underscored Syncsort's focus on linking mainframe database data with big data analytics. In December 2016, the company acquired Trillium, a provider of data quality and master data management tools.

In 2017 Centerbridge Partners acquired Syncsort along with Vision Solutions. Josh Rogers continued as CEO of the merged companies, which continued to operate as Syncsort and use the slogan “Big Iron to Big Data.” The phrase reflected Syncsort's ability to cover mainframe computers as well as cloud-based analytics systems.

In 2019 Syncsort acquired the software and data business of Pitney Bowes in a $700 million transaction backed by affiliates of Centerbridge Partners and Clearlake Capital Group. The deal roughly doubled the company’s size to 2,000 employees and expanded its service offerings to include data enrichment capabilities, such as location services.

Precisely: 2020s

In May 2020, Syncsort rebranded itself as Precisely. The new name reflected a pivot towards a broad category of tools centered around data integrity, and the company's service portfolio now included data integration, data quality, data enrichment, location intelligence, and customer engagement.

In March 2021, Clearlake Capital Group, in affiliation with TA Associates, re-acquired Precisely in a deal worth $3.5 billion. Clearlake had sold its majority stake in the company in 2017. The company headquarters soon relocated to Burlington, Massachusetts.

Following the deal, Precisely pursued a series of acquisitions that supported or expanded the company's existing service offerings. In 2021, Precisely acquired: Infogix, a provider of data governance and quality tools; Winshuttle, a Seattle-based automation and data-management company; Anchor Point, a wildfire data, modeling, and risk assessment provider; and CEDAR CX, an SaaS-based customer communications management platform. In January 2022, Precisely acquired PlaceIQ, a location intelligence provider.

As you can see, I slightly restructured the subsections in order to demarcate between the Whitlow Computer Systems, Syncsort, and Precisely periods. I also trimmed back some of the excessively detailed passages about the early years (while keeping key dates and claims intact) and added new details about more recent notable acquisitions.

I will not be making any of these edits myself due to my conflict of interest, so I'm hopeful that editors can review my draft above and then update the section if they feel what I've put together is an improvement. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to assist with this process. Preciselyned (talk) 15:27, 28 September 2022 (UTC)


 * I have added the history draft material you posted from the 1990s to present and I have simplified the sectioning along the lines you proposed. However, I have not trimmed anything out from the early years.  That text is important not only to the history of this company but to the history of the IBM mainframe world.  Wasted Time R (talk) 22:17, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the assistance, Wasted Time R. Your explanation about the early years makes sense. I just posted another request below about a proposed new Operations section that I'm hoping you can look at. Thanks again! Preciselyned (talk) 14:19, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

Operations section request
Hello again, Wikipedia editors. As noted in my previous requests above, I work with Precisely and am seeking updates to this article. I'd like to address the Operations section next. I've put together a draft below that is intended to REPLACE the current Products section. This draft includes basic operational details about the company (where it is located, who is the CEO, how many customers it serves, et cetera) followed by a Products subsection that replaces the current table with a very simple paragraph that lists out Precisely's core offerings.

Precisely is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. As of 2021, the company serves more than 12,000 customers, the majority of which are large enterprises, and has more than 2,000 employees. Josh Rogers serves as CEO.

Products

Precisely’s portfolio of software and data products is organized into five categories: Integrate for data integration products, including mainframe and IBM i integration and SAP automation products;   Verify for data quality, data governance, data observability, and master data management products;   Locate for location intelligence products, including geo addressing, spatial analytics, and mapping products; Enrich for data enrichment products; and Engage for customer communication products. Precisely's Data Integrity Suite combines the data integrity products into a single SaaS platform.

I think this paragraph version of Products is an improvement even though it's less detailed. Many of the product details in the current table are already out of date, and trying to keep listings like this updated with each and every product (along with supporting details and sourcing) seems like an overwhelming task.

Please let me know what you think. Per my statements above, I will not be making edits myself due to my conflict of interest, so I'm hopeful that others can review my draft above and then update the section if they feel what I've put together is an improvement. Preciselyned (talk) 14:17, 6 October 2022 (UTC)


 * I have added the first paragraph of material you gave to the lede, since it establishes basics about the company's location, size, market, and leadership. And I have added the portfolio description you gave to the products section.  But I have not removed the table of individual products, since that has different kinds of information that is still useful (even if it doesn't try to include every product).  As for your point about trying to keep material like this up-to-date, yes that is a big problem for any ongoing company.  But it is just as much a problem with the text you added – product grouping structures can change when a new head of product management comes in, product grouping names can change when new industry buzzwords emerge, groups of products themselves can be sold off or dropped or shuffled around, and so on.   There's no easy answer to the maintenance problem.   Wasted Time R (talk) 23:09, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Hello! My request above has been reviewed and implemented. I very much appreciate your help on this request Wasted Time R, and agree with your feedback. I have just one more smaller request that I hope to post soon. Meantime, I’ll go ahead and close this request, since it’s now been resolved. Thanks! Preciselyned (talk) 14:24, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

Introduction section update
Hello again, editors! Per my previous requests above, I work with Precisely and have been posting requests to improve this article. Now that the History and Products sections have been updated, I’ve got just one final request about the article introduction. My understanding is that the introduction should reflect and briefly summarize the content in the body of the article. To that end, I put together the following:

Precisely Holdings, LLC, doing business as Precisely, is a software company specializing in data integrity tools, and also providing big data, high-speed sorting, ETL, data integration, data quality, data enrichment, and location intelligence offerings. The company was originally founded as Whitlow Computer Systems before rebranding as Syncsort Incorporated in 1981, and then to Precisely in 2020. Its original, eponymously named product, SyncSort, was the dominant sort program for IBM mainframe computers during much of the 1970s and 1980s.

Precisely is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. As of 2021, the company serves more than 12,000 customers, the majority of which are large enterprises, and has more than 2,000 employees. Josh Rogers serves as CEO.

I trimmed away some of the jargony terminology that felt too technical for an introduction and also restructured the claims slightly so that the historical details come after the description of the company as it currently exists.

I will not be making edits myself due to my conflict of interest, so I hope that other editors can review my proposed introductory language and make the updates if they feel what I've put together is an improvement. Wasted Time R, since you’ve been so helpful on past requests, would you like to take a look? Thanks so much! Preciselyned (talk) 14:28, 13 October 2022 (UTC)


 * I have reworked the beginning text, largely as you suggested. Wasted Time R (talk) 12:42, 15 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Hello! My request above has been reviewed and implemented, so I’ll go ahead and close the request. Thank you, again, for all of your help on my requests, Wasted Time R. The page is much improved overall. Thanks! Preciselyned (talk) 19:14, 18 October 2022 (UTC)