Post Merger Change & Project Management
Common challenges to post merger integration
Through our experience facilitating mergers, acquisitions, and post deal integrations, we’ve identified the following 10 post merger integration (PMI) challenges. If these aren’t factored into your change management strategy, they pose a very real threat to realizing the full value of the deal.
- Heavy workload
- Insufficient communication
- Loss of information & knowledge
- Duplication and wasted resources
- Leadership issues
- Employee resistance
- Company culture
- IT integration
- Lack of alignment for the new unified entity
- Customer churn
Learn more: Top 10 M&A Integration Risks
Determining a suitable post merger integration strategy
The exact details of integration will vary depending on the type of M&A transaction and its primary driver(s). For example, an Absorption integration strategy, where all aspects of the acquired company are integrated with the acquiring company, is common in the technology space, as tech businesses look to acquire additional products.
Since there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to PMI and PAI, it’s a good idea to consider project management principles and change management fundamentals when putting together your integration strategy.
Learn more:
M&A integration vs project management
M&A integration and project management intersect when project management best practices are applied to the process of integrating companies after a merger or acquisition.
Post M&A integration projects can be complex and lengthy, and very few realize their desired potential due to poor integration. So it’s a smart approach to place project management principles at the heart of an integration.
As well as best practices, organizations should take advantage of the advanced project management tools that are available for M&A integrations.
The real value in combining project management fundamentals with post deal integration is in the efficiency it can inject into the process. Project management brings process, methodology, and direction to projects.
M&A project management tools
There are numerous project and program management tools that can benefit M&A integration coordinators, such as:
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Virtual ‘clean room’: also known as a ‘clean team’, this is a taskforce and secure virtual environment in which integration priorities for the first 100 days are determined.
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Project management software: these are platforms that help teams to coordinate on projects in terms of specific tasks that need to be delegated and executed.
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Strategy execution software: these systems help project managers to manage large-scale programs of work and stay aligned to business goals and financial objectives.
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Templates for stakeholder updates, issue reporting, and more.
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Spreadsheets and email.
Post merger integration vs change management
Post merger integration and change management are inextricably linked. By definition, mergers and acquisitions represent significant organizational changes that need to be managed. So the application of change management principles, tools, and best practices can be extremely valuable.
One thing integrations and change management have in common is that it should be senior executive driven. Another is that success is much more than one person’s responsibility.
PROSCI, which developed the industry standard for change management, places strong emphasis on the roles of people in change. For this reason, change management is especially useful in post M&A integrations when it comes to ironing out culture and communication issues in order to achieve projected deal benefits.
Post merger integration checklist
Ansarada has developed a checklist for post merger and post acquisition integration—for both mid-market and for companies with a greater IT infrastructure.
The PAI checklist becomes an automatic workflow within the Ansarada platform. It lays out a framework for full transparency and visibility on both sides, with communication and collaboration lines open. A centralized repository for due diligence, integration preparation and integration delivery, Ansarada accelerates the process and lays out a clear path forward for the unified team.
FAQs
What is merger management?
Merger management involves the consolidation of more than one company or their major business assets through a financial deal and subsequent integration.
How do you manage post-merger integration?
There’s no silver-bullet solution to managing the post-merger integration process. However, it should include certain best practices; such as completing a risk assessment, planning integration early, good communication, engaging a change consultant and/or project manager.
What is M&A change management?
M&A change management is the process of managing the change organizations go through when they merge or acquire other companies.