This document outlines five key factors for a successful IT transformation during a merger or acquisition: 1) Early involvement of IT in planning to allow proper preparation, 2) Implementation expertise within IT to handle complex tasks, 3) A comprehensive view of business processes, applications, infrastructure and organization, 4) Experienced employees able to handle specialized challenges, and 5) Strong alignment between business and IT goals and processes. The success of M&A projects increasingly depends on effective involvement and support from the IT department.

1. SNP | The Transformation Company
PRODUCT GUIDE
4IT-
Implementation
Expertise
2IT: Early
Involvement
2
1Business/
IT Alignment
Blueprints
3
5Employees
SNP TRANSFORMATION BACKBONE
FIVE FACTORS FOR A SUCCESSFUL
TRANSFORMATION

2. SNP TRANSFORMATION BACKBONE
-
22
5
1
3
Transformation projects such as carve-
outs or mergers & acquisitions (M&A)
represent some of the greatest challen-
ges to companies and their IT depart-
ments. When viewing specific business
cases and synergy effects, these projects
appear to make sense from a business
standpoint. As such, the success of such
projects is increasingly dependent on
the IT department. So strengthen your
position.
The success of carve-outs or M&As de-
pends on a variety of different factors, and
from these we can identify the recurring
and central factors. Our expertise and ex-
perience show you what to focus on as
CIO during transformation projects.
Carve-Outs and M&As:
How CIOs become key partners to the
CEO and CFO
4

3. © SNP 2014 | www.snp-ag.com
The success of carve-
outs and M&A projects
is increasingly dependent
on the IT department‘s
involvement, which has an effect on
the type and scope of activities they
carry out during these projects. If you
are facing such an assignment as
CIO – bear these five success factors
in mind and position yourself as a
crucial partner to the CEO and CFO
during carve-outs and M&As.
Carve-outs and
M&As require a high
level of expertise
with regard to time
and budget manage-
ment. The involved employees must
demonstrate understanding for the
complexity of such a project, they
must possess specialized knowledge
in IT and project management, and
also be able to rise to the special
challenges presented by IT M&A
protects. They need methodological
skills, expertise gathered through
many years of working on carve-outs
or M&As, as well as knowledge of
the typical risks to such a project.
Carve-outs and
M&As are complex
projects where mere
knowledge of the
applications used is
insufficient. In order for a transfor-
mation project to be successful, the
following four areas must be consi-
dered: Business processes, IT ap-
plications, IT infrastructure, and IT
organization and processes. Parti­
cularly in global companies, incorpo-
rating the current architecture and
critical core applications (including
licenses) used in the respective
countries into these considerations
requires additional resources. The
process of developing the target land-
scape is derived from the analysis
of the current situation in each of
the four aforementioned areas. The
roadmap can then be drawn up
building on this.
Acquisitions and carve-
outs are decided at the
group level. Only in the
rarest cases is the IT
department involved at
this stage, for example within the
scope of carrying out due diligence.
This often results in less time to
prepare for the project and makes it
particularly difficult to plan out the
entire project in a roadmap.This often
leads to quick solutions that haven‘t
been thought through properly. To
play an active role in shaping the pro-
cess, as the CIO you cannot allow
yourself to slide into the background
during M&A activities and at the
latest, must be involved when draw-
ing up the transformation strategy.
Getting the IT department involved
in the process early on is a crucial
factor for the success of the entire
project!
When companies
pursue a strategy of
frequent purchases
and sales of divisions
or shares, the IT de-
partment must possess the expertise
required for carve-outs and M&As.
This not only includes a clear IT M&A
strategy derived from the company‘s
activities which strives for a centra-
lized and modularly scalable IT archi-
tecture.This also includes the deve-
lopment and provision of concepts,
methods, and software for such pro-
jects. In this context, it can be helpful
to develop a playbook for various
scenarios which makes use of tried
and tested guidelines and can be
tailored to specific needs.
1
Business / IT Alignment:
More Flexible
Implementation
22
IT:
Early Involvement
Blueprints:
A Comprehensive View
3
IT- Implementation
Expertise: A Requirement
for Carve-Outs and M&As
4
Employees:
Involving Experienced
Co-workers
5
CONCLUSION
Experience has shown
that companies whose
business is well-aligned
with IT see above-average
success when carrying
out carve-outs and M&A transactions.
By focusing on business goals and
having a comprehensive understand­
ing of business processes, the IT
department can implement the ne-
cessary changes with more flexibi­
lity and less friction. The better the
cooperation is between IT and other
departments, the greater the entire
project‘s chances of success.

4. © SNP 2014 | www.snp-ag.com