How to drive innovation from within
The Project at a glance
It took HAWE no more than seven months to integrate a company nearly 25% its own size, thanks to the smartmerger.com® platform, which enabled a massive reduction in time and effort.
Without the smartmerger.com M&A platform, it would have taken us three months longer to reach the finish line. The tool increased our efficiency by nearly 40%.
In a matter of days, the smartmerger.com app was rolled out and ready to go, custom-configured to suit the needs of the HAWE team. Mapped to the tool, HAWE’s day-one readiness plan made sure nothing was over- looked. Supported by the synergy tracker feature, the pre-calculated monetary synergies were fully achieved, while the work plan integrated in the app defined clear responsibilities and provided transparency into implementation progress. Another key benefit was the practical experience embedded in the tool in the form of checklists, pre-configured workflows and reports, plus the seamless data management functionalities.
The Challenge
When the German mid-sized hydraulics specialist HAWE acquired the Hörbiger automation division in 2019, it was the biggest merger the company had ever undertaken. Comprising three sites globally, this strategic investment added 20 to 25% to HAWE’s net worth. Because of the complexity of the transaction and the short period between the signing and closing dates, day-one-readiness and integration had to be achieved within record time. Only seven months were available for migrating and transferring the entire IT environment to HAWE, including adaptation and integration of processes from the acquired business unit.
The scope of the project called for specialized supporting software. Key challenges included efficient execution of the day-one-readiness checks, efficient handling of the multifaceted integration project, guiding the employees effectively, and tracking synergies reliably, all that while ensuring a high level of data consistency and real-time system availability.
The Solution
After evaluating several solution proposals, HAWE decided in favour of the smartmerger.com M&A platform. This decision was mainly based on the fact that smartmerger.com supported seamless data management along the entire M&A process, with all transaction-related data stored and processed centrally on a secure online platform providing all project stakeholders with a reliable, consistently transparent ‘single source of truth’. Furthermore, the smartmerger.com apps were able to mirror HAWE’s workflows and stage gate processes very closely. Highly flexible and adaptable, they incorporated substantial M&A expertise and had a multilingual user interface. The software provider‘s flexibility was another benefit HAWE CIO Peter Melichar appreciated:
Deploying the smartmerger.com M&A platform was fast and easy, and we were able to configure the software to match our specific processes. In addition, we were able to profit from the professional expertise and proven know-how which is integrated into the platform.
Within less than three weeks after signing the agreement with smartmerger.com, HAWE staff where already working with the software, which delivered maximum value right from the beginning, as Melichar stresses. HAWE had opted for the Smart Grid apps from the smart M&A Suite because of the familiar, spreadsheet-like user interface which required no training, allowing users to start processing the integrated checklists immediately using functionality similar to Excel. The software even provided them with insights that helped them mitigate hidden risks.
Customer Benefits
Working with the smartmerger.com M&A platform, HAWE proceeded to organize the large amount of data, tasks and work streams in a clear and transparent way so the project managers were able to control the tasks effectively, reports Ute Meyer, Corporate M&A Manager at HAWE. Thanks to a well-defined system for assigning access privileges and an integrated version control feature, data security and integrity were always assured, and the traceability and seamless documentation of all data access and change operations provided the steering committee with the comprehensive transparency it needed. Using the dashboard and reporting functionalities, it took minimal effort to provide the HAWE management board with daily, up-to-the-minute reports.
All this allowed HAWE to adhere to its ambitious schedule. 99% of the 2,500 day-one readiness checkpoints were processed in time, and more than 100 risks were identified, structured and tracked using the customary 3x2 logic based on likelihood and impact. The synergy management app of the smart M&A platform, which had been customised to meet the specific needs of HAWE, showed its strengths in interlinking and clearly mapping synergies and related measures. The company’s synergy goals were fully met, as Project Coordinator Jochen Schultze points out.
„It was the well-designed combination of M&A and project management functionalities in this software that enabled us to be in full control of the project at all times,“ confirms Dominik Jäger, Head of Business Development at HAWE. CIO Peter Melichar underlines the importance of the time factor:
We had no more than seven months to complete the project. Without the smartmerger.com M&A platform, it would have taken us three months longer to reach the finish line. The tool increased our efficiency by nearly 40%.
Furthermore, the CIO continues, smartmerger.com responded quickly and flexibly any time HAWE needed help and was an exceptionally accommodating business partner from the outset: “We were able to draw up an agreement quickly that was acceptable to both sides.“ Dominik Jäger adds: „This was a highly successful PMI, and the smartmerger.com M&A platform was definitely a decisive factor in bringing the project to a successful close.“
Synergy Management
Integration Playbook
Peter Melichar
CIO
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