There can be many pitfalls during mergers and acquisitions, and while many of these are carefully researched during the process of due diligence – such as cultural fits and organisational synergies – technology fit is often the one that is left to chance.
M&As happen for many different reasons, but are mainly in aid of scale, customer acquisition, or growth. With so many strategies in place during these mergers, often the key focus is on the integration of enterprise data systems across both organisations and the success of that.
Technology, it seems, is not as big of a priority, because lots of companies don’t see it as a way of indicating success when they are looking to merge and acquire. The expense of merging technology can often be costly, and come with several time consuming challenges. But it has been widely researched, and for a merger to be successful, leadership in IT needs to occur in the early stages of the M&A, and it will equip the companies by helping them reach their goal level of success at an earlier stage and at a much lower cost.
1. Finding your fit early
The due diligence stage of a merger and acquisition is rightly a lengthy part of the process. It’s there to help the companies involved and their staff to feel comfortable throughout the entire merger, and to make sure there are no potential pitfalls that might make the companies extremely difficult to merge in line with the ultimate aims and goals of the plan. During this stage, it is really important to share information, but shared information regarding IT and technology is not always introduced at this stage.
We’d absolutely recommend that you do bring IT into it this early, as merging technology can be incredibly difficult, and should certainly not be an afterthought.
2. Mapping
This is the age of technology and therefore we should be leading with it. Most of the tasks we complete day-to-day at work probably involve technology, which is why we’re in real trouble if we suddenly find the way technology is used doesn’t mesh well when two companies merge together.
To ensure business as usual during and after an M&A, it’s important you map out your technology and how you use it, as well as the relevant steps you will need to take to merge them together in the most efficient ways, complete with things like deadlines, costs, and methods. With immediate goals in place, you’ll minimise costly system downtime and ensure customer service continuity. Planning must begin early to cover the audit of both company systems, then the merging of platforms planned out meticulously, with clauses for what happens if something goes wrong.
At all times, the goal should remain to combine entities, not to operate separately, so an infrastructure map for the newly formed organisation is paramount.
When it comes to sharing customer databases, leveraging economies of scale, and integrating new technology systems, planning should be taken even further. There’ll be duplicates across processes here, and these should be identified and understood.
The IT leadership team can then make a decision as to whether operations are joined on a single system, or integration paths are created, with the aim of solving challenges as they arise. This is particularly relevant for database systems that support areas like customer service, financial management, and core business operations. There’ll need to be a cost and benefit analysis for every item in the infrastructure.
3. Training and skills
A specialist change management team can focus on areas like role alignment, cultural shifts and more, but rarely is this principle assigned to the change of the IT environment. =
It’s not rare for organisations to feel confused post M&A, because this is a huge change, and it’s mixed with the desire to carry on business as usual. Training your IT team effectively, and making sure you have leaders who can effectively train other staff throughout the integration, will make this whole process easier.
If you have a change manager, they should put a plan in place that ensures that integration is managed across all systems from both entities on the first day.
4. Security of data, integrity and GDPR
Data is a commodity in any organisation, and it is crucially important it remains safe and secure at all times during the transitional process. A feature of due diligence is data protection, which has been the case since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in 2018. The acquirer will want to know how personal data is secured in the new organisation, if it’s in the customer contact systems, and if it has consent for use post M&A. If not it loses its worth, so it is well worth discovering this early.
5. Planning properly right from the start
As well as talking about your IT in the early stages of a merger, you need to start planning immediately to integrate your technology through mapping. This plan might change, but that is alright, as long as you’re at least taking some steps towards doing this properly.
There are many platform solutions to help with this already, so it might be a good idea to get a better understanding of these and how they work. Some of them can build test operations that create connections between two entities outside of live operations, which will allow you to test how the technologies integrate without impacting business as usual.
A change manager will know how to do this best, to make sure there is no:
- risk to data security,
- potential need for full system replacement, which may not be required.
Taking a planned approach, and taking it early, will tackle challenges, and help you be prepared for anything that may come your way.
Conclusion
Understanding the importance of the technological fit between two companies and finding ways to make it better can be essential to the success of a merger and acquisition.
But you don’t have to take on this incredibly complicated task on your own. A Change Manager will help you with all aspects of a merger, including technology integration.