Aligning Post-Merger Communications

Industrial company accelerates post-merger synergies with a unified email infrastructure

Our client needed the email integration to coincide with the official merger date to allow them to present a unified brand to the world.

Overview

In any merger or acquisition, the rapid realization of synergies is vital to the deal’s success. When a large industrial company planned a merger with one of their biggest competitors, they knew that the timing of the integration of their email systems was critical to ensure business continuity. They needed the email integration to coincide with the official merger date to allow them to present a unified brand to the world. Coordinating this effort required precise planning, expert project management, and specialized expertise in systems integration. That’s why they contacted Primitive Logic.

The Challenge

As the merger was announced, one of our client’s top priorities was ensuring uninterrupted communications within each of the original organizations, across the new company, and externally with clients and partners. Lost emails, bounced messages, and broken distribution lists would disrupt their business at a time when clients, investors, and the media were watching their every move. They also wanted employees to have a streamlined email experience to enable them to efficiently get their work done, rather than having multiple mail systems and inboxes and running the risk of emails being missed even when they are delivered correctly.

Why They Chose Primitive Logic

The company chose Primitive Logic because they were seeking a long-term partner who offered flexibility in how they work with clients. They appreciated our track record of long-standing relationships — several involving 100 or more projects for a single client — which speaks to both our longevity and the value we deliver. The selection process included interviews with three of our references, each of whom spoke to our collaborative style, the outstanding talent of our people, and the high quality of our work. Our responsiveness in answering the client’s questions — and our patience with their internal processes — also factored into their decision.

The Solution

Primitive Logic worked closely with our client to deliver a strategy for integrating the two email platforms to coincide with the official date of the merger. We then created an inventory of email applications, servers, distribution lists, access rights, users, groups, and other elements.

One of the companies had been using an older email platform and had started migrating to Office 365; however, the process was not yet complete when they announced the merger. Our experts worked through the options for handling the half-completed transition — finish versus revert — and incorporated the solution in the transition roadmap. Once we completed the roadmap and obtained buy-in from all stakeholders, we started the implementation phase.

Post-M&A email integrations can take up to six months, but the Primitive Logic and client joint team completed this project in less than half of that time, securely migrating all employee emails to the new system. We also streamlined the email user login process, leveraging best practices in secure authentication and authorization. The go-live date for the integrated email system coincided with the official merger date, allowing our client to present a unified brand from Day One while ensuring a smooth flow of communications both internally and externally.

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