Over the years, most mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals end up unsuccessful at various stages and phases of the transaction. A large proportion of M&A deals have failed to realize the goals and objectives for which businesses and organizations carry out such deals. Down the line, several reasons are said to be responsible for this and it cuts across all sections and people involved in the deal.
Failure in the trend of mergers and acquisitions has been on the increase in recent times. Rather than M&A deals being a perfect platform for most businesses to exit the business and get some rewards, a lot of companies do not have their M&A deals fall through. This has, in turn, resulted in disheartening figures for all businesses, organizations, and investments concerned.
The subject of project management and project management software often spring up when it comes to a merger or acquisition deal. Every business that aims at a more successful M&A knows how important project management is. However, there are important techniques involved in project management that need to be followed to make a more successful M&A. It is not just enough to use project management tools or software for M&A but rather to do it in a more efficient and effective way.
Appropriate planning is crucial to any mergers and acquisitions. Right from the integration phase down to the post-integration phase, proper project management techniques are important at all stages of the M&A deal to have a successful project.
Useful Techniques To Manage Your M&A Projects Successfully
The deal teams of a business or investment often have to deal with a massive number of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) projects daily. The figures are often massive such that being able to complete them requires extra help from other methods such as software. More importantly, M&A deals do have time limits and deadlines for the deal team to complete. The failure to complete these deals within the specified time has resulted in many cases of unsuccessful mergers or acquisitions.
For businesses to avert this and make sure that they make more effective M&A, the following project management techniques will guide you on how to make swift and efficient Mergers and Acquisitions deals;
- Research And Make Inquiries About The M&A Project Scope
This is by far the most fundamental technique when you decide to manage your M&A projects to make more successful ones. Your business’ deal team, as well as the merging companies, must be able to ask questions and provide adequate answers about the purpose of the M&A deals. Such questions as, “What exactly does this Merger or Acquisition set to meet?”, “What will be the benefit or return to either transacting businesses?”. Questions such as these will point the M&A deal in the right direction and will then be able to find out if the risks involved are worth taking.
- Be Specific About Projects Per Time
Managing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) projects take a long time due to the fact that those projects come in multiple numbers. An M&A integration phase may contain thousands of projects which could last up to many years before completion. For your business and the transacting company to speed things up and to have a successful M&A, it is important to streamline the specific projects that your deal ream will undergo per time. By narrowing down the individual projects, you will be able to arrange them in order of priority the ones that demand immediate action and the particular M&A projects to put on hold. Of course, this involves considerations about how capable the merging businesses are in terms of both finances and in terms of technical know-how and skills required for operations.
- Design a Timeline for the M&A Projects
Mergers and Acquisition deals are dependent on time like every other business process or transaction. M&A deals have the beginning phase, integration phase as well as the post-integration phase. How successful the deal gets at each stage determines the eventual fate of the mergers or acquisitions project. All levels included in each M&A project need to be well estimated so that you deal with the team and all concerned will have a sketch of what the project entails. In other words, the sketched timeline serves as the pointer for all project management and operations, and also as an entity that makes for effective executions of the plans outlined.
- Get the Required Resources
Regardless of the size of an M&A project, some essential resources are much-needed. These resources make sure that you have a successful M&A project while the absence of such elements may delay or make an M&A project fail.
An effective M&A project would need people who have expertise in project management and M&A. For example, your business’ deal team should form people who have the right skills and expertise to effectively manage M&A projects. Also, other resources such as enough time, sponsorship and a good platform for effective communication are important.
- Expect Hurdles And Drags
One of the certain things about mergers or acquisitions is that certain limits may spring up to alter your plans or simulations for M&A projects. For you to successfully scale through this, you have to make enough room to accommodate certain factors that could portend failure or delay to your M&A projects.
- Set Up a strong IT Infrastructure System
IT systems remain an important part of any merger or acquisition. It would not be wrong to say that an ineffective IT infrastructure could make a merger or acquisition unsuccessful. The world of business is not left out of the trending digitization in the world. Technology has provided the virtual data room and other project management tools for the effective management of M&A projects and to see to their successes. A virtual data room such as DealRoom has features that make things easier for your business, the transacting companies as well as your deal team during any project.
- Create a Playbook For Your IT Systems Integration
As mentioned earlier, IT integration is crucial for a successful M&A. Furthermore, your business needs to create a playbook that has records of all processes carried out in the first M&A deal. Once there is an existing playbook on the ground, it would be easier to use the playbook as a template for the next mergers or acquisitions.
Conclusion
Mergers and Acquisitions deals are very delicate as much as it involves long processes. In making sure that you make more successful M&A, the highlighted project management techniques management will serve as a pathway for you to do smoother deals.
In addition, it is very important to choose the right kind of partners or investors in M&A as it goes a long way to determining the M&A outcome. An advisable partner is one who is flexible enough to reason things out with your business and that is not too rigid when it comes to changing directions. Also, effective communication and collaboration is a key instrument for achieving successful M&A. Virtual data rooms like DealRoom and other management tools are equipped with features that make this possible. With the aid of these project management tools, your data and resources will be safely shared with M&A partners as your deal team will be able to communicate urgently. With adequate planning and an effective It integration, your business is set for successful mergers.
Author’s Bio: Lori Wade is a content writer for the DealRoom blog. She is interested in a wide range of spheres from business to entrepreneurship and new technologies. If you are interested in M&A or virtual data room industry, you can find her on Twitter & LinkedIn or find her on other social media. Read and take over Lori’s useful insights!
