Ensuring Maximum Benefits from an Acquisition

The banking corporation wanted to maximise the value of the lessons learned from the biggest integration program undertaken by the bank.

Two years after acquiring an overseas bank, the banking corporation wanted to openly assess the lessons learned from their largest integration program undertaken. The implementation plan had been designed to ensure retention of customers and corporate reputation as well as a smooth integration of back-end systems and increased efficiencies, where possible.

SMS was engaged to review the integration, and to offer independent expert advice on the bank’s ability to meet the requirements set out immediately following the acquisition as well as how other large programs could benefit from the lessons learned.

Rigorous auditing of implementation processes, detailed stakeholder interviewing, and analysis of quantitative data enabled SMS to produce detailed recommendations for improvement.

SMS interviewed 27 key stakeholders. Their responses, when combined with SMS’s standard set of programme implementation principles allowed us to assess:

• the clarity of ownership and governance of this program within the bank
• how to balance customer and market imperatives and programme progress to integrate IT systems across multiple customer facing business units
• how the program was managed, including planning, work assignment, communication, monitoring and reporting
• the extent to which IT systems had been rationalised through the retirement of existing, outdated platforms
• handling of customer and market aspects of the acquisition, including sensitivity surrounding publicity resulting from the purchase of a national icon
• overall improvements in business process efficiencies
  

SMS produced and delivered a detailed analysis of the banking corporation’s post-acquisition integration performance and made recommendations designed to make the lessons learned in this program more widely useful across the bank.

SMS used the observations from interviews and review of documents to produce a series of specific and tailored recommendations on how best to finalise residual program work and govern and execute other programs. As well as minor adjustments to tactics already employed, recommendations focussed on the business critical areas of:

• managing the initial days and weeks of the merger as an event leading into the ongoing integration program
• accountability, authority and decision making within the governance of the integration program
• staff attraction and retention through resourcing partners and training programs
• IT systems consolidation across the board to ensure economies of scale wherever possible
• continued positive press and customer support through favourable attitudes towards the bank
  

The banking corporation benefited from an independent assessment of their integration program based on recognised program management principles that identified areas for improvement and provided the bank with a series of business critical lessons for future projects.

SMS provided the independent, expert advice and recommendations based on recognised program management principles. In addition to SMS’s detailed report, a summary of recommendations suitable for other program directors and owners in the bank was produced for appropriate circulation by the bank’s senior management.