We live in a highly efficiency driven age in which the benefits and at times, the very existence of something is gauged on merely this factor. The pursuit for efficiency has resulted in many innovations and breakthroughs over the past few decades.
In this very pursuit, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are a common occurrence across many industries. Now, we witness this phenomena is circumventing geographical boundaries and even whole continents. M&A have, and will continue to serve as an effective means of rapid market penetration.
Also Read: 3 Key Factors to a Successful Merger and Acquisition
Let’s briefly touch these phenomena and draw some contrast between the two, before we highlight the Advantages Cloud Computing can bring to this complex situation. We will focus this post on how virtual desktops can be used to mitigate the complexities and challenges thereto.
Merger
In a merger, two or more organizations, generally of the same size and engaged in the same industry, decide to become a single entity. In theory, this is done to improve efficiency and garner synergy. After a merger, pooled resources can be deployed to accomplish similar tasks.
Acquisition
It is similar to a merger in the sense that two or more separate entities become one, but the dynamics and underlying causes are somewhat different. The acquiring company is mostly the bigger and stronger party and the acquired company can do little to change the course of events.
General Perception about M&A’s
Apart from the standard media releases by the companies involved, that this is being done in the “greater interest” of all stakeholders, M&A do tend to raise eyebrows among various quarters. Let’s touch what the concerns of key stakeholders are when it comes to M&A.
Employees
Downsizing is seen as an inevitable consequence of M&A. Even if it does not happen right out of the box, some degree of workforce reduction does follow in most cases.
Customers
The first major apprehension of customers is about the future of the products or services of the companies involved. Secondly, even if they are continued, what would be the revised pricing mechanism under the new regime?
Regulators
M&A are bound to raise regulator’s eyebrows. Every major M&A is in fact one step closer to a more monopolized marketplace and this is exactly what regulators are here for.
Effects of any Merger and Acquisition (M&A)
Any M&A is a daunting challenge for all the companies involved. Some key effects are listed below.
Uncertainty
From the moment any M&A is even a rumor, a thick cloud of uncertainty engulfs the workforce of all the companies involved. This is partly about job security and mainly about how the work would be executed during and after this event.
Business Continuity
This is a major concern for all stakeholders involved in the M&A. There are certain organizational processes that can be halted temporarily. However, few business critical processes cannot simply be halted as the costs would be catastrophic.
Also Read: Why you need Cloud Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Transition
Once any M&A rumor turns into reality, the concerns of a smooth transition become more serious. Ideally, this transition needs to be smooth and even if there are disruptions along the way, they should be minimal in terms of time and magnitude.
Also See Our PDF Guide: AGILE CLOUD: NAVIGATING THE TRANSITION TO MANAGED IT
Change Management
Any change, even if it is for the good, is bound to garner resistance. This resistance is just one of the ways of coping with the uncertainty that comes with M&A. It is probably for this reason that change management is a whole science in itself and attracts a lot of research.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
A virtual desktop (VD) is an iteration of the many cloud solutions an organization can deploy. Although the scope of VDs is by no means limited to M&A but in this post, we will highlight the benefits that are unique to them. All the hardware for a virtual desktop is housed at a central location.
Also Read: Benefits of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
The exact deployment infrastructure may vary on a case to case basis but let’s cover the two most common cases. An organization can maintain a data center within its premises or it may be housed with a Cloud Service Provider (CSP). Regardless of the type, the hardware and applications are fully centralized.
The user will access the specific instance of a virtual desktop from a range of devices such as tablet, laptop or desktop and execute the work. Once a session is concluded, all the work performed by the user is safely stored in the central location, for future retrieval.
How Virtual Desktop Facilitates M&A?
Whether a merger or acquisition, many organizational processes are being integrated with one another. This is a lengthy and challenging exercise, as a deep understanding of process flow is required right down to the minutest details.
Even when the process flows have been well defined and documented, the daunting task of integrating these processes has just begun. This step is bound to be accompanied with setbacks and repeatedly going back to the drawing board.
This poses the serious challenge of jeopardizing the business critical processes of all the entities involved in the M&A. All an end customer wants is that the delivery of the product or service must never be disrupted, whatever it takes. In today’s age, customer or brand loyalty is otherwise diminishing.
Virtual Desktops as a Solution to Business Continuity
The solution is to deploy Virtual Desktops and shift all the business critical processes over to these Virtual Desktop. As these business critical processes will be performed by employees of the respective organizations already privy to them, the concerns around business continuity are allayed.
In the background, the integration and testing of the unified business processes can continue seamlessly. Even if there are implementation related bottlenecks, the technical teams of all the stakeholders will devise solutions. It is often observed that when matters are resolved with strict and unrealistic timelines, the issue is not fully resolved and it tends to resurface in some other form.
With all the business critical processes running smoothly over the Virtual Desktops, the integration challenges will not be hushed up and proper long-term solutions will be carved. Once all the business critical processes have been seamlessly integrated and tested, attention can then be drawn to the previously withheld processes.
Post M&A Role of Virtual Desktops
As all the hard work and effort has already been put in to facilitate the transition process, this entire exercise should not go to waste. The VDs infrastructure should not be phased out altogether. Rather, a much more prudent approach would be to use this infrastructure as a disaster recovery apparatus.
Conclusion
Despite the daunting nature of Mergers and Acquisitions and the uncertainty that they bring along, they are an inescapable reality of today’s corporate world. Instead of shying away from the associated challenges, why not leverage the power of Virtual Desktops and make the whole process much streamlined.
