The Finance Monthly M&A Awards 2021

- 20 - F i nance Month l y M&A Awards 2021 - SPECIAL FEATURE - things can help smooth the integration process. To support the implementation and adoption of the integration, it’s important to ensure that the integration is at the forefront of colleagues’ minds. The best way to do this is through a steady cadence of visible acts of change or “symbols of change.” These will introduce the new way of doing things - for example, sharing success stories, leadership being visible at key customer sites or co- creating a new vision and purpose together. Measuring success Finally, measure success simply and pragmatically. The success of the integration should not be measured on activities completed - for example, “plans done and delivered” or “systems integrated”, but rather on how it has achieved the desired impact on the business and unlocked the opportunities as set out in the joint objectives. As such, monitoring the results and supporting the business to ensure the objectives are achieved is an integral part of the integration process. Think about success on a number of dimensions, for example: • Customers: Minimise disruption to the customer base and create positive sentiment about the merger, whilst capturing revenue and margin growth opportunities. Example Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for customers include customer retention in both organisations, customer sentiment survey outcomes and creating a positive customer experience. • People: Create an effective and efficient new organisation that can retain existing talents and attract new ones. Example KPIs for people include percentage regretted attrition and an integration engagement score. • Finance: Realise the identified cost and revenue synergies. Example KPIs to include are integration programme opex/capex and total synergies by initiative achieved. It’s important to manage cost to achieve with the same rigour as synergies. • Technology: This is often about consolidating the IT infrastructure and smoothly migrating data and customers. Example KPIs include systemsmigrationand consolidation deadlines and ensuring no system outages that impact customers, suppliers or employees. Taking these critical integration steps really maximise a company’s chances of realising the value case and increasing shareholder value – the ultimate measure of M&A success. is fundamental for the success of any merger or acquisition. This often involves bringing together people with very different sets of values, behaviours, leadership styles, mindsets and policies. It’s important not to try to resolve every culture difference or issue immediately - it is impossible from a leadership perspective, and situations inevitably evolve and change over time. To retain talent in both organisations, it’s important through the integration to lead through open and transparent dialogue. Identifying the strong and influential people from both businesses and ensuring that they are involved early in leading the integration is critical. It pays to understand the potential reasons that could lead people to leave and the concerns of the team with regards to the acquisition. Engaging through positive change and mapping opportunities for growth and development that the acquisition may bring are helpful steps. This includes identifying early on where coaching, content or project management support is needed. Remain customer-focused With the leadership being distracted by the deal and integration process, it is not uncommon to lose focus on the customer. Organisations must keep delivering for the customer through the process, to prevent losing them to the competition. It pays early on to speak to customers about the deal, outlining if and how it will impact them and how the change can help them to deliver greater value in their business. Symbols of change Finding symbols of change to introduce new ways of doing