Episode description

In today's episode, I'm joined by Barry Lewington and Hugh Van Wijk from PTS Australia to talk about their experiences in managing the technology integration (or separation) aspects of M&A.   We will be recording more podcasts with PTS in the future but from today's episode, there are several takeaways from our conversation.

1. Technology integration can be a large part of any M&A integration and in most cases, it can be complex and involve many moving parts.
2. The technology per se is a small part of the issue, people, governance, data and operations security, transition services agreements (TSA's) and regulatory approvals are some of the critical factors that need to be considered.
3. Like all other parts of M&A integration, the technology aspect needs detailed planning and the most appropriate starting point is the deal thesis
4. In addition to technology skills, strong communication skills are a vital skill set to make sure everyone understands what's happening. how they are involved or impacted, and as a mechanism to provide assurance to all parties.
5. And finally, in today's environment, technology is a critical component of business, so a critical expectation that PTS encounters is that when a system transition or integration legally completes at midnight, all operating systems have to be up and running in the new environment at midnight + 1 second.  

About PTS
PTS  is a global technology consulting business with 35 years of experience delivering world-class IT solutions to some of the world’s leading organisations. They help clients better align their IT, Business and Real Estate strategies by transforming the workplace through technology and by optimising their Data Centre environment.