Introduction
As the manager of an IT company experiencing a merger or acquisition, it is the perfect opportunity to reevaluate, or improve the situation because the customers would normally expect the worst if they are unaware of the process. “A great deal of the mergers fails to deliver the promised improvements which were previously specified and it interferes with the shareholder value. This may happen to be the result of knowing that merger or acquisition decisions are inherent tradeoffs” (McLelland, Goldsmith, & McMahon, 2014). Companies tend to focus more on the aspects of reducing their overall operational costs or worrying about other technological disasters, instead of the long-term perspective of customer attrition.
Customers could be retained for the long-term when companies, such as Cogent Communications adopt the customer perceptions of merging when the important decisions are made that benefits the company. This could consist of creating an internal position of a customer advocate within the IT organization. The advocate will specialize in the evaluation of every step in the integration process to ensure that the customer expectations are appropriately sequenced with the company’s mission or values. Additionally, we will analyze three ways in which Cogent Communications could dramatically improve their customer retention inside of the merger or acquisition deals.
The first method consists of setting only the ambiguous goals to meet the customer expectations, then adopting specified customer metrics to track the performance of these goals. One example of this is a system called Net Promoter. With this system, it will ask the appropriate questions such as, on a scale through numbers 1 through 10, how likely would you recommend this company to a friend? The higher the number is rated, the more the customer would be likely to feel important, as if they are involved with the major decision making. The second method is to communicate and listen to the needs of the customer. This component is crucial to understand because when a customer is left in the dark on plans, then they would automatically assume the worst and have negative perceptions.
Customers are expected to have a vision before the plan even begins. For instance, when Cogent Communications have a company in mind that they plan on merging with, and then decide to go into the war room; the customer should be made aware of every detail in that room. While the third method should focus on empowering the employees and providing them with the appropriate training or tools to assist in helping the customers being caught up with all of the changes throughout the organization (McLelland, Goldsmith, & McMahon, 2014).
Tribal Knowledge
In the case study, the concept of tribal knowledge would be applied to companies who are considering to merge in the future, and in order to successfully implement this phase, then they must first change the internal procedures which starts with the employees. The tribal knowledge is an obstacle because companies have data centers, in which the employee have the necessary knowledge to run these centers, but then after the merger is implemented; the employee is given the pink slip and terminated from their position ("Cogent Communications", 2016). One strategy an IT company could implement to avoid any future occurrences of tribal knowledge is to develop software that retains the necessary knowledge without having any dependability on any employees since they tend to come and go. Whereas, with the software, it could be upgraded as needed.
Merging Business Processes in Data Management and Governance Issues
For the final portion of this discussion, we will analyze several aspects of business processes within data management and governance issues. It is important to understand that these concepts are “converging mainly due to the fundamental issues which is caused by big data and many IT companies are evaluating their previous strategies” (Asquer, 2014). However, an effective level of data governance will aim to serve as an essential function which consist of setting the necessary parameters for data management and its usage, along with the creation of the processes for resolving data issues so that the business users will have the ability to make well informed decisions due to the information assets that should be exceptionally managed with a high level of quality data.
Furthermore, the development of a data governance strategy within an IT company, such as Cogent Communications requires careful planning. One example of this could be “data stewardship because it adds more dimensions and challenges to data governance efforts” (Asquer, 2014). In the ideal type of IT business environment, all of the employees should be required or trained to adopt the stewardship approach and take full accountability for handling the data in a consistent manner which stays in compliance throughout the organization’s corporate culture.
References
Asquer, A. (2014). The Governance of Big Data: Perspectives and Issues. SSRN Electronic Journal, 25(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2272608
Cogent Communications. (2016). Poorgradpoorstudent.com. Retrieved 25 July 2016, from http://poorgradpoorstudent.com/chin/store/products/complete-real-world-case-3-cogent-communications-intel-and-others-mergers-go-more-smoothly-when-your-data-are-ready-on-page-213-214-in-a-4-5-page-apa-style-papers-answer-the-case-study-question/
McLelland, M., Goldsmith, R., & McMahon, D. (2014). Consumer reactions to the merger: Understanding the role of pre-merger brands. J Brand Management, 21(7-8), 615-634. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/bm.2014.28
