M&A: Top Driver for Email Transformations
By Steven Pivnik, CEO, Binary Tree
There are several drivers for email change. One of the most frequent is mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Email transformation projects, driven by business need, often possess additional dimensions of complexity and higher levels of executive oversight.
Regardless of the reason or circumstances behind a merger or acquisition, one of the highest priorities is instant communication and collaboration between (or among) the newly joined entities. Since email is the number one communication and collaboration application in the world, getting disparate systems to work as one is of paramount importance. Furthermore, because executives are impatient by nature (I count myself in this group!), not having calendar interoperability for scheduling meetings, beginning on Day One post-close, is simply unacceptable.
An email migration project could involve any number of variables:
- Integrating an acquisition into the acquirer’s email and calendar system
- Taking two different email systems and transforming them into a new one
- Taking a single email system and separating it into two, in the case of a divestiture
No matter what the specific requirements may be, managing complexity will always be a significant issue to address. At times, complexity occurs because of different applications, and other times it arises due to different versions of the same application. Some corporate messaging infrastructures are deployed and supported in-house, some are outsourced, and some are hosted elsewhere. One must create a complete picture of not only the network and application topology, but also of administration and operation processes and change control regulations. After all, in a complex environment, any change may involve numerous individuals and groups and take significantly longer than anticipated.
While the duration and the scope of these projects will vary from organization to organization, there exists a common path to creating and implementing a successful integration solution. Your company’s ability to work with a vendor that can enable the email users from the two diverse organizations to seamlessly collaborate as one team on Day One and beyond is the true measure of a successful email integration project.