Two Technology Companies. Two System Stacks. One Deadline to Become One Business.
A national managed IT services company was acquiring an international competitor. The two organizations had built their businesses on fundamentally different technology platforms, Day 1 was approaching, and the IT workstream needed experienced leadership. CIO Source was brought in plan the effort.
Industry: IT Services / Managed Services
Size: Combined enterprise operations across North America
Ownership: Publicly traded parent acquired private company
Business Challenge
The acquiring company operated ERP and CRM on a single leading platform; the acquisition target had built its financial and customer operations using multiple solutions, and a separate set of tools for professional services automation (PSA), contract management, and supply chain, creating significant system complexity at the point of combination.
Each company had been independently pursuing different architectural strategies, and no common end-state had been defined for the combined entity.
Day 1 commitments across email, calendar, directory, and unified communications had to be met before any deeper integration work could begin.
The Order-to-Cash process spanned multiple systems on both sides and needed to be mapped end-to-end before system decisions could be made.
No IT integration roadmap existed to sequence the work, manage dependencies, or identify consolidation opportunities across a combined application portfolio spanning CRM, PSA, ERP, supply chain, invoicing, and infrastructure.
Our Approach & Solution
CIO Source led the IT functional integration team, working alongside a global advisory firm and business stakeholders from both companies. The team began with a full as-is systems comparison across all functional domains, including CRM, PSA, CPQ, ERP, contract and SOW management, accounts receivable, supply chain, and infrastructure. From there, the team developed the Day 1 checklist and coordinated readiness across email, directory, and unified communications.
CIO Source facilitated alignment on guiding IT integration principles: Transform, Focus, and Reduce. These principles informed architecture decisions and kept the integration team from getting pulled into low-priority system debates. The team then developed the end-state anchor system architecture, recommending consolidation onto a single platform for EPR, CRM, PSA, and supply chain for the combined company. A full Order-to-Cash process map was produced, along with an IT integration roadmap sequencing the major initiatives with their dependencies and consolidation opportunities.
Business Results & Outcomes
Day 1 commitments defined, prioritized, and scheduled.
Optimized end-state architecture defined to promote efficient business operations.
Consolidation opportunities identified and sized across three primary areas: datacenter, business applications, and network, providing the business case for investment prioritization.
IT integration roadmap delivered with sequenced initiatives, mapped dependencies, and a clear path from current state to combined operating environment.
Established an architectural governance framework and integration playbook to accelerate and standardize the approach for future acquisitions.
Executive Takeaway
Cross-border technology acquisitions are complex by design. The system environments, operating models, and integration timelines all have to move in parallel, and the cost of getting sequence or architecture wrong is high. CIO Source brought the structure and technical leadership needed to run the IT workstream effectively, from Day 1 readiness through end-state architecture decisions, and helped establish the foundation for two technology companies to operate as one.