To maintain two solutions, or not: A module-by-module guide to preventing the worst mistake of all in post-merger technology integration

For the last five years, consolidation has defined the procurement technology market — a trend we expect to continue. Enterprise players have been acquiring vendors in the procurement, supply chain and fintech spaces to complement their portfolios and, over the long term, to build synergistic suite offerings faster and better than they could with native development.

However, technology integration takes a lot more than picking the company or solution that looks like it is leading the pack and having the company that developed that solution dictate the integration strategy, because the solution that might be leading in the market today may not be the best solution for the future (just the most popular solution today).

That's why we have taken the time to define the five levels of integration that vendors try to achieve, did a deep dive into the questions that must be asked to determine whether to keep a product, noted that any process you select can be riddled with minefields, and, finally, made it clear that a vendor should always beware of making the biggest technology integration mistake of all — believing you should maintain two solutions that do essentially the same thing.

In our initial exploration of this “biggest no-no,” we indicated in part one we’d make clear the irrationality of any attempt to rationalize the maintenance of two solutions that do essentially the same thing by providing specific insights across the S2P space.

In this Spend Matters PRO post, we’ll expand this analysis by looking at categories of the S2P cycle as covered in Spend Matters’ vendor ranking system, SolutionMap: invoice-to-pay, e-procurement, contract lifecycle management, supplier management (SXM), sourcing, and analytics.

For vendors getting up to speed on post-merger integration strategy, consider reviewing our earlier briefs, where we defined five specific stages of post-merger technology integration, as well as our follow-on brief about perhaps the most important upfront integration planning question (to maintain or not to maintain?). See:

• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: An Introduction
• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 1
• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 2
• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 3
• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 4
• The 5 Levels of M&A Technology Integration: Stage 5
• A post-merger technology integration handbook: To maintain or not to maintain?
• The 3 most common ‘surprises’ in post-merger technology integration — and how to avoid them
• The 3 biggest ‘no-nos’ in post-merger technology integration — and what to do instead
• The worst mistake of all in post-merger technology integration — and how to prevent it