Mergers and Acquisitions: Technology Integration Best Practice Checklist to Realize Returns Faster

When two or more organizations merge, their individual technology stacks need to be integrated. Very frequently, we find that companies in mergers are using similar, or even identical platforms. Reducing duplicate technologies is just the beginning of what it takes to successfully merge multiple companies.

When the organizations are using the same platform, such as Salesforce, they are typically using it in different ways or for different purposes. For the merging companies that are using Salesforce, the challenges are understanding each organizations’ business processes, why and how each instance was configured to meet the organization’s needs, and what is going to best serve the new merged business moving forward. The new business benefits from preserving best practices that were formerly used. The key is knowing what to keep and what to reconfigure. Getting it right, and getting it done quickly, are goals that need to work together hand-in-hand.

Pulling It All Together

Merging technology environments (instances or “orgs”) can be complex. Orion has many years of strategic and tactical experience working with organization merges. We’ve worked with companies pre- and post- acquisition assisting with business process restructuring, data governance, and reconfiguring technology platforms. The common thread through each project is the need to deliver a functional system as quickly as possible.

Although speed of integration is of the essence, so is retaining great employees and customers. Change management is important to success, especially as teams across the whole organization are carrying the burden of conducting business across multiple systems.

What are the best practices for getting all this done?

Orion’s 10-Point Technology Merge Checklist

Orion has created the following Best Practices Ten-Point Checklist necessary for a successful technology stack merge with special emphasis on Salesforce. 

1 - Identify and Involve Key Stakeholders

Involve individuals that represent all systems, those who know the business and understand the data. If they’ve been there for a while, they’ll also know why things are configured the way they are and can make decisions on what is critical information vs. what is not.

2 - Key Decision

Determine first if the technology merge is a “Lift and shift/ like-for-like" OR “re-architect/ like-for-better” initiative.

3 - Change Management is Critical 

This is a business transformation initiative with high visibility and direct impact to end-users and needs to be managed as such. Develop a strong communication plan to keep the organization informed and excited for the new merged technology. A comprehensive training and adoption plan is the last leg to a successful launch. We often help our clients build Centers of Excellence for governance of the technology.

4 - Ensure Robust Business Process Capture

As part of the business process review, identify each of the following scenarios: Similarities (overlaps), Differences (gaps), and Obsolete (unused/unnecessary) components. Next, identify any net-new functions and/or processes that will need to be configured.

5 - Business Process Re-engineering

Adopt similarities, harmonize the gaps, and employ processes that fit the growing business needs. Every step of the way, ask “Why do we do it this way?” and “Is this the way we want to do in the future?”

6 - Data Integrity Plan

Determine which system will be the “master” of record. Ensure you have a complete copy of both data sets before attempting any merging. Often, a Master Data Management initiative can help determine master records.

7 - Data De-duping is Key

Develop a detailed plan to address duplicate data, specific rules, and scenarios to merge data. Great systems are built on great data.

8 - Robust Data Migration Plan

Have a detailed data migration plan listing out accurate source-to-target mappings, transformations, and reporting procedures. Use extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools that support source and target data formats. Additionally, make sure your teams can effectively use these tools.

9 - Test

Define thorough Test Plans based on real business scenarios and real customer data. Engage users to execute the use cases.

10 - Plan for a Comprehensive Deployment Strategy

Is it going to be a Gradual Migration or Big Bang approach? Build in sufficient audit and error-handling as well as data-recovery processes. Back up the data and consider retaining the source data for some duration post launch.