Two logins for everything
The deal is done. You now own a second business, or merged with one, and on paper it is one company. In practice it is two. There are two CRMs, two accounting packages, perhaps a Sage file on one side and Xero on the other. Each side has its own job system, price list, product codes and way of numbering invoices.
Managers log into both to answer simple questions. Group reporting is a spreadsheet stitched together each month from exports that do not line up. Customers who deal with both halves get two statements, two account managers and occasionally two different prices for the same thing.
Why the systems stay separate
Straight after a deal, everyone is busy keeping both businesses trading. Merging systems is on the list, but it feels risky to touch what works, so it gets pushed back. Then each side builds workarounds, and the longer that goes on, the harder the merge becomes.
When it does come up, the conversation often gets stuck on the wrong question: whose system wins? It turns into a proxy for which team matters more. The acquiring company assumes its systems stay, even when the acquired business's job system is better suited to the combined work.
The other obstacle is the data. The two businesses describe the same things differently. Product codes clash, customer lists overlap with different spellings and terms, and chart of accounts structures do not match. Nobody wants to sort that out by hand.
What running two of everything costs
| Area | Day-to-day effect |
|---|---|
| Licences and hosting | Paying for two of each system |
| Reporting | Group figures assembled by hand, late and argued over |
| Shared customers | Two accounts, two prices, two sets of contact details |
| Staff | People who work across both sides keep two sets of logins and habits |
| Cross-selling | Hard to offer one side's services to the other's customers |
| Integration benefits | The savings the deal was meant to bring stay on paper |
The reporting gap is often the first real pain. Owners, lenders and investors want to see the combined business clearly, and a spreadsheet built from two different sets of definitions invites arguments rather than answers.
How we merge them
- System inventory. We list every system on both sides: what it does, who uses it, how it is customised, what it connects to and when its contract renews.
- Keep or retire, per system. For each pair, we compare how well each fits the combined business, the cost of moving the other side onto it, and contract dates. The answer is often mixed: one side's CRM, the other side's job system.
- Bridge first. Before anything is migrated, we connect the two sides for reporting, pulling key figures from both into one reporting database with agreed definitions, so the group can be seen as one straight away.
- Match the data. Customers, suppliers and products are matched across both sides using company numbers, VAT numbers, codes and cleaned names, with uncertain matches reviewed by your staff. Shared customers become one record.
- Map the rest. Chart of accounts, price lists, product codes and numbering schemes are mapped to the chosen structure, with every mapping written down and agreed.
- Migrate in stages. One system at a time, one side at a time, by repeatable script, reconciled against the source, with the old system kept read-only afterwards.
Timing matters. We plan migrations around year ends, busy seasons and contract renewals, so nobody is moving the accounts in the week of the VAT return.
What one company looks like
Staff log into one set of systems. Shared customers have one account, one price list and one statement. Group reporting comes from connected data with agreed definitions, not a monthly spreadsheet exercise.
Duplicate licences are cancelled as each migration completes. And the next acquisition, if there is one, has a tested method to follow rather than starting from scratch.
Is this where you are?
- You have acquired or merged with another business
- Both sides still run their own CRM, accounts or job systems
- Group reporting is a spreadsheet built from two sets of exports
- Shared customers exist on both sides with different details
- Nobody has decided which systems will survive
- Duplicate licences are still being paid for