Following the intensity of negotiating and closing a deal, post-closing integration can too easily be treated as an afterthought. Yet it is often integration, as much as deal terms, that ultimately determines whether a deal succeeds. The first 100 days following closing constitute a critical window, during which the momentum generated by the deal can be harnessed to advance its strategic rationale.
During these 100 days, the priorities are threefold: stabilisation (stabilising the business across its people, operations, finance, legal and regulatory, and customer and market dimensions); structuring (establishing the structures, systems and behaviours required to support the strategic case for the transaction); and vigilance (identifying and addressing early warning signs). Here we explore five aspects that dealmakers should consider when formulating and executing an integration plan to ensure that these priorities are met.
1. People and culture: Preserving stability amid change
Dealmakers should resist treating people and culture as a workstream running parallel to the rest of the integration effort. In practice, it is people and culture that determine whether the other workstreams can be delivered at all, and they should accordingly sit at the centre of any integration plan.
First, key talent should be identified during deal negotiations, with appropriate legal mechanisms and, where warranted, financial incentives, put in place to secure retention. Second, that talent should, so far as possible, be aligned with the integration plan prior to closing, given the central role those individuals will play in delivering that plan. Third, compliance with consultation requirements, particularly on multi-jurisdictional transactions, is essential as a legal matter, but it also affords an early and constructive opportunity to engage with, and communicate to, the target's workforce. Finally, at closing, the buyer should communicate clearly the rationale for the transaction and the steps that will follow: for many employees, silence is more unsettling than change.
2. Operations: Stabilisation before improvement
Operational disruption in the first few weeks can cost more in value and reputation than most dealmakers anticipate, and customers are often the first to notice any decline in service quality. In the initial weeks, dealmakers should prioritise business continuity, ensuring no interruption to production, service delivery, supply chains and logistics, or to the functions customers notice most, particularly customer service and IT support.
Once continuity is assured, focus can shift. Dealmakers should map overlapping processes, for example in sales order management, procurement, invoicing and reporting lines, to determine which version should take precedence. Key vendor and supply arrangements can then begin to be consolidated or aligned.
3. Finance and reporting: Control, transparency and synergy tracking
The finance workstream underpins governance and the ability to measure whether the deal is on track. Early priorities should focus on control and visibility with key areas of focus being alignment of accounting policies and reporting calendars (to permit consolidated reporting) and familiarisation with cash management and treasury arrangements. The first 100 days should also track progress against the business case to enable corrections to be made, if needed.
4. Legal, regulatory and risk: Ensuring the structure supports the strategy
The legal and regulatory workstreams establish the framework for integration; if the structure is wrong, there is nothing to hang the integration strategy on. Legal teams should confirm correct implementation of the acquisition structure and accompanying intercompany arrangements put in place from closing. Where key contracts require customers to be notified of the deal, this should be actioned in tandem with any wider communications plan. If transitional arrangements were put in place with the seller, these should be monitored to stress-test their relevance / the business’ dependence on them, in practice.
Regulatory work often continues beyond closing, but the first 100 days remain critical. The target's compliance frameworks, including data protection and sanctions compliance, will need to be aligned with the buyer's standards. Any regulatory notifications or approvals required for integration steps, such as licence transfers or changes of control affecting regulated entities, should be actioned.
5. Coordination and governance: Aligning the workstreams
To guard against this, dealmakers should establish a thoughtful framework for their integration that spans the people, operations, finance, legal / regulatory, and commercial functions. This can be used to track progress against the integration roadmap's milestones so that slippage or emerging risks can be picked up before they create a problem.
To guard against this, dealmakers should establish integration governance with cross-functional representation spanning people and human resources, operations, finance, legal and regulatory, and commercial functions. A single dashboard, reviewed regularly by workstream leads, should track progress against the roadmap's milestones so that slippage or emerging risks surface early.
Conclusion: A balanced, multi-workstream focus for the first 100 days
The first 100 days are not a rush to "fully integrate" at any cost. They are a period to stabilise the business across its people, operations, finance, legal and regulatory, and customer and market dimensions; to establish the structures, systems and behaviours that support the strategic case for the transaction; and to identify and address early warning signs, whether cultural, operational, financial or customer-related. Dealmakers who approach integration as a coordinated, multi-workstream effort, with culture and people at its centre but firmly connected to operational, financial and legal priorities, are far more likely to see deal value realised.
