The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 3

For many on the M&A integration front lines who are tasked with getting product synergies from combined assets of different firms, data model integration often appears high on the post-merger/acquisition grail quest. The same sentiment would likely echo from customers, at least those who have gone through a vendor consolidation in the past. But, in fact, data model integration is only Stage 3 (out of 5 stages) of post-acquisition technology integration — it’s the mid-point! And with apologies, to the Monty Python crew, that’s no ordinary rabbit!

In this Spend Matters PRO series, we are defining, introducing and exploring the five levels of M&A technology integration that vendors must go through when bringing together different modules and platforms. We should note, however, that bringing together different applications and technology stacks is not a requirement of any acquisition. But anytime a technology provider wants to market and achieve customer synergies through a transaction outside of “cross-sell/up-sell” the degree of integration planned, its timing and ultimate realization should be a priority for investors and customers alike.

Today, we explore the third level of integration that occurs in a post-merger situation or when vendors replatform old technology onto a new stack while still having to maintain existing solution capability on the legacy platform. From a vendor perspective, we define how to do it and provide examples of this type of integration. And from a user perspective, we suggest tips and tricks for technology buyers to discern this level of integration compared with others.

If you’re new to this series and want to learn the five levels of integration, start with this introduction., which fully explains the partially obscured chart below.

In the previous installments, we covered Stage 1 and Stage 2 integration levels in detail.