When Seth Sternberg’s Honor Technology acquired Home instead, their original idea was to keep the two businesses separate. They soon realized he needed to integrate the two entities to optimize learning, systems and impact.

83% of failed mergers and acquisitions generally fail due to i) poor strategic focus, ii) poor cultural integration, and/or iii) poor delivery of synergies This was a significant realization because

In the case of Honor Technology, the initial premise of the acquisition was that “Honor’s technology and operational platform, combined with Home Replace’s leading global network, training leadership and relationship-based care, will dramatically increase innovation.” , providing caregivers and clients through extended products.”

Their strategy combines Honor’s technology layer and centralized operations with Home Indust’s local leadership to give seniors the tools they need to succeed and be treated with respect through “Care Pros.” , was to provide more personalized care to the elderly. Sternberg said:

At the heart of Honor’s technology layer is the Honor Care app. It enables care professionals to match the right clients, update care plans in real time, and provide ongoing training to deliver best-in-class care in the home. The app also gives caregivers complete autonomy and control over their schedules, providing opportunities that match their skills. ”

For 27 years, Paul and Lori Hogan have built a network of Home Implacement in-home care providers, providing local leadership to 90,000 caregivers serving customers in 1,200 franchise locations across the United States and 14 countries. has been demonstrated.

So they had technical layers and regional leadership. Cost synergies come from centralizing operations.

first choice

Sternberg said he knows “integration is a big challenge” in an acquisition. Next he has three options.

1) It behaves as an independent “arm’s length” entity.

2) Partially Integrate – (Most likely a bad “middle way” choice.)

3) Fully integrated.

Honor already had customers using its platform as a “managed services network.” Sternberg believes he could run the same model, essentially putting Home Instant’s franchisees on the Honor platform, skipping the integration and the risks that come with it.

realization

Sternberg quickly realized he was missing an opportunity to transfer knowledge, transform entire systems, and reduce complexity.

• knowledge. Home Replace franchise owners wanted to maximize Honor’s knowledge and understanding, and Honor employees wanted to learn from franchise owners.
• Transform. Honor’s platform “truly transforms the back end of how home care is delivered.” Sternberg went on to say that there is a need to combine the knowledge of the two organizations by integrating the headquarters team, marketing and customer service.
• complicated. Having many parallel and redundant teams made the work unnecessarily complicated.

integration

The key to integration was organization, registration and communication.

• organization. Honor and Home Inst combined leadership focused on the work being done at the heart of the organization. They have been reorganized into his four divisions focused on delivering healthcare, driving growth, building technology and building brands.
• register. They enrolled key leaders by spending a lot of time in “deep conversations”, summarizing their best current thoughts and “hashing” their nuances. Once the people reporting to Sternberg were aligned on direction, they brought in next-level leaders (about 30 people) to see how it all worked in practice.
• communication. Sternberg asked for this to be done quickly. He knows that when he starts talking about regrouping, everyone is thrown off balance until he answers the only question: “What does this mean to me?” Therefore, once the decision was made, we communicated the complete change to all employees, all franchise owners and other Managed Services customers of his network.

The bottom line is that you probably can’t achieve synergies from separate organizations. Synergies must be created together by teams looking beyond themselves to new problems that can be solved in new ways for others. This is why a careful and detailed integration plan that spans organizational, operational, strategic and cultural issues is essential.

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