With the frenetic pace of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) showing no sign of abating, nearly every CIO today must at some point grapple with the enormous challenges of integrating acquired companies. Too often, though, success eludes the merged companies – with IT getting part of the blame for the failure.

In enterprises with successful M&As, CEOs and other high-level executives recognize the strategic importance of early and ongoing involvement of their IT team in the M&A process. These leading organizations have the IT team weigh in during the assessment phase and remain after the deal is signed to spearhead post merger integration efforts.

This paper addresses how your IT group can prepare for and participate in M&A business initiatives to help maximize the deal's value, minimize risk, and speed time to benefit after the deal is signed. Among its practical insights, the paper shows CIOs the potential pitfalls that await the IT team and describes the common set of steps SAP customers are using to avoid these pitfalls and achieve rapid, highly effective post merger integration.