The expensive part of selling software often happens before anyone starts using it. Find the customer, earn a meeting, demonstrate the product and persuade people to trust you. A company that already has the relationship gets a useful head start.
That’s what caught my attention at OpenText World. The next stage of artificial intelligence (AI) spending doesn’t require every business to tear out its existing systems. For suppliers already inside those businesses, it creates an opportunity to offer more.
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Start with familiar
A customer might begin by asking AI to find documents or prepare summaries. Later, it may want software that updates records, routes requests or coordinates tasks across several systems. Each step can require additional products, implementation help, and support.
Selling more to existing customers can be attractive because the supplier knows something about their operations. It still has to prove the value, and some new features may be included in existing subscriptions. The opportunity becomes revenue only when customers agree to pay.
That distinction is especially useful when choosing Canadian AI stocks. The strongest pitch combines a plausible new service with a practical route to the buyer.
A broader conversation
OpenText (TSX: OTEX) has that route through its information management customers. During our interview, chief sales officer Todd Cione described “One OpenText,” an approach intended to bring more of the company’s capabilities into conversations with its largest clients.
He also pointed to more than 300 additional sellers, referencing previously discussed investments. The idea is to give customers a broader view of what OpenText can provide, supported by partners, instead of approaching them through separate pieces of the business.
Muhi Majzoub, executive vice president of customer advocacy, described the customer side of that opportunity. Companies can start with basic AI features and progress toward building agents and connecting them across business processes. Their starting points differ, so the spending doesn’t need to arrive all at once.
The existing sales evidence is encouraging. Fiscal 2026 enterprise cloud bookings increased 22.5% to US$947 million. OpenText defines these as new, committed contracts incremental to existing enterprise contracts. They aren’t all AI sales, and contract value doesn’t become recognized revenue immediately. However, they do show that customers are making additional commitments.
Get a share
OpenText also returned cash to shareholders during the year. Meanwhile, for valuation, the latest declared dividend annualizes to US$1.12, currently offering a yield at about 4% at writing. That gives the growth opportunity an income component for investors considering dividend stocks.
The execution risk is straightforward. Additional sellers and development work cost money before they produce results. Selling several products to the same customer can also take time, especially when security teams and purchasing departments need to approve changes.
Cione identified organic growth as a way to judge success when I asked what to check a year from now. I like that yardstick. Growth from the underlying business would make the case stronger than a bigger collection of products alone.
Now, Cione states he is in the “organic growth business.” That’s growth from operations rather than simply buying another company. For shareholders, successful execution could bring additional revenue from the existing product range, with partners helping introduce those products to more buyers. It gives this strategy a concrete commercial purpose beyond adding AI to the presentation.
Bottom line
I’d buy OpenText for the chance to earn more from relationships it has already built. Customers don’t need to climb the entire AI ladder tomorrow. A steady progression into additional paid services could give patient shareholders years of growth to participate in.
