Beware "one size fits all"
The pressure to deliver an integrated IT service at a reduced cost can result in the adoption of the systems from one or other of the legacy organisations without fully considering the options or impact of such a decision. We know of an acquiring business that imposed its systems and processes on the much smaller company it acquired, even though the smaller company had developed some good practices that would have benefited the whole organisation. Within a year, many of the acquired staff had left.
There are broadly four options for integrating the IT of two businesses:
- Retain both models
- Establish critical inter-business linkages
- Migrate major functions to common systems
- Adopt one model / migrate to new (Enterprise-wide solution)
If the new business is going to be division-oriented with division-level IT systems and little integration of the legacy businesses, then retaining both models could be the most appropriate solution. It would minimise the impact to the business and to its people. IT integration might then just focus on branding (websites, email) and consolidating infrastructure (networks, data centres, procurement).
At the other end of the scale, major integration of the legacy businesses and/or the creation of new lines of business would require a high degree of process change and likely result in migration to a common model and systems. Since this couldn't be achieved in a short period of time, the organisation could follow each of the four options above as phases in its integration.
