Why You Should Outsource the Tech to a Tech Expert in M&A

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) give companies new paths to growth and market leadership. According to Gartner, M&A is a great way to address gaps in services and products, and can also open organizations to new markets.

Image Source

However, while the headlines focus on strategy and finance, technology is often overlooked.

Behind every successful merger or divestiture is a complex collection of IT systems and data that teams must integrate or separate. Done wrong, these tech transitions can derail timelines and erode deal value. That's why more companies are turning to specialized partners to handle the heavy lifting.

Outsourcing to a tech expert like Protera keeps your digital foundation secure and future-ready. Our experience in enterprise platforms like SAP and our proven track record in M&A mean we can simplify the transition with fewer risks. This guide investigates why having the right tech partner can make all the difference.

Quick Takeaways

• Technology is a critical pillar in M&A, as poorly handled IT transitions can derail timelines and reduce deal value.

• Internal IT teams often lack M&A-specific expertise, making outsourcing a safer, faster option.

• Specialists like Protera bring proven processes and SAP experience to streamline complex integrations or separations.

• Outsourcing reduces risk and modernizes IT infrastructure for long-term business success.

The Hidden Tech Challenges in Mergers and Acquisitions

When companies merge or separate, it's easy to assume that technology will fall into place after figuring out the financial and legal details. In reality, IT is often the most complicated and disruptive part of the entire deal. 

The systems and infrastructure behind a business can either accelerate success or quietly drain value from the transaction. Here are seven of the most common hidden tech challenges impacting your next M&A.

1. IT Systems Incompatibility

Every company has its own technology ecosystem, including ERP and CRM platforms, HR management tools, accounting systems, and communication apps. However, these systems don't always speak the same language. One organization may rely on legacy, on-premises software, while the other has already migrated to the cloud.

• Challenge: Deciding which systems to keep and how to connect them without breaking day-to-day operations.
• Hidden risk: Incompatible systems can delay integration. Worse, employees may have to use manual workarounds that slow productivity and frustrate customers.

2. Data Integration & Quality Issues

Bringing together two organizations means merging massive amounts of data like customer records, supplier contracts, employee files, and financial data. Unfortunately, this information often comes in different formats, with inconsistent naming conventions or incomplete details.

• Challenge: Cleaning and validating data across multiple sources before the company uses it in a unified system.
• Hidden risk: Poor-quality data undermines analytics and forecasting, making measuring synergies or tracking performance difficult. A lack of trust in the data also slows decision-making and erodes confidence at every level of the business.

3. Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities

M&A activity can unintentionally open the door to cyber threats. Attackers know that companies in transition are distracted, making them prime targets. At the same time, acquired companies may bring outdated security practices or risky shadow IT into the deal.

• Challenge: Conducting thorough security audits of both environments while also aligning policies and monitoring systems.
• Hidden risk: A single overlooked vulnerability could lead to a breach, resulting in lost data and reputational damage, potentially before the deal is even complete.

4. Licensing, Compliance, and IP Ownership

Not all technology assets transfer smoothly during an acquisition. For instance, software licenses may belong to specific entities and hardware warranties may not carry over, creating issues. In addition, intellectual property developed by contractors or third parties can require legal intervention to transfer.

• Challenge: Figuring out vendor contracts and guaranteeing compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA.
• Hidden risk: If the organization ignores these details, businesses can face unexpected costs or legal disputes that delay integration.

5. Hidden Technical Debt

Every IT system carries some level of technical debt, which is the shortcuts or outdated code that accumulate over years of operation. Acquiring a company often means inheriting all that debt, even if they didn't disclose it during due diligence.

• Challenge: Identifying and quantifying the level of technical debt in legacy systems and deciding whether to modernize or replace them.
• Hidden risk: Technical debt increases maintenance costs and can derail digital transformation plans long after closing the deal.

6. Business Continuity & System Downtime

M&A requires moving and consolidating systems, which is a process that often leads to downtime. Customer-facing systems can't afford extended outages, but integration work frequently impacts availability.

• Challenge: Planning migrations and executing transitions with minimal disruption.
• Hidden risk: Even short outages can damage customer trust and create operational backlogs that take weeks to resolve.

7. Overlooked Cloud and Infrastructure Costs

On paper, consolidating two IT environments should reduce costs. However, running parallel systems during integration drives expenses up, at least in the short term. Cloud migrations and infrastructure upgrades can quickly add unexpected line items to the M&A budget.

• Challenge: Accurately forecasting the true cost of integration, including hidden expenses like increased storage or licensing renewals.
• Hidden risk: Without proper planning, what looked like a cost-saving merger can become an IT money pit, cutting into the very deal value it was meant to create.

These challenges don't mean technology has to be a barrier in M&A, but they show the importance of having a dedicated tech expert available to you. From there, companies can reduce risk and realize the full value of their deal.

Why Your Internal IT Team Might Not Be Enough

Your internal IT team is excellent at keeping your day-to-day operations running, but handling the tech side of a merger or acquisition is an entirely different challenge.

Most in-house teams simply don't have the specialized experience required for M&A transitions. These projects involve complex tasks like integrating systems and maintaining strict security and compliance standards, all under tight deadlines.

At the same time, your internal team is already busy managing existing workloads. Asking them to take on an M&A project can stretch resources thin and increase the chances of costly mistakes. With so much riding on a successful transition, even small errors can disrupt business continuity or impact customer experience.

When the stakes are this high, putting all the pressure on your internal IT team can put the entire deal at risk. That's why turning to M&A tech experts is often the smarter move.

What a Tech Expert Brings to the Table

Outsourcing the tech side of a merger, acquisition, or divestiture to a specialized partner like Protera can be the difference between an effortless transition and a chaotic one. Protera brings expertise in M&A, including complex carve-outs and divestitures, which means we've seen and solved the most common and uncommon tech challenges that arise during these deals.

Instead of starting from scratch, you can use Protera's playbook to speed the transition without taking on any additional risk. Our experience is especially valuable when dealing with complex enterprise systems like SAP, which require expert handling to migrate or integrate without disrupting business operations.

A true tech partner also provides strategic IT planning from Day 1 of the deal, helping you build a roadmap that supports your business goals and creates a future-ready IT environment. Whether the job involves unifying systems or setting up cloud infrastructure, we execute every step with the utmost precision.

Image Source

Partnering with Protera reduces downtime and gives you greater peace of mind. It also lets your internal teams focus on what they do best while the tech experts handle the rest.

Case for Outsourcing SAP and Enterprise App Integration

When it comes to M&As or divestitures, SAP and other enterprise applications are some of the most complex systems to integrate or separate. These platforms touch nearly every part of a business, including finance, supply chain, HR, and customer service. That's why SAP migrations aren't like typical IT projects. They require careful planning and flawless execution to avoid costly downtime or data issues.

Attempting to manage this process without M&A-specific expertise can lead to serious delays and disruption. However, Protera has years of experience handling SAP in high-stakes M&A scenarios. We can automate much of the process and use battle-tested methods to provide a fast, secure transition.

Outsourcing SAP and enterprise app integration to a specialist like Protera makes the entire process far faster. It also guarantees compliance. You avoid the guesswork and get a reliable, scalable solution that aligns with your post-transaction goals and a much smoother path to realizing value from your deal.

Gartner believes that integration is the most important part of any acquisition, and technology is a major part of it.

Business Benefits of Outsourcing Tech in M&A

When it comes to mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures, the technology side of the transaction often holds some of the biggest risks and the biggest opportunities. Handling IT transitions in-house can create delays or operational disruptions, but by outsourcing to experienced experts, businesses gain a faster path to integration and set themselves up for long-term success.

Partnering for M&A Success

Mergers and acquisitions can be complicated, and the technology side is often one of the most challenging parts. You could be combining systems or breaking them apart, and the IT work behind the scenes can make or break the deal as a whole.

Relying solely on internal resources or treating the transition like a typical IT project is risky. The stakes are too high for trial and error.

That's why bringing in a tech expert like Protera is a smart move. We have significant M&A experience and cloud expertise, helping us complete the job securely and on time.

Talk to Protera today to learn how our M&A services can simplify your next transaction and set your business up for long-term success.