Post-merger integration: the first 100 days, honestly
Day one is a ceremony. The real integration starts when customers and key people decide whether to stay.
The first 100 days after a deal closes are less about synergies than about trust. Customers want to know whether service will change. Key people want to know whether they still have a future. Competitors are calling both groups.
What to protect first
We ask management to name the twenty customers and the twenty people the deal cannot afford to lose. Each gets a named owner, a conversation in the first two weeks and a follow-up before day 60.
It sounds basic. It is also the step most often skipped while teams argue about systems and organisation design.
Decide fast, communicate faster
Uncertainty is more corrosive than bad news. Integration leaders should publish a decision calendar on day one — which questions will be answered by when — and hold themselves to it publicly.
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What a good diagnostic actually costs
