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Bridging the Digital Transformation Gap – Consolidating Pricing During an Acquisition

October 5th, 2019 (Updated 06/20/2023) | 5 min. read

By Duncan Hendy

How to Navigate Digital Transformation in Pricing During an Acquisition

The acquisition or merging of two businesses is a common practice with a great number of benefits to be accessed.  

Acquisition, where one business takes over and absorbs another, typically of smaller size and market share, to their immediate and long-term benefit. Merger, which is the process of two businesses joining together in order to maintain a stronger hold over their market and a greater access to a range of products and services.  

This process involves a consolidation, typically, of two of everything and must be managed efficiently in order to reduce loss and maintain profitability. This is especially true in regards to pricing and could lead to the transitions success or failure whether it be an acquisition or a merger. In this article, I will cover the main ways in which your business can successfully navigate an acquisition or merger by consolidating pricing and how to choose the right strategies and solutions for you. 

Digital Transformation in a Merger and Acquisition 

With an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions taking place throughout many industries, digital transformation has shown to be consistently important in their success. As such, an acquisition or merger is the ideal time for a business to take a look at the fresh opportunity they now have for digital transformation. Already embarking into a period rife with change, it is a key time to implement new pricing strategies and there is no better way to do this than by upgrading your current pricing solutions. Here are three of the key reasons why this could be the right move for your business. 

Speeding Up Your Processes to Increase Profitability 

Within an acquisition or merger and certainly within day-to-day business itself, speed and accuracy are paramount. Simple mistakes or time wasted on a single document could result in a loss of profit or perhaps worse. As acquisitions or mergers take a significant amount of time to implement and are at great cost to the business, it is incredibly important that the process is ran as smoothly as possible. One key way in which your business can improve process and performance is by upgrading the software on which you work. At Pricefx, we offer cloud-native software-as-a-service solutions that include significantly reduced downtime, something that will allow your pricing team to act with high efficiency during the transitional period. 

Reduce IT Waste at the Most Valuable Time 

IT waste is seen as a great problem in acquisitions and mergers as one business potentially leaves theirs behind now the other must adapt and expand to fit the transformation. Additionally, many businesses still use out-dated and not-fit-for-purpose infrastructures and software due to either cost, time or a lack of desire to change how things are done. When undergoing an acquisition or merger, a time in which change is at the forefront, transitioning to new software could result in significant savings for the business exactly when they are needed most as well as at the easiest time to implement them. Our cloud-native software-as-a-service solution does not require any complicated IT infrastructure to function, and any burden of updating, maintaining and repairing the software is taken from your IT team and happily conducted by our in-house project leaders and customer service success teams. 

Managing a New, Heavy Workload 

The entire process of an acquisition or merger involves a heavy workload company wide. As the process transitions from deal to implementation and finally to the aftermath of the acquisition or merger, it is more important than ever that your business has the tools required to deal with the tasks at hand. Many tools lack the flexibility and customizability required to truly work with your unique situation. One of the key benefits of our software is, in fact, its flexibility.  

Our solution can be adapted to fit the bespoke needs of our clients and regularly updated to maintain them. This allows for your team to work the way which is most efficient for your business and for you to be in more control over your pricing strategies from start to finish of the acquisition or merger you undergo. 

Utilizing the Deming Cycle Change Management in Your Transition 

The Deming Cycle is a change management strategy, also known as Plan-Do-Check-Act. A bottom-up method that focuses on change during each individual department. Throughout an acquisition or merger, this is a perfect strategy to implement as each of the four processes benefits your department, in this case, the pricing team. “Plan allows you to identify the inefficiencies your department is currently facing and to explore more suitable software solutions. Do involves implementations of the changes on a small scale to avoid risk. 

This is where Pricefx’s scalable solutions come into play, developing alongside your business. 

The “Check stage is time for the analysis and comparison between the new solution and the old, a chance to weigh up the benefits against the drawbacks and make an informed decision. 

With the final stage, “Act, you can now make the decision about whether or not the solution that you have chosen is right for your business. At Pricefx, our team will be working by your side to ensure that your transition runs as smoothly as possible and that your acquisition or merger reaps the most benefits. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with you. 

Duncan Hendy

Pricefx

Duncan Hendy is a content marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, from Interactive TV to SaaS solutions. When not working, Duncan composes classical music and is also the author of several books. He is a huge fan of craft beer and anything spicy.