Acquisition with non-integrated ERP
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I think that it depends on what the intention is with the acquired companies. If you may sell the business at some point and intend to run it independently, integrating systems does not make sense. If the intention is to incorporate the companies to become part of a larger organization, not integrating will likely generate a lot of inefficiencies over time and prevent realization of SG&A benefits as well as operational / commercial coordination.
From what I’ve seen, not integrating ERP systems can lead to a great deal of challenges, particularly around integration points and data. You also don’t get the best deal if you are negotiating with two different ERP vendors.
In my experience, keeping ERP systems separate after an acquisition can work in the short term, mainly to avoid operational disruption. It gives the acquired company time to stabilize while leadership focuses on integration planning.
That said, when systems stay non-integrated for too long, issues start to surface: manual reporting, duplicated data, limited visibility, and slower decision-making. Without a clear integration roadmap, “temporary” separation often becomes permanent and starts to erode value.
What tends to work best is treating non-integration as a deliberate phase, not an endpoint, with a clear plan for when and how integration will happen.
Really depends on the business model. In my experience from a company I currently work for, where inter-regional collaboration is the key element, as we’re all benefitting from each others expertise equally, it would be a nightmare to not use the same ERP. This is why for every acquisition that we have completed over the last 10 years, it has always been one of the main integration milestones to complete – usually taken care of right from Day One. Working on the same ERP globally brings an immense improvement in day-to-day collaboration. AP, AR, internal invoicing, cost transferring: all of that happens almost “magically” behind the scenes and does not bother a regular employee. This way full focus is put on the actual project execution.
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