Best practice: successful M&A

* M&A activity is already frenetic and is set to grow in both the public and private sector.

* It is important to involve IT in pre-merger discussions, because a late admission to the deal table could prove to be disastrous to the merger.

* IT can make or break a deal, make sure you ask the right questions during the period of due diligence.

* Make sure your staff understand the goals of the newly merged company.

* Be wary of talk about synergy. Make sure that any potential synergy gains are based on fact not conjecture.

* Keep metrics on how the merger progresses. They give credibility to the organisation and are useful aids in learning from successes and failures.

* Leave business process redesign until last, unless you have a simple business model and best-of-breed processes that can be easily rolled-out in the acquired organisation.

* Mergers create a lot of work. Consider hiring some temporary administration staff to help out.

* Consultants can add value to a merger, especially in the area of systems integration, but responsibility for the merger should be kept in-house.