Recent statistics from the Office of National Statistics Mergers and Acquisitions Surveys indicate that whilst the number of M&As in the UK by UK companies look to have been pretty stable over the past couple of years, acquisitions in the UK by foreign countries almost doubled between 2009 and 2010. With 2011 figures yet to be released we can only assume that the turbulent economic environment continues to leave struggling organisations open to mergers and acquisitions and the subsequent challenges that ensue.

If handled sensitively a merger or acquisition can be an extremely positive step forward for a business and much is written on the cultural aspects of a change in business ownership, staff morale, communications and harmonising of business objectives. Managers focus heavily on the need to inform and motivate staff throughout the change process keeping a watchful eye on employee behaviour and any evidence of cross-cultural difficulties. It’s true to say that successful merger management requires successful management of all the people involved.

However while the eye is firmly focused on the ball with regards to employee integration, many organisations fail to understand the importance of efficient integration of IT systems. An article in Information Age stated that “Merged companies may need to get their systems harmonised in record time, and smooth integration of operations can be critical to the company’s new public image.”

I believe there are three very good reasons why outsourced IT providers are best positioned to provide the ideal solution to handling the process efficiently for businesses:

Firstly, they often have experience of integration of technology systems. The chances are they’ve done this kind of thing before for clients and therefore they have made their mistakes and learnt from them.

Secondly, they can offer a pool of experience when the unexpected happens, which it inevitably will. The Scottish poet, Robert Burns is responsible for the saying “the best laid schemes of mice and men go awry” and the stakes are high if your IT integration doesn’t work.

Lastly, they have existing storage systems of data backup which are known and trusted, thereby ensuring the highest levels of data security at all times throughout the integration process.

So when it comes to that vitally important process of integrating systems and data across the newly merged organisations can one IT member of staff or a small internal team will limited experience really handle the work? More to the point can they handle the consequences of it going wrong? Organisations might feel the cost of commissioning an external IT specialist to be prohibitive, but the most important question to be asked is can you afford the cost of getting it wrong? The last thing you want is for your staff and customers to suffer any more disruption than is necessary. Businesses need to emerge from the process ready to hit the ground running, with the RIGHT staff selling the RIGHT products and services to the RIGHT customers and supported by the RIGHT systems!