- Many organizations forget the essential role IT plays during M&A integration. IT is often unaware of a merger or acquisition until the deal is announced, making it very difficult to adequately interpret business goals and appropriately assess the target organization.
- IT-related integration activities are amongst the largest cost items in an M&A, yet these costs are often overlooked or underestimated during due diligence.
- IT is expected to use the M&A team’s IT due diligence report and estimated IT integration budget, which may not have been generated appropriately.
- IT involvement in integration is critical to providing a better view of risks, improving the ease of integration, and optimizing synergies.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Anticipate that you are going to be under pressure. Fulfill short-term, tactical operational imperatives while simultaneously conducting discovery and designing the technology end-state.
- To migrate risks and guide discovery, select a high-level IT integration posture that aligns with business objectives.
Impact and Result
- Once a deal has been announced, use this blueprint to set out immediately to understand business M&A goals and expected synergies.
- Assemble an IT Integration Program to conduct discovery and begin designing the technology end-state, while simultaneously identifying and delivering operational imperatives and quick-wins as soon as possible.
- Following discovery, use this blueprint to build initiatives and put together an IT integration budget. The IT Integration Program has an obligation to explain the IT cost implications of the M&A to the business.
- Once you have a clear understanding of the cost of your IT integration, use this blueprint to build a long-term action plan to achieve the planned technology end-state that best supports the business capabilities of the organization.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Englobe
Guided Implementation
7/10
$1,000
2
MUFG Investor Services
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
5
ECMI GP INC
Guided Implementation
10/10
$50,000
10
Workshop: Make IT a Successful Partner in M&A Integration
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Launch the Project
The Purpose
- Identification of staffing and skill set needed to manage the IT integration.
- Generation of an integration communication plan to highlight communication schedule during major integration events.
- Identification of business goals and objectives to select an IT Integration Posture that aligns with business strategy.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Defined IT integration roles & responsibilities.
- Structured communication plan for key IT integration milestones.
- Creation of the IT Integration Program.
- Generation of an IT Integration Posture.
Activities
Outputs
Define IT Integration Program responsibilities.
- Define IT Integration Program responsibilities and goals
Build an integration communication plan.
- Structured communication plan
Host interviews with senior management.
- Customized interview guide for each major stakeholder
Select a technology end-state and IT integration posture.
- Selected technology end-state and IT integration posture
Module 2: Conduct Discovery and Design the Technology End-State
The Purpose
- Identification of information sources to begin conducting discovery.
- Definition of scope of information that must be collected about target organization.
- Definition of scope of information that must be collected about your own organization.
- Refinement of the technology end-state for each IT domain of the new entity.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A collection of necessary information to design the technology end-state of each IT domain.
- Adequate information to make accurate cost estimates.
- A designed end-state for each IT domain.
- A collection of necessary, available information to make accurate cost estimates.
Activities
Outputs
Define discovery scope.
- Tone set for discovery
Review the data room and conduct onsite discovery.
- Key information collected for each IT domain
Design the technology end-state for each IT domain.
- Refined end-state for each IT domain
Select the integration strategy for each IT domain.
- Refined integration strategy for each IT domain
Module 3: Initiate Tactical Initiatives and Develop an Integration Roadmap
The Purpose
- Generation of tactical initiatives that are operationally imperative and will help build business credibility.
- Prioritization and execution of tactical initiatives.
- Confirmation of integration strategy for each IT domain and generation of initiatives to achieve technology end-states.
- Prioritization and execution of integration roadmap.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Tactical initiatives generated and executed.
- Confirmed integration posture for each IT domain.
- Initiatives generated and executed upon to achieve the technology end-state of each IT domain.
Activities
Outputs
Build quick-win and operational imperatives.
- Tactical roadmap to fulfill short-term M&A objectives and synergies
Build a tactical action plan and execute.
- Confirmed IT integration strategies
Build initiatives to close gaps and redundancies.
Finalize your roadmap and kick-start integration.
- Finalized integration roadmap