M&A Integration and IT Due Diligence involves evaluating and analyzing the tools, platforms, and systems in use by a target entity, and making sense of the processes and flows underlying the operations of the acquired organization.
Successful acquisition integration requires executing with discipline, speed, and precision. You have tight deadlines to meet, and you have to be ready to go once ink dries and regulatory hurdles are cleared to be ready to go on Day One.
The last thing you need is unnecessary costs and delays, let alone security risks and operational disruption, and hoping for the best isn’t a strategy.
Conducting IT due diligence in a merger or acquisition scenario involves mapping business processes and technology capabilities to a current state architecture to determine the level of maturity, robustness, and effectiveness of the acquired systems and resources.
Post acquisition, what will the impact be on existing legacy systems? Does the merger or acquisition represent an opportunity to modernize systems or do things in new ways?
Going into an acquisition with an ideal future state architecture in mind enables the strategic merging of the acquired organization’s technology and processes over time, giving you runway beyond the close date.
There is also a crucial element to successful merger and acquisition integration strategies, and that is the human element.
People will naturally have fears, uncertainties, and doubts regarding their futures with a merged organization, and gaining trust and cooperation goes a long way towards successful, shared outcomes.
Not only do you need to ensure that the knowledge that you acquired doesn’t walk out the door with any staff that does not come over, but you need to get to the heart of tribal and tacit knowledge long prior to the closing date to understand and mitigate potential risks and maximize the value of the acquisition.
Evaluating technical talent to determine key resources drives staff retention and smooths the transition process. Identifying cultural risks allows you to evaluate and mitigate them before they become problems in the new organization.
At the end of the day, you need to maximize the value of the acquisition. You made a significant strategic decision and investment, and you need to ensure that all stakeholders get the most from it.