The purchase agreement is signed in a single afternoon. The next morning, the work of merging two financial administrations, two payroll systems, two IT environments, and two cultures should begin—all while the daily operations of both companies continue as usual.
When two companies with revenues of 20–50 million merge, neither has a dedicated integration team: the same people manage the day-to-day operations and handle the integration on top of that. When an integration stalls, the reason is usually the same: everyone is involved, but no one is accountable.
Post-merger integration refers to the process of combining the acquired company with the buyer after the deal is closed: including financial administration, personnel, systems, customer relationships, and branding. Integration is planned before the deal is finalized, and its first stages are executed through a roughly 100-day plan. In English, this is known as post-merger integration.
| Area | What to Integrate | Who Is Responsible | Cherry Resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | Reporting, chart of accounts, cash management, group structure | Chief Financial Officer | Interim CFO → |
| People | Payroll, employment terms, organization, potential change negotiations | HR Director | Interim HR → |
| IT and Systems | ERP, security, users, licenses | Chief Technology Officer | Interim CTO → |
| Customers and Sales | Customer communications, pricing, sales teams | Sales Director | Interim Sales Director → |
| Brand | Name, visual identity, communications | Marketing Director | Interim Marketing Director → |
| Overall | Timeline, dependencies, reporting to owner | Integration Director | Cherry Operating Partner → |
| Phase | Timing | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Before Closing | 30 days before | Integration director has been appointed, Day 1 communications are ready, and critical dependencies have been identified |
| Day 1 | Closing | Employees, customers, and suppliers know what will change and what will not |
| Stabilization | Days 2–40 | Payments, payroll, and reporting are functioning, and key personnel are retained |
| Integration | Days 31–90 | Organization, process, and system decisions have been made, and implementation is underway |
| Value Creation | Day 90 onward | Projected savings and revenue synergies are measurable and have been reported to the owner |
Your own executives manage integration alongside their day jobs, and few have experience from previous integrations. An external interim executive has done this before. They belong to neither company’s camp, and their objective is agreed in advance: complete the integration and hand over.
Read: The Value Creation Plan Is Ready—But Who Has Time to Execute It? →
We will go through it in about half an hour. The assessment is free of charge and does not commit you to anything.
You'll typically receive 2–4 carefully selected candidates with justifications within 48 hours. Not a long list of "just-okay" names.
You meet the candidates and decide for yourself. A start is possible as early as next week.
At this scale, there’s typically no dedicated integration team. The options are your own manager on top of their day job, or an external interim integration manager who does only this and reports to the buyer’s management or owner.
Ideally about a month before the deal closes. That way day-1 communications, payment flows, and payroll are secured before anyone notices anything.
The duration is agreed upon according to the situation and can be extended or shortened. The assignment can be full-time or part-time.
You only pay for days worked, and billing occurs once a month. The price depends on the complexity of the task and the workload. We will provide this after a free assessment. What does the cost consist of →
A free assessment takes about half an hour. After that, you will know what kind of expert suits your situation, when they can start, and what it will cost.
In a hurry? Call any of us directly.
Ilari Kallio040 070 5050
Petri Kujala040 076 7767
Samppa Seppälä050 568 0533
Sampo Salmi050 386 6565Are you an interim manager yourself? Apply for the Cherry Pool →
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