Draft for Tamir's review. Not published.
Start from the savings and the processes
List the promised savings with the action each one requires, and mark which need systems work. Deliver the others first and report them.
Then decide what the business needs from one system. A shared chart of accounts and a reporting layer may close most of the pain without a full migration. Rank the processes that suffer from two systems by their cost to the business.
Pick the target on fit, and protect the acquired business
Compare the two systems on fit to the combined processes and on each vendor's support horizon. Choose the system that serves those processes with less change. Check both contracts for termination terms and dates.
Ask what the acquired company's customers would notice during integration, and protect that. Treat a newly acquired site as its own scope decision before adding it to a rollout already under way. Reapprove access by business purpose rather than merging both companies' access groups automatically.
Depending on your seat
If you're on the board and the two management teams disagree on target systems, make the decision about the business. Ask for target processes agreed by both teams, an independent comparison of the systems against them, and one owner. Set review points and what you will see at each.
If you're the CEO or run IT, name a business sponsor and an owner for master data before restarting anything. Integrate first the one system that frees up the most savings, in an order a small team can run.
What to check before you decide
- List the promised savings, the action each requires, and which ones need systems work.
- Check whether a common chart of accounts and a reporting layer would close the top problems.
- Compare the two systems on fit to the combined processes and on vendor support horizon.
- Name one integration owner with authority over both companies' IT.
- Check what the acquired company's customers would notice, and protect it.
- Review inherited access roles and their owners before merging identity systems.
- Check both vendor contracts for termination terms and dates.
Questions people ask
Our merged portfolio company's systems integration stalled over which systems to keep, how should the board intervene?
Make the decision about the business rather than the systems: which processes the merged company needs, which system serves them with less change, and who owns the integration with authority over both teams. Then require a plan with the savings mapped to it. It depends on how different the two businesses are and on which savings depend on integration.
A year after the acquisition the systems still aren't integrated and the promised savings haven't appeared, what do I do?
Go back to the savings list and ask which ones actually need systems integration; many come from contracts, suppliers and duplicated roles that can be done now. Then integrate only the systems that make the remaining savings possible, in an order a small team can run. It depends on which savings were promised and on how different the two businesses' processes are.
Should we extend our ERP rollout to a newly acquired factory?
Treat the acquired factory as a separate scope decision. Inclusion depends on operating fit, business urgency, and whether adding it threatens already justified benefits elsewhere.
A year after the merger we still have two ERPs and the integration stalled, what is the realistic way forward?
Decide first what the business needs from one system, because a shared chart of accounts and reporting layer may deliver most of it without a full migration. Then pick a target system on process fit and the team that can run it. It depends on how different the two businesses are and on whether anyone still owns the integration.
Should acquired companies share identity systems before access responsibilities are reconciled?
Reapprove access by business purpose rather than merging groups mechanically. The approach depends on identity quality, role meaning, and a controlled transition for users needing both environments.
How I can help with this decision
- Ask or talk (Free)
- I give my view on whether your situation calls for full integration or a lighter path, and how to turn the system argument into a process decision.
- Review (Pay if it was worth it)
- I write an independent assessment of the promised savings, the integration options and the target system against the merged company's processes. I recommend the scope, the sequence and the owner's mandate.
- Retain (When it makes sense)
- I stay close through the integration to review each step against the savings it was meant to free up.