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Integrating Two Security Programs After Close

An acquirer has closed on a company whose security program has never been assessed. Summit would build an integration plan that sequences the work so customer-facing risk is addressed first, planned around both companies' operations.

PlaybookM&A · Post-Close Integration

This playbook at a glance

M&A
  • 2steps in the first 30 days
  • 3after day 30
  • 4decision points
  • 3deliverables at the end

The trigger

The situation a company is in when this conversation starts.

A mid-market company has acquired a smaller competitor to gain its product line and customer base. Diligence was light on security because the deal moved quickly. On day one the acquirer owns two identity systems, two sets of policies, an unknown number of vendors with access to customer data, and customers on both sides who expect nothing to change. The CFO wants a plan with dates; the acquired team wants to know what will happen to them.

The first 30 days

How Summit would run the work, in order.

  1. An integration assessment in the first 30 days: inventory of the acquired company's systems, data, vendors, and access, and a gap analysis against the acquirer's program so the combined risk is clear.

  2. Communication built in: the acquired team's leaders are part of the planning from the start.

After day 30

  1. Sequencing by exposure rather than by convenience: shared access to customer data and vendor connections first, policy and tooling consolidation later.

  2. A single set of policies for the combined company, adopted rather than rewritten where the acquired company's practices are stronger.

  3. One clear message to customers on both sides about how their data will be handled.

The decision points

The calls your leadership makes along the way. Summit brings the evidence and a recommendation; the decision stays yours.
  1. For each vendor and each access path: keep, replace, or retire.
  2. Which company's practice becomes the standard, policy by policy.
  3. What closes in the first phase, and what waits for policy and tooling consolidation.
  4. What customers are told, and when.

What you’d have at the end

Deliverables written to be used, not filed.
  1. A day-30 integration assessment and a 180-day plan with a named owner for each step, dependencies, and the order of work.
  2. A consolidated vendor and access inventory with the decision made on each: keep, replace, or retire.
  3. A monthly integration status report for the executive team, in the same format used for the rest of the integration.

The service behind it

M&A Advisory

This playbook draws on Summit’s M&A Advisory service. Every engagement is scoped to the company in front of us, so the order and the length can change.

How an engagement runs: the 5 stages

  1. First call
  2. Scope
  3. Discovery and baseline
  4. Analysis and plan
  5. Readout and handover
Schedule a ConsultationBook a 15-minute intro call

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