In July 2019, I thought I had a great plan to beat the North Carolina summer heat: fly north to Dover, New Hampshire as part of a team of IT leaders from Lincoln Financial Group, following its acquisition of Liberty Life Assurance in a carve-out from Liberty Mutual.
Then I stepped off the plane—into a 95-degree wall of heat. It was a hot reminder of a hard truth: M&A deals look much smoother on a slide deck than they do on the ground. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned about the integration side of things from an IT leadership perspective.
GET A CHAIR AT THE TABLE
M&A deals are shaped in the boardroom, led by the C-suite, and inked by legal.
IT is often brought in late, sometimes too late.
That’s a mistake.
Senior IT leaders need a seat at the table early, ideally before a deal is even in motion. Technology is the backbone of the synergy assumptions that led to the deal in the first place. If the technology is not validated pre-deal, that's an unpriced risk you’ve already committed to.
Early involvement leads to stronger due diligence, higher adoption rate, and positions IT as a strategic enabler rather than a downstream executor.
If a company’s core systems are held together by duct tape and magic fairy dust, that’s not just an IT issue…it’s a valuation issue.
Measure Twice, Acquire Once
IT due diligence isn’t just about counting assets. It’s about uncovering risk. The goal is to identify the hidden issues that can materially impact deal value and long-term ROI. Here’s where early IT involvement pays off:
- When the Sheet Doesn’t Balance
Due diligence surfaces what financial models often miss: technical debt, shadow IT, unsupported infrastructure, and expiring licenses. Vendor contracts of the target company are another blind spot. Many include “change of control” clauses that trigger renegotiation at current market rates, often increasing costs significantly post-acquisition. - Look Under the Hood
If a company’s core systems are held together by duct tape and magic fairy dust, that’s not just an IT issue…it’s a valuation issue. Weak ERP or CRM platforms often signal gaps in continuity planning and security posture. These risks should influence deal structure, not become surprises after close. Because once the deal is done, the problem is yours. - Security Doesn’t Wait for Close
Threat actors pay attention to M&A activity. Press releases and corporate announcements about integration windows create prime opportunities for attack. Bringing IT in early ensures security architecture is evaluated and reinforced before close and not after a known breach. - Hope is not a Migration Strategy
Early involvement also gives IT time to plan integration properly, whether that’s integrating systems or executing a full rip-and-replace.
Application and system integration is one of the most complex parts of any transition. In carve-out scenarios specifically, this includes negotiating and managing Transition Service Agreements (TSAs), contractual arrangements where the seller continues providing certain services to the acquired entity during the integration window.
Without a clear TSA strategy, you risk operational dependency on an entity that is no longer aligned with your business interests, often at a premium cost. Regardless of approach, stakeholders expect one outcome: cost synergy. Without a clear roadmap that accounts for every dependency – including TSAs – that expectation is hard to meet.
BRIDGE THE CULTURE
Figuring out the technical architecture is only half the battle…and usually the easiest part. Applications, systems, and equipment are decision-based choices. If needed, they can be changed.
Culture is where most mergers struggle.
In Dover, I saw this firsthand. Liberty Life's IT team was capable and committed, but they were operating at a different organizational speed than Lincoln Financial's environment.
Adapting to an organization's formal ITSM structure, defined support models, and enterprise-grade processes wasn't a question of willingness. It was a question of time, patience, and the right guidance.
That experience shaped how I think about cultural integration.
M&A requires training not only for the systems, but the culture as well.
“But, Joshua, culture and training aren't 'I.T.' problems.”
I beg to differ.
When the accounting team avoids the new ERP because it’s “too hard,” it instantly becomes an IT problem. When productivity drops because teams resist new security protocols, the CFO is calling you…not the accounting manager. You own the outcome.
The good news: you don’t need to be a professional trainer, or feel like you need to present a TED Talk; you just need to know where to find the experts.
Most vendors offer strong training programs…use them. Yes, there’s a cost, but it pays for itself in adoption rate and ROI.
At the same time, identify your early adopters. Bring them in early. Get their input. Let them help shape the training experience.
Now they have ownership, not just participation.
And ownership drives adoption.
One thing to keep in mind: training budgets are often treated as expendable budget fodder.
If you receive pushback when presenting the training budget, position it as an investment…not a cost.
Without a training strategy, adoption stalls, productivity drops, morale declines, and time-to-value stretches.
Think of it this way: you wouldn’t spend six figures on a Lamborghini Huracán STO and then “wing it” on the drive home from the dealership.
M&A transitions are no different.
If you want people to operate a new system, you have to show them how. Don’t just hand them a manual and hope for the best.
Growth Engine
If you and your team have done the above, then you’ve taken IT from a support cost center to a strategic business partner.Why is this important?
Because your business partners aren't interested in server pings or 99.9% availability as abstract metrics.
They care that those servers enabled their associates to deliver $5M in monthly sales without friction.
True strategic enablement is about ensuring the technology is so seamless that the only thing the business notices is the growth.
ADAPT TO THE HEAT
In 2019, I couldn't change the weather in Dover; I could only adapt to handle the heat. In M&A, the “heat” is a guarantee.Your job as an IT leader isn't just to build the infrastructure – it's to ensure the business has adapted to the environment by Day 1.
The weather doesn’t wait, so neither should the business.