When you are deep in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or divestiture, every decision from how you communicate with employees to CMDB accuracy can determine whether the transition creates value or simply checks a box. This is the moment to treat the work as a strategic opportunity. These are the moves that consistently deliver the most impact.
Do not leave ownership scattered across IT, HR, legal, and finance. Assign one executive with authority across boundaries who can balance competing priorities such as speed, security, cost, and employee experience. This ensures clarity and keeps senior leaders aligned around a common outcome.
An M&A or divestiture is the right moment to simplify. Use the opportunity to shorten approval chains, consolidate duplicative requests, and automate steps that have slowed work for years. For ServiceNow teams, this means streamlining HRSD onboarding, improving Employee Center, and automating IT provisioning rather than lifting and shifting legacy complexity.
A clean CMDB provides the visibility required to transfer the right assets and avoid disputes. Establish consistent naming conventions, CI matching rules, and overwrite strategies before the close. At the same time, map Transition Service Agreements with clear ownership for any infrastructure or services that will be shared after separation.
The metrics that matter most are the ones that show whether the business is better off after the transaction. Create measures such as time to productivity for new employees, employee portal deflection rates after integration, or the speed of TSA exits against the plan. These metrics focus teams on outcomes rather than tasks.
Employees in HR, IT, and customer service absorb most of the impact during a transition. Involve them early and give them a single place to find information and updates. A centralized Employee Center portal or Knowledge base can help reduce confusion and give teams confidence in what to expect.
Transitions increase cognitive strain as employees adapt to new reporting lines and responsibilities. Guided workflows and skills-based matching within Employee Center can simplify complex steps. AI agents can handle common questions such as asset provisioning or benefits enrollment. This lowers frustration and helps people feel supported.
Maintain clear rules but avoid unnecessary roadblocks. Configure ServiceNow to allow auto approvals within policy thresholds, conditional routing based on deal phase, and dual authorization for high impact requests. This protects compliance while preserving momentum.
Internal priorities often overshadow the customer during a transition. Keep service consistent by updating CSM and Knowledge bases with FAQs, new contacts, and rebranded portals. Proactive communication can turn a potentially confusing experience into a positive one.
Avoid layering new processes on top of inefficient ones. Use the transaction to rationalize tools, retire redundant systems, and create leaner standardized workflows. When built deliberately, integration becomes a platform for growth rather than a patchwork of old habits.
M&A and divestiture work is complex, but it also creates a rare moment to reset how a business operates. The organizations that emerge stronger are the ones that see this as more than a transfer of assets. They use the transition to elevate governance, simplify work, and measure success by the value created for employees, customers, and shareholders.