When Should You Begin Integration?

If your business growth strategy is acquisition, and you want to get the most value out of the deal, you must prepare and budget for integration before you close. It is a misconception that the integration of the acquiring and acquired businesses starts after the deal is completed: it starts well before that. In short, the earlier you start, the more likely you are to be successful in getting the full value out of your purchase.

Preparation is key

Once the acquisition has been announced everyone can readily observe the integration tasks taking place. However, a lot of planning is necessary for this to go smoothly. Before that announcement, the reasons for the acquisition are carefully articulated to become the foundation of the integration work. The acquired employees will want to hear about why you acquired them, and how it will affect their lives. For the owner it’s just business, for the employee it’s their livelihood.

The acquisition announcement appears to be an easy task: it looks like a senior person stands before the acquired employees, speaking sensitively about the change that is about to affect them and the positive events ahead.

The reality is hard to do well: this is the most important day in the recent history of the company, perhaps the entire company history. To the acquired employees, every word you say is played over in their heads after the meeting is over.  Acquired employees are often nervous – they’ve heard the horror stories of other acquisitions, so they look for clues in everything that is said – or not said, hoping to get further insight into their future.  Those who didn’t know about the acquisition before the announcement want to know what’s going to happen to their job, the product they’ve worked on for years, or what’s going to happen to their place of work.  The announcers need to anticipate all the possible questions or reactions beforehand. Their message must build trust and credibility.

In addition to getting the announcement right for the acquired staff, there are other interested parties (audiences) who want to know how the acquisition will affect them: customers, suppliers, channel partners, the press, and employees in the acquiring business. Each will want answers to their angle on things. Each will want their own questions answered: the trick is to customize your communication so you address the specific concerns of each group .