Two Financial Giants Merge - Essay Example

This is followed by the maturity stage, in which systems form new links between the control and business layers of the systems. Future expansion of the company formed after the merger will lead to cross-links between the various departments of the new company (Frankel 34). The merger between Wells Fargo and Wachovia necessitated integration of their information systems, reduction of redundant communication links, and management of communication chaos. A merger like that between Wells Fargo and Wachovia posed challenges and benefits for their IT infrastructure.

The integration of information systems was made easier by the fact that the two companies were of similar size. However, the two companies had disparate websites, protocols, hardware, images, and systems. To achieve the benefits they expected from the merger, the new company has to rationalize their information technology architecture, application systems, and standardizing systems (Frankel 36). One challenge faced by merging companies in realizing their expectations is insufficient integration of data and information.

Synchronization throughout the information systems infrastructure can cause hold ups in daily operations like quote to cash, lead management, sales and marketing, and on boarding of new employees. This leads to complications and a slow down in overall company operation. In addition, the benefits to operational and supporting process applications like marketing, sales, ERP, CRM, finance, and HR makes integration inevitable. Failure to integrate these processes will complicate issues and move the companies away from their core competencies, in this case banking products and services (Frankel 36).

Establishing a standard is fundamental for the two companies who merge with different partners, suppliers, and financial systems. It is also important to integrate the two companies’ information systems in order for them to share data. Integration of data within the two organizations will make sure that both organizations can access information that is updated (Frankel 37). This will be possible across the whole new organization regardless of the form in which it was stored by the respective companies, i.e. in the cloud or on premise.

If they do create solutions to integrate effectively their data systems, complications will arise when it comes to retrieving information that is scattered across many services, applications, and systems. Finally, integrating the information systems will be important in order to increase their visibility. Because the two companies have similar landscapes in technology, they could possess duplicate information on their clients. In addition, if the two organizations create one data and information integration system for the clients, they will be able to get better-updated client information (Frankel 37).

For example, if the two banks have two disparate sales and marketing databases and departments, they may contact one client with the same information, which will give them a disjointed image in the clients’ eyes. There are, however, various challenges that face two merging companies with respect to integrating their information systems. One of this is involves achieving success with the integration progress that makes the investment worth it (Frankel 43). For instance, the companies need to have the ability to take advantage of the opportunities that come from