Getting your IT in order for mergers and acquisitions

Rackspace is a technology service provider that has been around for 20+ years. At first, we were a hosting company. Now we’re a leading managed cloud company, managing environments on AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Alibaba, and more. These cloud platforms were once our competitors, now they are key partners. If you want to read more about our evolution, take a look at: "Rackspace: We Don't Warehouse Shoes or Sell Linens". Our goal is simple. We want to help companies like yours harness the power of technology. We've been doing this for some time now as illustrated in our customer stories. In fact, we most recently worked with Cole-Parmer, a scientific and industrial instrument distributor. They were pursuing a global growth strategy centred on acquisitions, which relied on the need to consolidate and integrate different IT systems while implementing cloud-based technologies to support future acquisitions.

Accelerating IT implementation

According to McKinsey, 35% of M&A value does not materialise until year two or later, when an IT blueprint is implemented. As a result, strategies to accelerate IT implementation by linking the IT blueprint to future business operations and tapping IT to capture new sources of value can unlock significant synergies. It took Rackspace less than six months to help architect a PCI-compliant solution, develop a transition plan and begin to execute on the build-out and migration to a new, highly secure IT infrastructure that accommodates additional growth. We helped Cole-Parmer in three ways, firstly, providing relevant expertise. Pete Hummel, Manager of Infrastructure at Cole-Parmer, reiterated the massive scale of the acquisitions challenge: “We went from 350 people to well over 1,000,” he said. “It was [a pace of acquisitions and migrations] that I had never done before.  Now, we have a plan that we go through every time, and everybody knows what they’re doing...it makes my job a whole lot easier.”

Offloading Infrastructure and ERP Management

In addition to migrations and integration, Cole-Parmer also relies on Rackspace to manage the day-to-day operational burden for key mission-critical apps such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) apps. "These apps have to keep running or you don’t get products out, you don’t make money and you’re not servicing your customers,” said Berry. (Learn more about Rackspace's application services by downloading this complimentary ebook)

Preparing for the future 

Throughout this journey, Cole-Parmer turned to Rackspace for unbiased advice and expertise on the cloud technologies that will best support its unique requirements for the future. “It’s really helpful to have a partner that has the experience...to make sure that we minimise the disruption of those transformational activities,” said Bill Berry, VP of Information Technology, Cole-Parmer. Your IT should be customised to your business and delivered the way you need it. Our experts get to know what you do, and how you do it, before bringing you a highly specialised, custom solution. If you would like to find how we can help you today, contact us here.