Plan before you buy

As a business that specialises in IT enabled business change, one of the principle drivers for our engagement is as a result of mergers and acquisition activity.

It's interesting to note that, depending upon which publication you read somewhere close to 75% of mergers and acquisitions fail to meet expectation. Sometimes there's simply a rush of blood and things aren't thought through well enough. The overall strategy is solid but it's the execution that goes off the rails.

DAV's insight in understanding the aftermath of mergers and acquisitions was recently featured in an article in IMIS Journal entitled 'Plan Before You Buy'. IMIS is the Institute for the Management of Information Systems and the article features the comments of DAV managing director Charlie Mayes.

In the article, Charlie discusses why in advance of a merger, it is critical that the downstream integration issues are identified up front, because sometimes the business just gets carried away by doing the deal and fails to plan for what happens afterwards.

Charlie argues that integrating two merged companies is really no different from any other business change programme. Fundamentally you have to:

• Plan it carefully and identify the risks
  
• Manage it in a structured way
  
• Understand the vision and the business objectives
  
• Define the benefits and goals for the business and then focus on their realisation
  
• Ensure that everything is closely managed and regularly communicated.
  

As a real life example, the article highlights the tie-up in Hungary between two telecoms operators: the Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corporation (HTCC) and Invitel and includes comments from President and Chief Executive Martin Lea.

Click on Related Documents to read the IMIS Journal article 'Plan Before You Buy'