Experiencing Mergers & Acquisitions

Mergers & Acquisitions are continuing to accelerate as a business growth strategy. Here are some key indicators that you may have issues with your M&A integration which could limit realizing the full value of the deal and even create new problems for your organization:

• Minimal or strained alignment of Business and IT in integration initiatives ("IT takes too long to complete.")

• Logins requiring validation of physical location (e.g. choosing your area/state when logging in)

• If active in M&A, incomplete integrations leading to duplicate systems and technical debt (e.g. multiple ERP systems in place, often aligned with geographic markets or LOB’s)

• Resource constraints - the same resources perform M&A integration projects while performing day-to-day     operations and other improvement projects

To help you avoid these pitfalls, here are some recommendations to create a successful M&A integration strategy and methodology by getting the right people involved, at the right times, taking the right steps in the right sequence to provide the right information to your organization.

Integration Methodology

Having defined integration activities applicable in different business growth scenarios can improve time to completion. Our recommended methodology is divided into three phases – Integration Strategy and Structure, Integration Planning, and Integration Execution – and while setting forth a disciplined and structured approach, is flexible enough to customize and scale for each specific initiative.

Integration Governance

Oversight provided via an Integration Management Office (IMO) function, whose size and requirements will vary depending on the type of integration activities, from a single integration leader and project manager to a dedicated team made up of internal and external resources is not a luxury. An integration leader should be identified to interface with the key business decision makers as early as possible in order to understand the value drivers. This also helps to ensure business decisions critical to the success of the integration are identified, vetted, and utilized as guideposts for the integration team.

Clear Team Structure

Assigning dedicated key resources with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, both for individuals performing work and the interactions between the different roles, is critical to integration speed and success. In the event a full dedicated Integration Leadership Team is not a possibility, the below roles and corresponding dedication levels should be implemented:

·      Integration Leader – dedicated to the effort 100% through the Go Live date, with partial dedication until the end of the integration activities as deemed appropriate by the Executive Sponsor

·      Integration Project Manager – dedicated to the effort 100% until integration activities are complete

·      Data Architect Lead – dedicated to the effort 100% through consolidation and integration of business data

·      ERP Lead – dedicated to the ERP Integration 100% until complete

·      Business Solutions Analyst Lead - dedicated to the effort 100% until planning stages complete, with potential reserved cycles for significant changes during execution

Data Strategy

Developing and implementing a robust Master Data Management strategy, where the data that is key to answering critical business drivers such as “who are our most profitable customers?”, “what is our sales data compared to market data?”, “what product(s) have the best margins?” or other key performance metrics quickly is critical when engaging in business growth initiatives.

IT/Business Partnership

As mentioned previously, creating a close alignment between key business and IT leaders on crucial business growth objectives is essential. A jointly created and operated integrated playbook with a focus on aligning IT and the business throughout the business growth process can help build the partnership between groups.

In short, your organization and your leadership team will invest too much time, money, and energy to not realize the full value and potential of your M&A activities. These recommendations can provide a good starting point to help you create a successful M&A integration strategy and methodology to continue your growth trajectory.