Mergers and Acquisitions: Surviving the Ride and Minimizing the Disruption by Jeff Picozzi

For financial firms, mergers and acquisitions have always been more of a rollercoaster than a merri-go-round, and not an olde fashion coaster, we are talking about one of the new models with inverted twists, breath-taking drops and near suicidal loops. One of the most challenging pieces of the mergers and acquisitions rollercoaster (besides from staying on the tracks) is ensuring continuity, specifically with regard to customer satisfaction and information management practice.

Hold on Tight - Sharp Turns Ahead

When bringing together two organizations with different policies, practices and roles, change management must be employed to ensure continuity. While there are many models available for change management, there are some consistent themes among them: There must be preparation for the change, a process for managing the change and methods of ensuring the sustainability of the change.

The changes inherent in a merger or acquisition can be large and disruptive. They must be managed in a process, and they often must be quickly executed. When changes are suddenly implemented, customers may find the change unacceptable to their typical expectations of service. Likewise, information management systems may become more difficult for employees due to the utilization of multiple systems from both companies or to a roughshod integration.

See the Tracks Ahead Planning to Mitigate Disruption

One method of mitigating the potential disruptions of mergers and acquisitions is to establish a pre-emptive change management plan. For large organizations, these plans are often focused on how the acquired companies are integrated with a standardized process. For smaller organizations, the plans are generally created only when nearing a clearly foreseen potential acquisition.

Another way of reducing the potential disruption of mergers and acquisitions is to develop a change management team that is specialized in quickly enacting initiatives. This team would likely have representatives from various lines of business: IT, records and information management and legal and compliance, among others. This team would also have specialized aptitude in project management, change management, negotiation skills, IT skills and soft skills.

Keep Your Eyes Open Mitigating Disruption

As reported by PR Newswire, Tim Creasey, chief development officer of change management research firm Prosci, asserts, Organizational change requires individuals to do their jobs differently, which means project benefits depend on employee adoption and usage. This is why a focus on how employees will engage with change through a fully-fledged and quickly executed change management plan becomes so important. Communication with employees must be clear and frequent during a time of change since they represent the organization and will directly affect how your customers perceive the change. Enabling employees to execute on their job responsibilities throughout the change ensures customer satisfaction.

When bringing together multiple information or document management systems through a merger or acquisition, it is important to understand how employees have been utilizing legacy systems, from browsing habits to search functionality. Their ability to utilize new systems affects their responsiveness to customer concerns and internal decision making. Bringing together multiple taxonomies can be a challenge, but understanding employee interaction with classification schemata helps ensure success.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/industry/financial-services/mergers...
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