The challenge
In April 2014, Itella’s Board of Directors approved a plan to merge Itella Posti Oy and Itella Logistics Oy. The new structure was targeted to be in operation by 1st January 2015. In August 2014, Itella announced that the name of the new company would be Posti. An integration program was developed that consisted of several project areas including: financial accounting, financial reporting, sourcing, human resources, legal, IT and communication. The change of the company name was also implemented in the systems affected by the merger.
Midagon’s role
The program was started with Posti’s internal resources. It soon became evident that an experienced full-time M&A program manager was needed. The program manager needed to have both business and IT understanding and experience. As a result, a program manager was hired from Midagon. Program planning and implementation took approximately one year. The program managed several sub-projects, many Posti professionals were involved and changes were made to more than 100 systems.
Program success and delivered benefits
The timeline of the program was very challenging. It was not possible to have business process interruptions. The reporting had to work all of the time and salaries had to be paid in a timely manner, among other commitments to different stakeholders. The merger was implemented on time and without problems. Posti’s project methodology was complemented by Midagon’s methodology during the program.
Contact for more information
Ilkka von Schulman
Director, Process & Manufacturing Industries