M&A Analytics Integration Position Paper

This position paper outlines the challenges and strategies associated with mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analytics integration. It emphasizes that the integration of analytics systems is not merely a migration issue but primarily an access problem. The document identifies seven common failure patterns that organizations encounter during M&A analytics integration, such as the assumption of day-one unified reporting without proper design and the complications arising from differing metric definitions. It critiques conventional migration-first strategies, which often overlook immediate business needs for unified analytics access. Instead, the paper advocates for a framework that allows for unified access from day one, preserving institutional knowledge and ensuring governance continuity across both analytics environments. The document concludes with recommendations for actions to take within the first 90 days post-acquisition to facilitate successful integration, including deploying a unified access layer and documenting metric conflicts to avoid decision-making based on conflicting data.