Big company merge

My lawfirm is going to be merging with another firm. Tomorrow will be going to the other firm to discuss all of the IT related issues that need to be discussed to make this happen, ie. contracts equipment etc. Any of you have experience with this, or at least 2 companies merging, what do I need to think about ahead of time, and what do I need to ask about in the meetings tomorrow.

Thanks in advance

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Comments

RTmarc

Personally, I'd go ahead and get my resume updated if I were you. I've been through a couple of mergers and one thing is certain: someone is going to lose their job. I'm not trying to sound like a naysayer or anything of the sort but I'd go ahead and be prepared for the worst.

Plantwiz

RTmarc wrote:

Personally, I'd go ahead and get my resume updated if I were you. I've been through a couple of mergers and one thing is certain: someone is going to lose their job. I'm not trying to sound like a naysayer or anything of the sort but I'd go ahead and be prepared for the worst.

I agree.

Although depends on which company is the lead in the scenerio....Do a nice job by being helpful with file security, software licensing, wiring, hardware upgrades, planning, etc... and the 'new' job may be yours. Since IT is about as disposable to some businesses as Inventory Control....I wouldn't be surprised that if both companies have IT people....there will be some re-organization going on...Unless the two businesses together really need both staffs.

You know what you've been doing at your company, so you'd want to know What/How they handled things at the other firm and then you can make recommendations.

blargoe

RTmarc wrote:

Personally, I'd go ahead and get my resume updated if I were you. I've been through a couple of mergers and one thing is certain: someone is going to lose their job. I'm not trying to sound like a naysayer or anything of the sort but I'd go ahead and be prepared for the worst.

Quote for truth.

It's inevitable that someone will have to go, and there may not be anything you can do to influence this so I would get a contingency plan going now, during your free time. Just don't let it affect your work. Be as cooperative as you can and do the right thing.

Anyway, there are a great deal of things that would need to be discussed and the initial meeting probably wouldn't cover it all. First thing would be just an overview of your IT infrastructure (i.e., we run Active Directory, use Cisco Equipment, we use Software Suite X for such and such a task, we use such and such for this or that service). Some things I can think of offhand would be consolidation of vendor contracts; IT Infrastructure consolidation (merging domains, consolidating server functionality, migrating to a single legal software package, consolidating network equipment, etc); standards and conventions that each company has used for network accounts, data security, remote access, etc.

These things can be unnerving but don't let it shake you too much. Either way you will come out if it with a great "business world" learning experience, and if it goes like the merger I went through, a lot of opportunity to re-implement the infrastructure and upgrade to newer technology.

Good luck.

garv221

blargoe covered everything. Go into the meeting and ask questions on how they want you to set this up. Find out the other company's setup and explain your current setup, be thorough in terms that apply to non IT staff. These types of situations are a moving target so get everything on the table and be prepared for last minute changes. The more management understands what your goals, tasks and time limits are the less head aches you will have and knee jerk decisions that will be dropped on your plate.

Inc

Personally, I'd go ahead and get my resume updated if I were you. I've been through a couple of mergers and one thing is certain: someone is going to lose their job.

Signed.