Case Study

Cognizant White Paper

Overcoming IT Challenges in

Mergers and Acquisitions

Introduction

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are the

primary drivers of inorganic growth for

consumer goods (CG) companies and are the

widely preferred growth engine used by CG

companies fortunate enough to have cash to

spend. CG companies view M&As as a way to

ensure that they have the right product at the

right store on the right shelf at the right time.

The chief benefits of acquiring or merging with

another CG company are to create or expand new

lines of service or enter new

M&A poses massive geographical markets and

enhance the product portfolio.

challenges for any IT

In economic times where

infrastructure, especially organic growth is hard to come

in cases where by, these are powerful

organizations of considerations. Acquiring a

smaller player can offer a large

similar size merge.

CG company greater flexibility

and quicker time to market -- a

key advantage now as the economic climate

means every minute and every dollar count more

than ever. Smaller companies often achieve

higher returns on their brand management

activities -- such an acquisition can quickly accrue

to the larger organization’s bottom line.

For most companies, deciding a merger or an

acquisition is the easy part. The real challenges

come after the acquisition as the new entity

struggles to accommodate needed changes in

people, processes, technology systems, and

compliance. This white paper focuses on the

information technology challenges faced in an

organization after M&A.

M&A poses massive challenges for any IT

infrastructure, especially in cases where

organizations of similar size merge. There, it

would not be uncommon that the merged

organization would have two entirely disparate

systems, different images, different hardware,

protocols, and Websites. In order to get the

expected benefits from the merger, however, the

new organization would have to rationalize its...