IT integration

Question

Hello,

how would you structure your framework for this case (BCG case)?

" An Investment bank A has just bought another investment bank B. The teams at Bank A have estimated the back office IT integration time at 18 months, which is too long. How can we reduce this time? "

What should I know about IT integration ? what are the steps?

Thanks

Answer 1

Whats your solution? Please post here for us to comment.

If you looking to get started, there are some hints on two approaches I can recommend. You will still need to follow structured case solving- open the case-> claryfiying questions->hypothesis/assumptions-> etc etc

Approach 1

Light integration- Buyer and acquired company still co-exist as standalone environments but with limited integration of most critical services/applications
Rapid integration & consolidation- move straight to cloud, leverage SaaS standard solution

Approach 2

Due Diligence: align on the integration vision, cost targets, project plan and RACI
Integration Planning: identify high priority application, assets, infra & licenses. Create sprints
Delivery: leverage cloud, SaaS to speed up integration

Hope that helps. This will require some understanding/knowledge of IT areas otherwise you can keep your solution common sensical. Give me a buzz if you need more help.

Answer 2

Hi there,

I would probably need a bit more context, but let me lay out an approach given my experience with far too many IT Integration projects.

The most common way to look at IT Projects is the project management triangle. So, we'll need to look at reducing quality, reducing scope (i.e. level of integration) OR increasing cost...if our goal is to reduce time.

More likely than not, this client is probably willing to increase cost to achieve these goals. In this area they can do any of the following:

People - Hire more people to get the job done. Get consultants/contractors in, etc.

Processes - Change our way of working. Get more agile. Have better PMO. Etc.

Tools - Figure out which integrations are required, which tools can support our effectors. etc.

Now, in terms of specific ideas and ways to speed up integration, I have no idea until I can ask a few clarifying questions on this case.

Feel free to message and I can take you through this thinking/approach further!

Answer 3

Hello!

Why don´t you post a suggestion, and we try to add to it? I believe you would get the most value then.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 4

Hey there!

That would be very interesting to see your own approach! Send it to the comments and we will discuss it!

Good luck!

GB