The hidden complexities of post-merger integration

With mergers and acquisition, the work starts weeks before the announcement (“Day 1”) and the planning is intense to ensure Day 1 is a success. This is an incredibly complex area and this article just scratches the surface.

This a time of huge uncertainty for staff and management in every department, as they worry about whether they will still have a job, the potential change in culture, in salary and benefits package, in management hierarchy – rumours abound and the office politics can become truly toxic.

Fear of the unknown drives very powerful, often negative emotions, which are extremely disruptive in the workplace.

In a period of such intense change and uncertainty, there is significant value in bringing in external expertise that has no history, no personal agenda and no vested interest in a specific outcome, other than making it a success.

In this context, getting the IT right will have a substantial impact on the short-term transitional success and the long-term efficiency gains and financial benefits that ultimately sit at the heart of the motivation for the merger.

To be successful on Day 1, when the formal announcement goes out, weeks of intense activity were required to analyse, plan and execute the IT integration, so that the two (or three) organisations can interact and start to co-operate as one, despite the fact that they are still separate entities, in separate locations (possibly across different time zones), with separate and different email and calendar solutions, separate and (probably) different video and conferencing solutions, physical infrastructures, offices and datacentres, and financial, HR and other critical systems – both cloud and physically hosted. Then there are the Service Desks, who will be trying to support all of this . . .

So, getting Day 1 right with little or no significant glitches is critical, because if this is problematic, then the sentiments of staff will be tainted and getting actual, proper integration done over the next 100 days, and beyond, will almost certainly meet greater resistance at all levels in the company.

It goes without saying that active and open co-operation is key in all of this, but with uncertain futures, teams, managers and directors may be eyeing each-other with suspicions –

“Is this guy going to steal my job?” or “Will I still have a job?”

“I really like (or hate!) my boss – will I still be reporting to them in the new structure?”

Having witnessed every kind of behaviour, from battening down the hatches, to openly embracing it as a chance to demonstrate their skills and value, to attempting a vast land-grab of assets and infrastructure, in order to make them ‘indispensable’ . . . . and a lot more besides. Mergers can – and often do - bring out the best and the worst in peoples’ characters.

What has become clear to me is that good bosses mostly shine bright and toxic bosses become a dangerous liability at times like this and their attitudes and behaviours (good or bad) are highly infectious within their teams. In an international organisation, these risks and challenges are likely to be compounded by the diverse local cultures!! Another good reason to have independent Programme Management overseeing this entire process, within a PMO structure that traverses the entire org-structure, ensuring transparency and effective communication to minimise risks.

For these reasons, rapidly arriving at a draft Target Operating Model, where everyone has a defined place in the new organisation structure is critical to success and effective transition – Not just in IT, but across the entire organisation!

In parallel, the IT infrastructure, datacentres, Active Directory, email applications, other application stacks, finance and HR systems and, ultimately, a new Enterprise Architecture need to be defined and designed and then planned for roll-out. Then we may need to look at consolidation of offices, if both organisations have a presence in the same geographical location. This needs to be done quickly, efficiently and as early as possible.

Let’s not forget security in all of this, because nobody wants the new brand destroyed before it’s even born through a security breach, do they?