Working Together for a Common Goal

The acquisition of a former supplier was expected to add value to both the acquirer’s product and the target’s current customers through the sharing of information and data. In order for this value to be realized, the former competitors needed to learn to work together toward a common goal.

Former Competitors Need to Share Information

A European software and services company acquired a key supplier of information used in its products and services. A major objective of the acquisition was to seamlessly integrate the information that formerly had been shared on commercial terms. It was expected, furthermore, that the information, which had flowed only from the target to the buyer before the acquisition, would be updated and corrected more quickly if it could be shared in both directions. The improved information was expected to enhance the value proposition of the acquirer’s product as well as the value of the information sold to the target’s other customers.

Facilitating Team Work Sessions and Accelerating Plans

As part of Schaffer’s overall support for the post-merger integration of the two companies, Schaffer:

• Worked with the Integration Manager to form a joint product technology team of engineers to carry out the documentation, transfer the proprietary approach, and provide on-going management of the data

• Facilitated team work sessions to plan realignment of product teams and processes

• Developed knowledge sharing mechanisms to align and document content plans and programs

• Accelerated plans for deploying and using consumer feedback to improve the product

Increased Revenue and Higher Quality Data

The combined company seamlessly incorporated updates into the target company's data to create higher quality data for their combined customer base. Sales revenues grew by bringing new content and expanded coverage products to the market.