There is a lot to consider when taking over an organization. In many cases, IT simply has to “follow”. It’s important to get results quickly, and that’s Boomi’s greatest strength.

Acquisitions are happening all over the world, often to gain market share while achieving economies of scale. When such a takeover is complete, the linking of all systems begins. The probability that both organizations work with exactly the same systems is very small. Especially in an enterprise environment, with the hundreds or thousands of applications in use, that chance is nil.

“However, it’s often assumed that IT should make an acquisition,” says Kris Janssens, senior account executive at Boomi. “After everything is done, the IT systems have to chat with each other. After all, you want to realize advantages quickly and thus realize cost savings.” He points to this economies of scale: By integrating an IT system, you can phase it out. “You have to integrate to benefit from it.”

It used to be Dell, not anymore

It is no coincidence that he mentions this situation in our conversation. Boomi as an iPaaS solution, with all its technology and application connectors, is key to let existing systems communicate with each other after an acquisition. “That’s also why Dell acquired us in 2010. During this time many acquisitions were made. Instead of always paying us, we were taken on,” laughs Janssens.

Boomi is now back on his own two feet. In 2021, Dell sold the company to private companies for $4 billion. A logical step, according to Janssens. “Dell’s added value has always been negligible because core business completely different. While Dell focuses on infrastructure including hardware, storage and networking, we focus on applications, business and processes.”

Dell’s added value has always been negligible because of the core business completely different.

Kris Janssens, Senior Account Executive at Boomi

“Even people at Dell who were loyal to Boomi couldn’t help us. It hardly opened any additional doors.” Today the company operates independently.

Don’t force a big bang

Back to the acquisitions and the challenges involved. Janssens points out the risks of a traditional Big BangApproach where everything must migrate immediately. “When something goes wrong, frustration ensues. You always want to avoid that, especially in a company that is being taken over and suddenly gets new bosses and new laws.”

He points to a specific example where both organizations use a different CRM package. Ideally, you want to phase out one, which results in additional savings. With the Boomi connectors you can go in two directions: transfer data quickly or work temporarily in two systems at the same time and standardize step by step.

“In the long run, you always want to have one main system. Depending on the complexity, this can be implemented step by step, with data exchange between the two platforms taking place right from the start thanks to connectors.”

It’s also about people

Acquisitions are about business and technology, but people also play a role. When both organizations have a CTO, it goes without saying that both will compete for that one spot. That is very human and brings with it the necessary frustrations.

Added to this are the numerous partners with which each organization works. They fight to survive their contracts. “The cake will be much bigger, or it will disappear entirely,” says Janssens clearly. “Things like this play into an acquisition and make it even more complex than it is. Everyone has a personal agenda.”

A good integration platform gives everything more freedom to make the right decision. Something like this often happens too little.

Kris Janssens, Senior Account Executive at Boomi

According to him, a good integration platform is crucial to steer an acquisition in the right direction. Thanks to the numerous connections, the various systems can communicate with each other and continue to work in parallel. For example, the acquirer can learn a tool that works better than what they are already using today.

“It gives everything more room to make the right decision. In my opinion, this kind of thing often happens too little. Unknown is unloved.

This is an editorial in collaboration with Boomi. This series began with a story about why you can and should use heritage to bridge innovation. You can read the full article here. Are you curious how you can conveniently convert the tried and tested into innovation? You can read this story here.