The way M&A projects are handled has changed rapidly over recent years with new tools and methodologies being used to speed up integration.

IT teams are expected to rapidly deploy these latest methods to deliver integration projects faster. However, when you’re managing a post-merger integration (PMI) team, there are two phases to consider.

The first phase covers the integration itself and the strategies you’re going to use to successfully merge two companies. The second phase is about how your team is going to work together post-merger, once the new business entity is in place.

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Focussing on the here and now

In phase one, the emphasis is very much on the present time. You’re looking at what systems you have and how you’re going to integrate them. The scale of this can be vast if two huge enterprises are merging.

IT teams from both acquired and acquiring companies will come together with one clear goal – to merge the two organisations as efficiently as possible into one. Hopefully your tech leaders will have a range of skills and experience to call upon, and where needed, you can bring in outside consultants to enhance those capabilities with specialist PMI knowledge.

At this stage, the focus is very much on getting the job down. However, this is also an ideal time for your tech leaders to assess the skills, experience and background of team members and think about how they’re going to work together in the future.

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Starting to think ahead

The next phase is about assessing long-term operational needs and how they’re going to be delivered.

You’ve had the opportunity to see how your teams performed during the pre-integration phase. Did particular individuals stand out? Did it become obvious there are gaps in the team’s combined knowledge when it comes to certain technologies?

Do you have an existing benchmark against which to measure performance? This is vital otherwise your evaluation process can become haphazard.

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Are you covering all technology bases?

When it comes to assessing the culture of your teams, there are many bases to cover from background experience and career aspirations through to technical capabilities.

Today’s mergers have moved towards cloud-based data centre and application transitions as they enable fast migrations with manageable levels of risk. But does your team have the skills to maintain and enhance this cloud environment post-merger?

Then there’s data and analytics to consider as these now play a vital role in the type of intelligent decision-making that’s crucial for integration and the future growth of companies. Not to mention cybersecurity and risk management, which is an essential component of due diligence. But how do you plan to handle ongoing security, especially the protection of sensitive business data?

The formation of a diverse, multi-skilled, multi-generational, technical team is not an easy task. But if you consider the long-term benefits of creating such a team – then it’s well worth putting in the effort to build your team during the first PMI phase to reap the rewards later on.

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Prepare your teams for PMI success

If you’d like to know how to prepare your teams and systems for post-merger integration success and get maximum value from your IT, contact us for a friendly discussion regarding your particular business needs on 0330 0434532.