Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) decisions are very strategic but are often marred with significant challenges in bringing the operations and IT systems together post merger.
Key challenges are -
1. Compressed timelines to complete the integration or separation
2. Increased focus of regulatory bodies.
In light of the above, it is very critical to adopt a right strategy for IT integration (whether to pick best of breed, migrate, integrate, virtualize or transform before integrating) not just to achieve the targeted synergies, but to maximize the synergy
value.
CIOs have to juggle the business-as-usual along with strategic integration work. To add to the complexity, there is "us versus them" challenges due to factions fighting over future technology strategies and application roadmaps, and other administrative
challenges.
Information Technology (IT) helps drive a large portion of the synergy and “Application and Information (data)” part of IT is absolutely crucial view of M&A. Adapting a right strategy helps enhance synergies of the deal, and proven accelerators and enabling
solutions/tools play a crucial role in that.
I recommended that planning and execution be done by people with experience in M&A implementation strategies & customized solutions/tools. For example- We can use social networking platforms as a powerful communication tool during this exercise.