http://www.beaconintegration.com/resources/merger-blog/2009/07/top-3-reasons-that-so-many-mergers-acquisitions-fail/ This blog is dedicated to technology aspects of Mergers & Acquisitions Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:26:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 http://www.beaconintegration.com/resources/merger-blog/2009/07/top-3-reasons-that-so-many-mergers-acquisitions-fail/comment-page-1/#comment-409 Alexander Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:26:51 +0000 http://www.beaconintegration.com/resources/merger-blog/?p=215#comment-409 I think your point about failure of achieving commonality in business processes and information systems is spot on! Many companies that undergo a merger hang onto legacy systems for years. This not only represents an opportunity lost in terms of synergies that could be achieved by eliminating redundancies, but also becomes a drag on any new initiatives or campaigns the combined entirety may undertake in the future. Any new information system or business processes will need to account for incorporating legacy systems into their planning, design, deployment, and maintenance. The problem is exasperated by each redundant system. The more redundancy, the greater the drag on every project the combined entity embarks on. This stifles cross sell an organic growth, and increases capital and one time expenditure required to deploy any new systems. The hidden cost of maintaining legacy systems after a merger is virtually immeasurable. I think your point about failure of achieving commonality in business processes and information systems is spot on! Many companies that undergo a merger hang onto legacy systems for years. This not only represents an opportunity lost in terms of synergies that could be achieved by eliminating redundancies, but also becomes a drag on any new initiatives or campaigns the combined entirety may undertake in the future. Any new information system or business processes will need to account for incorporating legacy systems into their planning, design, deployment, and maintenance. The problem is exasperated by each redundant system. The more redundancy, the greater the drag on every project the combined entity embarks on. This stifles cross sell an organic growth, and increases capital and one time expenditure required to deploy any new systems. The hidden cost of maintaining legacy systems after a merger is virtually immeasurable.

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