Yesterday I talked about the goals of an acquisition. The long term plans that drive the acquisition to begin with and the shorter more tactical plans that can have a material impact on the success of said acquisition.

Part of this includes how to blend both to provide an acceptable final outcome.

One story I’d like to share comes from a client conversation where they are in the middle of absorbing a business unit they purchased earlier this year. While they have their own portal and processes for their customers to interact with the core service, the line of business they just bought had a completely different experience. While they could carry it forward, it would cease once their transition agreements expired. This would result in a very awkward experience for their new customers while also leaving confusion for their current customers whom are already accustomed to the current processes. In both cases, they would lose customers.

If your primary goal is to grow your customer base, then what would you have done differently? Is there a technical or process solution that could have been put into place fore reaching this point?