Post-merger IT integration
October 2025 | TALKINGPOINT | MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Financier Worldwide Magazine
October 2025 Issue
FW discusses post-merger IT integration with Chris Barrett, Claudio Di Vittorio, Jacqueline Govers and Jonathan Milde at Boston Consulting Group.
FW: What role are technology and data playing in the management and success of post-merger integrations (PMIs)? Could you highlight current trends and developments in this area?
Barrett: In today’s environment, technology and data are becoming as critical as traditionally emphasised financial and people considerations. Companies that fail to adequately address technology and data in PMIs jeopardise business continuity and the merger’s longer-term objectives, as well as risking diminishing value for consumers, value chain partners and investors. Companies should look at creating integration centres of excellence to streamline data and system consolidation, deploy AI tools for dependency analysis and planning, and perform rigorous cyber security due diligence to protect deal value from threats emerging during integration.
Di Vittorio: At the same time, integrating systems and data is critical to unlock synergies across the business areas, such as enabling unified, more efficient processes, and enabling future business transformation once the merger is completed. Increasingly more mergers and PMIs are starting to define a tech baseline and integration strategy from the very early stages of the deal, with tech leadership, namely chief digital officers (CDOs) and chief information officers (CIOs), sitting at the integration management and leadership table.
“A well-defined reference technology roadmap is critical to synchronise execution across diverse delivery methodologies.”
FW: Why is it crucial for acquiring organisations to gain a comprehensive understanding of a target company’s data and technology landscape?
Govers: As two companies merge, they combine their departments and operational processes, all of which are supported by data and technology. Think about the very foundational process of receiving an order via sales, scheduling and manufacturing the order through production, and invoicing the order at finance. This is all enabled through underlying data flows and IT systems. The complexity of fully integrating two companies is therefore connected to the underlying data and tech landscape.
Di Vittorio: Integrating all these areas requires strategic and up-front planning for a network of complex interdependencies, considered very early in the integration journey. For example, merging e-commerce platforms needs to be planned considering a set of upstream business decisions, such as customer strategy and product strategy, as well as aligning the integration strategy and plan with a series of downstream platforms, including order management systems, fulfilment, finance and so on. Establishing a clear blueprint of the target state is key to identify these constraints and define an integration plan that delivers at speed with less rework.
FW: How can data and technology be leveraged to accelerate integration and synergy capture in a PMI?
Milde: Synergies are a result of two companies being able to work together. The ability to exchange data is often a significant first step. Think about salespeople being able to cross-sell products of the other entity to their customers, procurement being able to assess the full spend cube across the new combination, or treasury being able to optimise cash across the entities. Accelerating the exchange of data, ahead of the full integration of processes and systems, can therefore be an accelerator to synergy capture.
Di Vittorio: This can be achieved very early in the PMI journey by first identifying the main synergies and the data domains and datasets required to enable them – for example employee data vendor and contracting data, and customer data – and then developing the target architecture, including migration processes, tools and governance ahead of ‘day one’. This allows plans to be executed very quickly after closure, ideally within the first one to three months, and requires constant engagement with legal functions and leveraging clean team constructs to ensure the planning and design.
“Success hinges on open, ongoing feedback and a strong commitment to capability-building.”
FW: How can generative artificial intelligence help to accelerate the integration process, capture synergies and add value?
Govers: Generative AI (genAI) can help in two ways. First, it can act as a way to exchange data between companies and accelerate synergy capture. For example, it can act as an aide for querying combined product and customer databases and building an AI-driven cross-sell engine that supports selling the full combined portfolio toward the combined customer base. Second, genAI serves as a powerful enabler to accelerate integration programme activities. It can streamline critical tasks such as comparing process documentation, designing and validating test cases, developing and refining complex integration roadmaps, and identifying key interdependencies. Additionally, advanced tools can support data analysis, reconciliation and cleansing – facilitating tasks such as customer identity matching and duplicate product or stock keeping unit resolution. Technology also plays a valuable role in generating internal communications, including drafting newsletters and stakeholder updates, thereby enhancing alignment and transparency throughout the integration journey.
FW: What role should the chief digital officer or chief information officer play in PMI?
Di Vittorio: Technology and data have become foundational to business performance, equipping teams with the tools, insights and automation needed to accelerate results. In the context of PMI, their role is even more critical, so it is essential that CDOs and CIOs are among the strategic leaders shaping the integration agenda. They define the technology integration strategy that enables synergy capture, fuels growth and establishes a scalable, future-ready tech landscape, all while managing tight timelines and budgets. Simultaneously, they are responsible for integrating the technology function itself, delivering cost synergies – for example through contract consolidation – and evolving the IT operating model to support a larger, more complex organisation.
“In PMI, aligning IT efforts with broader project management frameworks is essential to stay on track with timelines, resources and budgets.”
FW: What are the advantages of working with external data and technology consultants? How should they best work together with the in-house team?
Milde: Engaging external data and technology consultants during a PMI offers critical advantages. First, they provide much-needed execution capacity at a time when internal teams are stretched just to maintain business continuity. Second, their cross-industry experience allows them to recognise integration risk patterns, accelerate decision making, and support tech leaders with both expertise and empathy. Importantly, consultants also offer a neutral, data-driven perspective to challenge internal assumptions, mediate between entities and help prioritise a future-ready technology landscape. Integrations are an opportunity to take a step beyond sewing the data and technology environments together into a more transformative future state; external consultants can weigh in with real-world expertise on emerging trends, best practices and bold sources of potential value to shape a transformation journey.
Govers: The best partnerships are built on clear integration governance: defined roles, shared accountability and a high-cadence decision-making rhythm co-led with the client. Success also hinges on open, ongoing feedback and a strong commitment to capability-building – ensuring knowledge transfer to the in-house team and a thoughtful ramp-down of external support when the business is ready. When done right, this collaboration is a catalyst not just for integration but also for long-term transformation.
“Technology and data are becoming as critical as traditionally emphasised financial and people considerations.”
FW: What practical advice would you offer on aligning IT integration efforts with established project management frameworks, including timelines, resource allocation and budget constraints?
Di Vittorio: In PMI, aligning IT efforts with broader project management frameworks is essential to stay on track with timelines, resources and budgets. We recommend setting up a central technology delivery office that includes key representatives from both companies’ legacy IT organisations, business tech leads and architecture. This office would act as the control tower, owning the consolidated tech roadmap, mediating cross-functional priorities, and interfacing continuously with the integration management office. In parallel, a dedicated IT governance cadence, ideally with a design authority and clean team where needed, would enable consistent decision making, scope control and budget ownership. Together, these structures would build resilience and flexibility, allowing you to respond to changing integration dynamics without compromising delivery pace or clarity.
Milde: Building on that foundation, a well-defined reference technology roadmap is critical to synchronise execution across diverse delivery methodologies. This roadmap should include clear phase-based stage gates, enabling teams – whether operating in agile, waterfall or hybrid models – to align their delivery milestones without imposing a ‘one size fits all’ approach. It would act as a shared ‘north star’, ensuring consistent progress tracking across streams while still allowing for team-level autonomy. Just as importantly, this roadmap must reflect not only operational readiness goals but also long-term modernisation objectives. Finally, a strong linkage between the technology delivery office and the integration management office ensures complete visibility across dependencies, budgets and synergy realisation. This alignment creates the structure needed to coordinate three simultaneous efforts: standing up ‘day one’ capabilities, executing full tech integration and laying the groundwork for post-deal transformation. When done right, it is what turns a complex IT merger into a value-creating engine.
Chris Barrett is a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group and is the global leader of post-merger integration, with responsibility for capabilities, approach and tools. He has been a dedicated expert on post-merger integration for over 15 years, working across deals globally of all sizes and scopes. He is a key thought leader behind many BCG publications, covering the full spectrum of post-merger integration topics. He can be contacted by email: barrett.christopher@bcg.com.
Claudio Di Vittorio is a managing director and partner focused on technology and digital topics, particularly on driving value in transactions such as post-merger integration, carve-outs and spinoffs. He supports clients from very early in their M&A journey and covers the entire deal life cycle from inception and valuation through execution. He can be contacted by email: divittorio.claudio@bcg.com.
Jacqueline Govers is a managing director and partner with a strong focus on tech in transactions, namely data and tech in mergers and demergers. She covers the full deal cycle, with a focus on leveraging data and tech to accelerate value capture. She can be contacted by email: govers.jacqueline@bcg.com.
Jonathan Milde is a managing director and partner focused on technology and data topics. He has extensive experience in transaction settings, including post-merger integration and divestitures. He has led these efforts for IT clients in the retail, industrial goods, biopharmaceutical and technology industries, among others. He also specialises in IT strategy, transformation, organisational and operating model design, and cost reduction. He can be contacted by email: milde.jonathan@bcg.com.
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