After the Deal: Three success factors for M&A integration

Integration services related to mergers, acquisitions and carve-outs have been at the core of Midagon's service offering as long as we have existed as a company. Working on these projects over several years, I have learnt that while each deal is unique, successful M&A integrations generally share certain characteristics.

Taru Weckroth

11.1.2022

Integration services related to mergers, acquisitions and carve-outs have been at the core of Midagon's service offering as long as we have existed as a company. Working exclusively on these projects over the past couple of years, I have learnt that while each deal is unique, successful M&A integrations generally share certain characteristics.

1. Keep calm and rely on experience

Even though the environment at and around a major M&A deal can seem like a pressure cooker - companies are transformed in a short time under intense stress – on the practical level, the integration initiatives are like any intense and business-critical change programs.

While a poorly executed deal integration can seriously damage a company’s future prospects, navigating a complex change course successfully is possible when the team has the right professional skills. In an environment like this, the leadership team must have the experience and perspective to differentiate normal pressure indicators from serious alarm signals.

2. Excellence in execution

In addition, M&A integration often involves a wide variety of change initiatives with complex dependencies and must be coordinated tightly to meet deadlines and achieve planned synergies. Deloitte M&A trends 2019 report found that effective deal integration is the most important success factor for realising the business benefits. This requires excellence in program and change management.

3. Lead IT to control costs and realise synergies

Most of the integration costs relate to IT implementation. While it is relatively uncomplicated to bring merger partners physically into the same network environment and provide access to applications, it is far more difficult to build a sound and future-proof IT architecture from components that originate from various sources and purposes.

Unless the merger partners have already built flexible IT architectures and assessed each other’s assets during due diligence, the IT integration will likely take longer and cost more than most other integration activities. According to a McKinsey report, merger synergies link closely to IT capabilities. The merger partners’ ability to integrate IT operations - and functions enabled by IT - can determine the realisation of deal synergies.

At Midagon, we focus on these exact success factors. Directing change under pressure is what we do best. We have a proven track record of effective execution in time-critical projects and deep skills in successful IT integration. We look forward to realising the full value of your deal.

Read more about our M&A integration perspectives: ICT Integration in Mergers & Acquisitions - Midagon white paper