Programme Delivery

Post-Acquisition Business Integration

The deal's done. Now you've got two organisations that need to become one. Two sets of processes, two cultures, two technology estates... and a board that wants to see synergies yesterday.

We run the end-to-end post-merger integration (PMI) programme. Assessment, process harmonisation, platform consolidation, change management, adoption. People, process, and technology together. Not just a systems migration with a change plan bolted on afterwards.

20+

Countries rolled out across

50+

People managed across workstreams

£1.3m

Technology simplification savings delivered

Vendors coordinated on a single programme

Delivered for

HowdenHexagonAsset Alliance GroupGoCardlessWPP

The post-acquisition reality

The deal's closed. But two companies don't just become one because the paperwork says so. Here's what M&A integration actually looks like on the ground:

People

Two cultures, unclear roles. Nobody knows what's changing or when. Adoption fails before it starts.

Process

Lead-to-cash, billing, service... everything works differently. No one owns the target operating model.

Technology

Separate CRMs, ERPs, operational tools. Conflicting data, duplicated costs. Nobody trusts the numbers.

What you actually get

One combined organisation that works. Not just merged systems, but harmonised processes, aligned teams, and technology that supports how the business actually needs to operate.

Teams aligned and adopted

Change management, role clarity, training, and hypercare. So people actually adopt new ways of working instead of resisting them.

Target operating model

A clear, agreed model for how the combined business works. Who does what, how work flows, how decisions get made.

Harmonised processes

Standardised lead-to-cash, service operations, billing, reporting. With governed local variation only where it genuinely matters.

Single customer view

One data model, one version of the truth. Clean data, trustworthy reporting, cross-sell that's actually possible.

Connected platforms

CRM, ERP, finance, and operations joined up properly. End-to-end revenue lifecycle without manual re-keying or duplicate systems.

Repeatable for the next deal

A playbook, target architecture, and governance model. So the next acquisition doesn't start from scratch.

The first 100 days define everything

Right after an acquisition, everyone expects change. People are open to it. They're waiting for direction. That window doesn't stay open long. Within a few months, people settle into new comfort zones and the organisation "refreezes."

That's why we front-load the hard stuff. Get the integration framework established, set synergy targets, launch communications, get teams mobilised. All in the first few weeks, while momentum is on your side.

What we lock in during the first 100 days

✓Integration strategy and guiding principles agreed
✓Synergy targets set and assigned to integration teams
✓PMO live, governance running, communications launched
✓Target operating model defined
✓Customer and employee workstreams in flight
✓Gap analysis complete, team-level plans approved

How we approach it

Three phases with clear entry and exit criteria, built on proven merger integration frameworks. Parallel workstreams for programme management, people, and value tracking run throughout.

Running in parallel across all phases

Programme Management

Steering Committee, PMO, governance, risk, reporting, decision cadence

Customer & Employee Experience

Retention, communications, culture transition, training, change champions

Synergy Tracking

Financial baseline, targets by team, actual vs planned, benefits realisation

Phase I — 3-6 Weeks

Establish Integration Framework

✓Set directional strategy and confirm deal rationale
✓Establish synergy targets and value levers
✓Define integration leadership and governance
✓Launch communications across all constituencies
✓Mobilise PMO and agree guiding principles
✓Assess the technology and process landscape
✓Run change assessment across people, roles, culture
✓Build the first 100 days integration roadmap

Exit criteria

PMO established, integration team structure defined, guiding principles agreed, communications plan live, roadmap confirmed, synergy targets set.

Phase II — 2-6 Months

Integration Planning

✓Define target operating model (people, process, technology)
✓Harmonise core processes with governed local variation
✓Assess gaps, impacts, and interdependencies
✓Build team-level integration plans and charters
✓Plan customer experience (retention, comms, segments)
✓Plan employee experience (retention, training, redeployment)
✓Design the combined organisation structure
✓Plan culture transition

Exit criteria

Target operating model agreed, synergies assigned by team, integration plans with milestones, customer and employee programmes running, updated roadmap.

Phase III — 6-18 Months

Execute Integration

✓Readiness assessment before each go-live
✓Build the combined business and technology environment
✓Deploy employee programme (comms, training, retention)
✓Deploy customer programme (retention, comms, monitoring)
✓Integration testing and dress rehearsals
✓Execute cutover and go-live
✓Track synergies against targets
✓Transition to BAU with post-integration review

Exit criteria

Plans deployed, KPI reporting live, synergies tracked and realised, integration resources redeployed, BAU handover complete.

“Without a Design Authority, every team can hold the programme hostage with their own dependency. ‘We can't move to the new CRM until we know what ERP we're on.’ That's a legitimate concern. But someone needs the mandate to say: that's a Phase 2 decision, it doesn't block Day 1, here's the interim approach.”

Anna Bromley

Director, Agile Delivery

Sample deliverable

First 100 Days Integration Roadmap

How we sequence integration workstreams so the business keeps running while the integration gets done.

Week 1Week 2Week 4Week 6Week 8Week 10Week 12Week 14

Announcement

PMO Live

Teams Kicked Off

TOM Approved

Plans Approved

Programme Management

Steering Committee, PMO, Governance, RAID, Reporting

Integration Strategy

Strategy & Guiding Principles

Communications

Internal & External Communications

Target Operating Model

TOM & Process Harmonisation

Gap & Impact Analysis

Gaps, Impacts, Dependencies

Customer Experience

Retention, Comms, Monitoring

Employee Experience

Retention, Training, Culture Transition

Synergy Tracking

Baseline → Targets → Track & Report

Integration Plans

Team Plans, Quick Wins, Roadmap

Programme governance

Communications

Process & operating model

People & change

Value & synergies

Execution planning

Zooming in: our integration toolkit

The frameworks, tools, and deliverables we use at each stage.

Global

Core

80%+

Global core (80%+)

Business model variation

Regional (legal / fiscal)

Local / entity-specific

Design principle

The 80/20 Global Core

We design 80%+ of the combined business to run on a single, governed core. Standardised processes, common data model, shared definitions, and a Centre of Excellence to keep it clean.

The remaining 20% is for genuine variation. Regional legal requirements, fiscal differences, or real business model differences (e.g. B2B vs B2C divisions that have legitimately different sales processes). Every variation is documented, governed, and reviewed. Not silently customised.

The CoE is a small permanent team that governs the platform after the integration programme ends. They maintain standards, manage change requests, own the enhancement roadmap, and onboard future acquisitions using the established playbook.

Target Operating Model — Combined Entity

Target
Operating
Model

Organisation

Structure, roles, staffing

Customers

Segments, journeys, retention

Technology

CRM, ERP, MDM, integrations

Financials

Synergies, costs, benefits

Processes

Lead-to-cash, service, billing

Products

Channels, brands, pricing

Sample deliverable

Target Operating Model

Before any technology decision, we define how the combined business will actually work. Org design, process maps, customer model, tech blueprint, governance, financials. It's not one document, it's a collection of design decisions that every integration team works from.

This is what stops the "best of breed" trap. Where companies try to pick the best bits from each side and merge them. It sounds sensible but it creates a Frankenstein that nobody recognises. We pick one company's process as the foundation and only adapt where there's a genuine business reason to.

“Keep departments whole. Select one company's entire suite of processes rather than mixing and matching. The mixing and matching is where it falls apart.”

Anna Bromley

Director, Agile Delivery

Sample deliverable

Assessment & Design Approach

A four-stage toolkit that takes each acquired business unit from initial assessment through to a funded implementation roadmap.

Assess

Questionnaire

Pre-filled where existing materials are available. Owner assigned for each section.

Technology & Business Workshops

Workshops with key tech and business contacts across both entities.

Analyse

Capability Mapping

Capabilities across business units and maturity levels. Common vocabulary for current and future states.

Business Unit Profiling

Key business needs and dependencies across units. Recommendations presented to leadership.

Design & Prioritise

Scoring & Prioritisation

Weighted scoring across dimensions to assess and prioritise readiness to onboard.

Architecture & Design

Target architecture, reference designs, and integration patterns for the combined platform.

Roadmap

Funding Strategy

Business case with investment needed, resource levels, and expected benefits.

Implementation Roadmap

Phased plan with milestones, dependencies, and go/no-go gates.

Deliverables:Capability MapBU Scoring MatrixTarget ArchitectureOnboarding PrioritiesBusiness CaseImplementation Roadmap

Sample deliverable

Readiness Heat Chart

Before any cutover or go-live, we check whether each business unit is actually ready. Not "does it work in test?" but genuinely ready across customer impact, process, testing, system interfaces, and people.

Red means stop. Green means go. This gets published weekly to the Steering Committee so there are no surprises on cutover day.

On track

At risk

Blocked

Integration Readiness — Week 8

Business Unit	Customer	Process	Testing	Interfaces	People
Sales
Service Ops
Finance
IT
HR

Sample deliverable

Synergy Tracking

Synergies don't materialise on their own. We set a financial baseline, assign targets to each integration team, and track actual vs planned monthly. The numbers feed directly into the combined budget so value doesn't leak.

This is what your board and CFO will ask for. We build it in from Phase I so it's not an afterthought.

Synergy Tracker — Month 6

Team	Target	Planned	Realised
Sales	£2.0m	£1.2m	£0.9m
Finance	£1.5m	£0.8m	£0.6m
IT	£0.8m	£0.4m	£0.2m
Customer Service	£0.5m	£0.3m	£0.3m
HR	£0.3m	£0.1m	£0.0m
Total	£5.1m	£2.8m	£2.0m

This is for you if

•You've completed (or are completing) an acquisition and need to integrate people, processes, and technology
•Teams are working off different systems and data, and cross-sell is suffering
•The board wants synergies but nobody owns the delivery plan
•You're a serial acquirer and want a repeatable playbook
•Your current integration has stalled or lost direction

How we work

•Director, Agile Delivery: Agile Delivery leads end-to-end across people, process, and technology
•Delivery team: We bring associates (BA, change lead, data analyst) and work alongside your implementation partners
•Partner ecosystem: We work with Salesforce SIs, ERP consultancies, integration specialists, or your existing vendors
•Outcome-priced: Scoped phases with defined deliverables, not open-ended day rates

Seven principles we follow

Built from doing this work, not from reading about it.

Create value, not just integrate

The goal isn't to merge systems. It's to create something better than either company had before.

People first

Customer and employee experience workstreams run in parallel with everything else. Not bolted on at the end.

Process before platform

Agree how the combined business works first. Then configure the tools to support it.

Don't boil the ocean

Organisations have limited capacity for change. Get the critical stuff right first, go live, then iterate on the rest.

Tight process, fast decisions

Mergers are messy. Tight governance and rapid decision-making stop things drifting.

Communicate relentlessly

Customers, employees, partners, regulators. Silence causes more damage than bad news.

Governed to scale

Governance from day one. So the next acquisition plugs into a proven playbook, not another firefight.

Where this experience comes from

Howden — Insurance M&A Integration

Programme leadership for Salesforce integration following a major acquisition (600 staff). Ran the assessment and onboarding approach for the acquired entity, defining scope, governance, and delivery plan. Programme was paused to recalculate strategy after the initial approach proved too narrow.

SalesforceMDMInsurancePost-acquisition

Hexagon — Global Service Transformation

Led a €4m programme consolidating multiple Salesforce orgs into one global instance integrated with ERP. Eight workstreams, ~50 people, five vendors, 20 countries. Included carve-out work as a department moved into a new entity.

SalesforceServiceMaxMuleSoftCarve-out

GoCardless — Revenue & Data Transformation

Programme leadership redesigning the revenue operating model across Salesforce, NetSuite, and a new data platform. Delivered £1.3m in technology simplification, CPQ re-implementation business case, and governed BI/reporting blueprint.

SalesforceNetSuiteFintech£1.3m savings

WPP / Kantar — Business Integration & Separation

Windows 10 estate refresh across 100+ sites as part of a business integration drive ahead of Kantar Media's sale to Bain Capital. Plus application rationalisation to determine which apps should be re-engineered, retired, or re-aligned ahead of the separation.

InfrastructureApp RationalisationSale PreparationMedia

Common questions

What does this cost?

It depends on scope. A focused single-entity integration might be £150k. Multi-country, multi-system consolidations go to £2m+. We scope in phases so you can commit incrementally. Phase I (Assessment) is typically £25-50k and gives you the full business case before committing to build.

Do you do the platform build?

We lead the programme and bring delivery governance, business analysis, and change management. For platform build we work with implementation partners or coordinate your existing vendors. You get independent programme leadership that isn't conflicted by build revenue.

How quickly can you start?

Phase I can begin within 2 weeks. We mobilise a small team for the assessment, then scale up based on the roadmap we build together.

What if our integration has stalled?

That's something we've dealt with before. Sometimes integrations stall because the initial approach was too narrow, or governance wasn't right, or scope wasn't properly defined. We can start with a Delivery Control Snapshot to assess where things are before committing to a full programme.

What platforms do you cover?

Our deepest expertise is Salesforce and CRM/ERP integration. But the programme methodology is platform-agnostic. We've delivered across Salesforce, NetSuite, SAP, ServiceMax, MuleSoft, and Microsoft Dynamics.

Recent case studies

Customer story

Ready to integrate after your acquisition?

Book a scoping call