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The Certified Acquisition Integration Manager

Learn how to Successfully Integrate Acquired Businesses

Training, certification and mentoring for you to deliver the value of your M&A through successful integration

Build in-house skills for integrating acquired lower-mid and mid-size businesses

It is said that 70% of acquisitions fail. This is not completely accurate; it is the integration of the two businesses that often fails. Delivering the value that was envisioned when the deal was put together is difficult and prone to failure.

Businesses that do not successfully integrate acquisitions waste the opportunity of value creation. With every subsequent acquisition, the pain of not integrating becomes greater, as the burden of multiple processes, tools and operational methods prevents growth.

Training is self-paced, but if you want to join a cohort, here is our schedule

Course Level

This is an intermediate level course. 

Prerequisites

A basic understanding of the steps involved in acquiring a business:

  • What is M&A Due Diligence and where it fits into the acquisition timeline
  • Acquisition terminology such as "Deal Closing" or "Deal Team"

Certified Acquisition Integration Manager (CAIM™)

What is included?

  • Online training to take you through the entire integration: from the reasons for acquiring, to the execution and delivery of the projects
  • Templates and checklists to download, including lists of necessary departmental integration tasks
  • Uses our unique integration approach specifically designed for small businesses, the SSIM™ (the Small business Simple Integration Method)
  • Ask an expert after you have graduated. Get the answers you need for your integration from our experts at our Integration Mastermind sessions

Applicable for people in these teams

  • Integration Management Office (IMO)
  • Steering Committee
  • Workstreams
  • Employee Onboarding
  • Communications

All lessons are self-paced, On Demand and compatible with all mobile devices.

Get immediate access


Get Recognized as an Expert

Demonstrate that you have the knowledge to be an acquisition integration manager

  • Managers and colleagues recognition of your certification
  • Gaining the knowledge and skills of acquisition integration increases your value to your employer
  • Helps build your case for workplace compensation or promotion
Career Development

Transferable skills for your next career move

  • Transfer your competence to future career contacts
  • Helps you stand out from other applicants to future hiring managers
Digital Badges

Certified Acquisition Integration Manager (CAIM™) badges are Open Badges compliant

  • Digitally verifiable
  • Can be shared on social media and with your community
Renewable Certification

Intista certifications have a two-year lifespan

  • Recertification demonstrates your experience and understanding of acquisition integrations
  • Find out more about the recertification, here

What Lessons are in the CAIM™ training?

Training contains 10 lessons of self-paced on demand content, compatible with all mobile devices. 

View topics in detail

Lesson 1: Getting off the Ground

We disclose important considerations before acquiring,  discuss 6 myths about integrations, and differentiate between the priorities of the acquisition team and the integration team.

Lesson 2: Different Ways to Integrate

We look at four broad-category approaches to integrating an acquired small or mid-size business, along with the “Keep Separate” strategy (an approach where no integration takes place).

Lesson 3: The Integration Organization

We explore the teams that plan, manage and deliver the integration. We explain how this temporary organization is structured, within this hierarchy of teams. We describe the roles of the teams, the roles of members, and the qualifications/qualities of the ideal candidates for each role.

Lesson 4: Integration Objectives

Integration Objectives are the initiatives that define the emphasis, or focus areas, for the journey ahead. We learn how to identify those objectives, starting with the reasons for acquiring, formulating the Mission Statement for the journey ahead, and deriving two types of objectives: “Workstream” and “Company-Wide” objectives.

Lesson 5: Finance in Integrations

This lesson address the spectrum of needs for lower-mid and mid-size acquisition integrations: three types of cost estimation and the budgeting of your integrations based upon those costs, and the three types of synergy that can (and should) be pursued.

Lesson 6: Staff Retention after an Acquisition

We discuss the Cost of Losing Staff, and introduce the Staff Retention Toolbox. We suggest non-financial and financial incentives for retaining staff. 

Airplane boarding steps
Lesson 7: Onboarding Acquired Staff

We discuss and review the Onboarding Team and explain how to onboard acquired staff. We outline how to plan a successful program and provide tips for its success.

Preparing for Day 1
Lesson 8: Preparing for Day 1

We proposed how to prepare for the acquisition announcement, known as "Day 1" by formulating a checklist of priorities to be addressed. We discuss the logistics of the announcement, and strategic topics to answer the questions that arise at kick-off and continue to come up.

Lesson 9: Communication During Integrations

We explain how communication is critical to the success of an integration. We show you how to identify and communicate with each of your audiences, and how to message to them.

Topics include how to prepare for the "Day 1" announcement, as well as how communication changes and must be sustained through challenging times.

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Lesson 10: Creating Acquisition Integration Projects

We discuss how to create and run the hierarchy of projects that will merge together the operations, processes, and technologies of the businesses. 

We explain how to combine the reasons for acquiring with Intista's templates, to create projects used to integrate the businesses together. 

Integration Mastermind Sessions

Meet online monthly with integration experts and ask them any questions you may have.

Get the answers you need for your integration from our experts at Intista's Integration Mastermind sessions

Why you should become a Certified Acquisition Integration Manager

Get recognized as an expert

  • Demonstrate to your colleagues that you have the knowledge to be an acquisition integration manager

Certification is an investment

  • Training is reinforced with competency testing to improve comprehension
  • Businesses invest in training programs that test and demonstrate learning

Professional credibility

  • Certification provides confidence in qualification
  • Businesses trust the judgement of a professional who holds a certification in a specific domain

Validation

  • A certification is tangible proof that you have achieve a benchmark level of knowledge
  • Gaining the knowledge and skills of acquisition integration increases your value to your employer

Career development

  • Having a certification will help you when you are seeking a promotion or will help you stand out from other applicants to a hiring manager 

Why businesses want Certified Integration Managers

Businesses that integrate acquisitions achieve the full value from the deal

  • Purchasing a business does not deliver the full value of the deal: it comes from the integration of the two businesses
  • A successful integration team delivers the value defined by the Deal Team

Create an In House acquisition integration team, using the knowledge of established experts

  • Invest in your team to grow in-house expertise, which is transferred between successive acquisition integrations

Control the cost of getting external integration expertise

  • Know the cost of the training and certification, up front

Improve the way that you approach and deliver integrations in the future

  • If you already acquire and integrate, avoid the cost of inefficient methods in:
    • staff retention 
    • faster onboarding 
    • improved productivity
    • staff engagement

Trained employees are happier employees

  • Certified employees perform faster, are more engaged, and have better work outcomes*
  • Organizations that invest in employee training demonstrate that they have faith in that employee and morale improves
  • Improved morale creates more engaged employees, which makes them more productive

*Global Knowledge's 2021 annual IT Skills and Salary Report found recruitment and retention as their leading problem, being addressed by dramatic increases in employee training. In the report, 80% of responders identify the benefits of certification include faster performance, higher engagement, and better work outcomes

Choose Your Delivery Method

Our training is online, specifically designed for this delivery method. Select how you'd like to study, below

Self-Paced

Icon depicting self paced

Study online at your own pace. 

Suitable for students with 

  • An immediate need to complete the training and certification
  • Limited time to study each week

Cohort Class

Cohort of students connecting together

Students are organized into a study group (cohort) class. 

Each week the cohort is assigned lessons to study online. A review meeting is held at the end of the week to discuss and ask questions about what they have learned with an instructor.

The cohort is a popular way of being held accountable for completing the training and certification, while still allowing self-paced study

Private Class

Icon depicting a private class

All students are from a single business, allowing acquisition-specific and confidential discussions to take place with your instructor. 

The pace and schedule of studies are agreed before starting. 

Live Remote and Classroom training delivery options are available

Single subscription, for Self-Paced or Cohort Study

The Value of Integration Expertise

  • Acquisitions require significant investment. However, 70% of acquisitions fail to achieve the expected value
  • Intista's CAIM program is the best value route for your business to get relevant, actionable integration expertise 

Registration Fee Includes:

  • Immediate access to self-study materials, for 12 months
  • Access to downloadable resources, such as templates and checklists for 12 months
  • CAIM™ certification, after passing the final quiz
  • 12 month access to Intista's Integration Mastermind meetings
Certified Acquisition Integration Manager logo

Prerequisites

  • No prerequisite knowledge or advanced preparation is required to be successful with this course.
  • Program Level:   Intermediate
  • Deliverables:   QAS Self Study


Preferred Qualifications

  • Hold an academic degree
  • One or more professional designations (such as CPA, CFA, PMP, CIPD, CCMP, CVGA, CEPA, CMI or equivalents). Consideration is also made for professionals who have experience in the M&A, Transformation or Change Management industries.

The CAIM™ certification is an accrual of the individual short courses we offer

If you have purchased individually one of the courses, and want to upgrade to the certification, contact us for a credit

Considerations that leadership should have before acquiring,  discuss 6 myths about integrations, and differentiate between the priorities of the acquisition team and the integration team

Four broad-category approaches to integrating an acquired small or mid-size business, along with the “Keep Separate” strategy

The Integration Organization

The teams that oversee, manage and deliver an acquisition integration; the members of these teams, their roles, qualifications and ideal qualities

Integration Objectives

Initiatives that define the focus areas, for the journey ahead: how to identify the objectives, and how these fit into the SSIM™ as a whole

  Learn how to estimate and budget the finances of an acquisition integration: three types of cost estimation, budget submission, and three types of synergy

Staff Retention after an Acquisition

 Staff retention should be a priority of smaller integrations. We discuss  non-financial and financial incentives and introduce The Staff Retention Toolbox

Onboarding an entire acquired business is complex, emotional, and critical to the success of integrating acquired smaller businesses

Preparing for Day 1

The way that you announce and welcome new employees can be the difference between integration success and failure. Here we teach how to prepare and deliver the Day 1 announcement

Communication during Integrations

Learn how to communicate to the different audiences for an integration, applying seven communication objectives

Creating Acquisition Integration Projects

Walk through the process of turning integration objectives into workstream charters, and deriving the high level and details tasks.

Cancellations

Requests for refunds must be made in writing within 15 days of purchasing the course. No refunds will be granted after the qualified assessment has been completed.


For complaints or concerns, please contact [email protected]

Autumn 2024 Cohort Class details

This training and certification is 100% online, self-paced study, with weekly review meetings..

  • The course contains 10 lessons
  • Students will be asked to study between 1 and 3 lessons per week, which should take between 1.5 to 3.5 hours of self-paced learning
  • Student should complete the assessment at the end of each lesson

Self-study should begin on, or around, October 25th, 2024.

  • On Fridays, students will meet for 45 minutes to review and discuss what they have learned in that week's lessons. Discussions will go into details on areas that the students have questions about. Meetings will be held: 
    • Kick Off: Friday October 25th, 10am EDT/3pm BST
      • Welcome and kickoff
    • Friday November 1st, 11am EDT/3pm GMT, Week 1 review
      • (Lesson 1: Getting off the Ground, Lesson 2: Different Ways to Integrate, & Lesson 3: The Integration Organization)
      • Note a difference in the USA start time, due to a difference in summertime between USA and Europe
    • Friday November 8th, 10am EST/3pm GMT, Week 2 review
      • ( Lesson 4: Integration Objectives & Lesson 5: Finance in Integrations)
    • Friday November 22nd, 10am EST/3pm GMT, Week 3 review
      • (Lesson 6: Staff Retention after an Acquisition & Lesson 7: Onboarding Acquired Staff)
    • Friday December 6th, 10am EST/3pm GMT, Week 4 review
      • (Lesson 8: Preparing for Day 1 & Lesson 9: Communication During Integrations)
    • Friday December 13th, 10am EST/3pm GMT, Week 5 review and Final Assessment
      • (Lesson 10: Creating Acquisition Integration Projects & the Final Assessment)
  • After registering, you will receive a calendar invitation to the weekly review meetings
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