Goal setting is a very popular past-time. Most of us do it as a part of our New Year tradition. Businesses do it to know where and how to grow. When acquiring a company or line of business, it fits into the greater company goals driving revenue or customer growth, new lines of business, reducing costs, etc.

Your tech leadership also have goals they are working towards: enabling new patterns and technologies such as migrating towards the cloud or using AI, reducing downtime and time to market.

In the first case, you are driving towards a larger business/financial goal while the second is driving towards enabling the company to reach the goals of the first case.

This can create a cultural conflict. Especially when the acquired company has their own tech stack and people to develop and maintain it.

During your evaluation, having clarity of these two types of goals (with the goals of the acquisition as your primary) will help ensure not just the correct tech is conveyed or integrated, but also any initiatives underway in your company can also benefit. Additionally, any conflicting goals discovered can be resolved before they become a much larger issue come integration time.

cab