FINAL WORD
going to oversee the merging of IT systems and which players in the new company ’ s structure will carry out the mission . The last thing you want is for key players to be worried about their position or role when you ’ re going to need them to carry out mission-critical tasks .
Developing and acknowledging leaders during mergers and acquisitions quickly will accelerate planning and implementation . It increases the likelihood of successful integration . With uncertainty behind them , your IT team can move forward confidently .
Depending on how complex your infrastructure is , there ’ s likely a lot of work ahead to merge systems . For example , in planning an Office 365 migration , you may be dealing with multi-tenant configurations and decommissioning systems . And , that ’ s just one aspect of merging your IT systems .
Planning which systems to keep , what data will go where and how much integration is needed before companies are joined will take the bulk of the work . Once the planning is complete , the actual handson work can begin .
Consolidate and collaborate as soon as possible
Making decisions about your IT team quickly gives you more time to get organised during mergers and acquisitions . Some of the changes you need to make might take time to implement . The longer you wait on decisions , the longer the transition will take .
IT needs to be ready from day one and can help be early pilots and give meaningful feedback . Merging systems will mean some level of disruption that can impact productivity and in case of a poor planning it can easily lead to data loss or system failures . It ’ s crucial to minimise that disruption as much as possible . It goes beyond giving employees the tools they need to operate efficiently . Without alignment from IT systems , companies will struggle to see the complete status of their financial situation . They might fail to demonstrate the kind of operational responsibility that they have to maintain .
With Office 365 installed as the standard in many businesses , the consolidation of tenants quickly is a key factor in a successful integration . Companies need to be strategic about handling this consolidation rather than reactive . One of the keys is the data collection process :
• Users : The number of users and what privileges they have
• Volume of Data : How much data needs to be migrated will play a role in the length of the project
• Usage and Activity : This helps define the impact of the change and identify items that don ’ t have to be moved , such as unused mail distribution lists
• Workload Configurations : This helps determine the complexity of the move
It ’ s also important to manage software licences for compliance and use . A recent analysis of a database of 3.4 million Office 365 users revealed that 18 % of the licences were unused or unassigned . That represents approximately US $ 150,000 wasted in an organisation with 10,000 users . In M & A , licence management is often overlooked but can lead to significant savings .
In a merger or acquisition , it will also be critical to quickly set delegation and policy management parameters .
Managing a successful merger or acquisition
From CIOs to IT teams , system admins to security managers and migration and acquisition technical leads , planning an effective merger will take a team effort . The sooner consolidation happens , the more successful your migration will be . •
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