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18 Jul 2022

Mergers and acquisitions – why technology assessments and MSP services are important.  

So, you’re taking over, or joining together with one or more businesses. No doubt you’ll have spent months interviewing key stakeholders, poring over legal documents, spreadsheets, customer and supplier profiles, products and services, structures, and corporate goals. On top of that you’ll almost certainly be looking at the IT strategy and infrastructure of the businesses concerned.

But where to start when it comes to the IT? Looking at the simplest case, a larger business taking over a smaller one in the same market; You’ll have at least two disparate systems, hardware and (probably) software, licensing subscription periods, cyber security posture and business continuity policies (or partners), storage and archiving, premises and two sets of IT staff, each with their own agenda and roadmap.  In complex cases, that could involve all these factors across multiple businesses in multiple locations.

 

So how can the services of an MSP help?

1. Call us in before you commit – it may not affect the decision on whether or not to go ahead with the planned M&A, but as an experienced MSP, OryxAlign knows everything there is to know about transforming and/or integrating disparate systems across a multitude of different verticals. We are ideally placed to conduct strategic review and assessment of all IT resources and investment that are involved, and advise on the steps, and the potential costs, that will be required to amalgamate multiple legacy infrastructures, and consider if a completely new central infrastructure, or even an outsourced solution, would be more beneficial.

As an MSP we are, of course, able to provide you with a completely outsourced solution – either temporarily, as the new business is reconfigured, or on a longer-term basis – changing up-front (Capex) costs to more evenly spread operational costs, if that is deemed to be appropriate. We are also able to advise on the ‘best fit’ internal IT team structure.

 

2. We are unbiased. It’s easy for the Management of an acquiring business to see their own resources as the cornerstone of the new IT infrastructure. It’s also likely that they may resist bringing in new systems and reskilling their own departments post-acquisition. However, it is possible that the target business has more modern, efficient, environmentally-friendly or more secure solutions and a more appropriate range of skills and resources to satisfy the goals of the new business configuration. We will be able to determine and present an objective view of what each of the participants has in terms of in-house skills and resources, and how they can be brought together technically to fulfil the goals of the new business as quickly, efficiently and inexpensively as possible.

 

3. We’re in touch and experienced. You will have a unique, and perhaps once-only opportunity to consider and adopt a completely new strategy to satisfy the aspirations of the new business. You will also have an opportunity to reduce and streamline costs, remove redundant infrastructure, solutions, licences and skills, and to maximise the green credentials of the new business. OryxAlign exists to help our clients resolve these types of problems, drive change and make the most of new and emerging technology. We know what works, how it works and how to get results.

 

4. We’ll be there with you for the long run. With the knowledge we will have gained through your M&A journey we will be ideally placed to drive the new IT strategy and build the new IT infrastructure. You can completely outsource to us to manage the transition or we can align and project management resource to work with you and your team and oversee transformation and integrations – and work with you to help up-skill your own people.

 

Importantly we can call on a reserve of accredited and experienced IT professionals that we can draft in to assist with the project/s at any point, and maintain the alignment for as long as is necessary

If you are considering a merger or acquisition, please get in touch to get an idea of how we can help, and what is involved from a strategic IT perspective

If you are a consulting business that specialises in M&As, we would be happy to work with you, and with your clients, as a strategic partner

Graham Smith

By Graham Smith