5 Strategies for a Successful Merger or Acquisition!

Merger or Acquisition

When two companies decide to combine their talent and resources in order to engage in larger markets, you will often find that a merger is on the table. If you’re looking at a future where your company will be a part of a merger or acquisition, then you might worry about how to navigate the process.

Read on to learn about the five strategies you can use for a successful merger or acquisition.

1. Address Technology Concerns Ahead of Time

One of the most critical points you need to address as you plan for your merger or acquisition is technology. Mergers today look different than they did fifty years ago, and that is largely due to the fact that businesses apply a variety of IT infrastructure solutions across disparate systems to manage their daily operations, data, ordering and payments, and more.

As you plan to combine your systems with those of another company, you have to expect that there will be pain points and possible system downtime as you become integrated.

You don’t have to navigate the complexity of technological integration alone. In fact, you should seek out senior engineers who can provide consulting and innovative solutions for your merger and acquisition needs.

The IT experts at Horizons Consulting have years of experience developing unique and secure solutions for dealing with complications from mergers and acquisitions, including outlining a transition program to minimize system downtime and deploying secure Cloud infrastructure to manage risks.

2. Prepare To Make Hard Decisions

There’s no way to avoid some of the difficulties that come along with merging your company with another, and you’ll have to make hard decisions. You have to be honest with yourself about the kind of decisions you are ready to make for the overall good of the company.

Ultimately, your responsibility lies in protecting profit margins and securing growth. During a merger or acquisition, you may have to take decisive action to keep your newly formed company on track. From restructuring departments to cutting unnecessary spending, you have to prepare for some pain in this process. Be honest and open about the difficulties, and don’t try to sugarcoat the tough stuff.

3. Reevaluate Company Culture and Shared Values

An important strategy for managing community morale at your company is to reevaluate your newly formed company’s culture and the shared values that exist across departments and the merging organizations. Your employees are going to experience serious stress during the transition, and you don’t want to downplay the impact that company culture has on your success.

When you’re forming a new business entity from existing ones, you’re going to come up against competing ideas when it comes to company culture. Take the time to reassess what makes your companies tick and what your new mission, values, and culture can say about your goals as a new company. Everyone in the organization will benefit from a strong vision with clear messaging.

4. Level-Up Your Communication Skills

During a complex and stressful time, you have to work even harder when it comes to communication. Not only will your team appreciate your transparency, but your entire organization will also be able to model their behavior on you. Even when it feels like you have zero time for extra meetings and sit-downs, you have to understand the critical importance of listening to your employees, hearing their concerns, and addressing them honestly and authentically.

At the end of the day, your organization will only be as successful as your employees make it. They do the everyday work, and, without them, your wheels would spin but you’d go nowhere. Make sure your employees feel supported and heard when it comes time for the merger or acquisition.

5. Apply Clear and Effective Metrics of Success 

Once you move through the transition period, it’s time to apply clear and effective metrics of success. There’s nothing worse than putting in all the effort of merging your company with another only to miss the opportunity to collect data on whether the merger resulted in a net benefit to all entities involved. That’s why you should settle on your measurements of success ahead of time.

Who’s collecting the data and how? What level of growth can you expect? Is it reasonable? What can you adjust to see improvements in your profits? You have to answer these questions early on in the process.

Many mergers and acquisitions fail. If you want to get through this complicated process successfully and see your new entity grow, you can use these strategies to prepare ahead of time and avoid the most common pitfalls.

Merger or Acquisition article and permission to publish here provided by Rank Castle. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on November 19, 2022.