Don’t Overlook These Five Opportunities During a Post-M&A Systems Integration

Inadequate process and systems integration after an acquisition can be costly in many ways: operational inefficiencies, increased costs, and regulatory risk are just a few examples of challenges that can arise. That’s why experienced acquirers put digital transformation front and center. Those that do can unlock significant benefits that deliver long-term, sustainable results. Read on to discover five opportunities not to overlook during post-M&A systems integration.

1. Strengthen the Customer Experience

Customers are an essential, yet sometimes overlooked, piece of the integration puzzle. A post-acquisition integration offers a unique opportunity to harness the new, combined wealth of customer data to improve the overall experience. By unifying data between the two organizations, you can create a 360-degree view of your customers that allows you to personalize services and sustain satisfaction for the future.

Key opportunities include:

• Cross-selling new products or services to an expanded customer base.
• Improved next-best-action recommendations to optimize customer interactions.
• Automation and straight-through processing for faster, more accurate services.
• Consistent digital experiences across platforms, ensuring seamless customer interactions.

A customer-centric integration strategy can drive loyalty and revenue while positioning the organization as a leader in customer experience.

2. Achieve Additional Value by Including Modernization Goals into IT Systems Integration

System rationalization and integration are inevitable after an acquisition. Development and testing efforts, particularly full regression testing, are often required. By aligning modernization goals with these efforts, you can maximize the value of your IT investments.

Examples of modernization opportunities:

• Upgrading legacy systems to cloud-based platforms.
• Implementing advanced automation tools to improve efficiency.
• Enhancing system performance and security while integrating processes.

Incorporating modernization into the integration roadmap reduces the need for separate projects later, saving time and costs while delivering sustainable benefits.

3. Remediate IT Shortcomings That Have Been Overlooked or Deferred

Post-M&A integrations are the perfect time to address lingering IT issues that may have been deferred. By taking a proactive approach, organizations can fix weaknesses and enhance their IT foundations for the long term.

Consider addressing:

• Master Data Management (MDM): Standardize and synchronize data across systems to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Cloud Migrations: Move from on-premise data centers to cloud solutions for scalability and cost savings.
• API Integrations: Enable seamless data exchange between retained systems.
• Cybersecurity Fortification: Strengthen your security posture to mitigate evolving risks.
• Application Rationalization: Streamline and consolidate your systems portfolio for improved efficiency.

By remediating these areas during integration, organizations can establish a more robust, secure, and efficient IT landscape.

4. Enhance Governance Policies

Harmonizing compliance and governance practices across the new entity is critical to mitigate risks. However, this process is also a chance to deliver long-term value by creating policies that align with your organization’s new scale and risk profile.

Key steps to enhance governance:

• Develop unified policies for data handling, access controls, and risk management protocols.
• Form a cross-functional team of IT, legal, and business leaders to align on best practices.
• Go beyond minimum compliance requirements to establish policies that drive resilience and efficiency.

Enhanced governance policies not only safeguard your organization but also improve operational consistency and scalability, creating a solid foundation for future growth.

5. Future-Proof Your Organization

A major systems integration provides the opportunity to implement scalable, flexible solutions that position your organization for the future. By adopting modern tools and methodologies, you can ensure your systems are ready to adapt to evolving industry demands.

Future-proofing initiatives to consider:

• Enable DevOps (CI/CD, IaC): Drive speed-to-market improvements with automated pipelines and infrastructure-as-code.
• Containerize Applications: Simplify performance scaling and system deployment using tools like Kubernetes.
• Adopt Intelligent Automation (AI/ML): Integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning to boost productivity, improve decision-making, and uncover market opportunities.

By focusing on scalability and innovation, you can build a technology ecosystem that evolves with your business and enables you to seize emerging opportunities.

Overlooking these key opportunities during post-M&A integration can leave significant value on the table. By taking a proactive and strategic approach, you can unlock both immediate and long-term benefits for your entire organization.

When digital transformation is prioritized, organizations not only streamline operations but also strengthen their customer relationships, optimize their IT systems, and position themselves for future growth.