For every acquirer, there is a target. CIOs in target companies often have less information and less "runway" to prepare for a deal. In many deals, the CIO of the acquirer is on the inside of the deal much earlier than the CIO of the target.
There are a number of behaviours that work well for the CIO of a target organization. They include document and be able to communicate about your processes, human resources and assets; learn as much as possible about your suitor's business strategy, goals and situation; develop a plan and be ready to discuss it with future management; and keep your staff motivated by helping to resolve uncertainty for them and identify related opportunities.
Many M&As also result in divestments, sometimes as a result of monopoly issues or as part of refocusing the business strategy. With a divestment, the "target" is inside the IS organization. All of the approaches to acquiring can be applied to a divestment but in reverse. The most important single element of all this though is again the human one. Computer servers don't care who they work for, but the people that look after them care deeply.
Be Prepared
CIOs need to understand and influence their enterprise's MA&D agenda, create MA&D-ready IS organizations and build MA&D capabilities into their personal toolkit.
In effect, three things distinguish the behaviour of CIOs who thrive in an MA&D rich environment: engaging, preparing and executing earlier than a classic MA&D timetable would suggest; envisaging and promoting the role of the CIO and IS more broadly than the IT functional role; and executing MA&D with a strong bias toward fast, clear decision making and people issues.
Andrew Rowsell-Jones is vice president and research director for Gartner's CIO Executive Programs.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.