cross selling is much,much harder than you think. It will take at least a year to get the sales forces, support organizations, and everyone else cross trained and working smoothly. It's a lot harder than you think. The devil is in the details. I've been involved with such mergers, and I've been close to some others. It's very, very difficult.
A perfect example: IFMX has done this twice: once in the late 80's with Innovative Software, and it almost put the company under, andnow, just last quarter, with the problems with integrating the Illustra stuff into the business. Sure, there were differences, but there were lots of similarities, too.
For a straight acquisition, like CA does, it's a little easier.
It can be done, but it takes a long time to receive the benefits. In the meantime, it's gruesome. |
