Providing support to mitigate merger challenges for large financial organisation

A prominent South African based financial services group was formed in 2010 through the merger of two large insurance and financial services companies. As a result of the merger, the organisation now had two employee benefits divisions and IT systems, both with similar functionalities. The organisation made the decision to combine these two divisions into one Employee Benefits (EB) system for the new combined organisation.

We partnered with the organisation to find viable long term solutions to the challenges the organisation faced in migrating information to the EB system, and maintaining the previous system during this migration.

The Solution

1. We were awarded a four-year service-based outsource contract for the critical support and maintenance of the previous system for the duration of the migration to the EB system.
2. We offered permanent employment positions to the IT staff of the organisation working on the previous system.
3. A new contractual working relationship between us and the organisation was established.

The Results

• The organisation was able to mitigate the risks associated with maintaining a system that would be sunset over a period of four years, thereby preventing any potential reputational or financial loss due to a lack of support for the system.
•  It also ensured that required statutory and business enhancements to the system could continue.
• The organisation could concentrate on the development of the EB system to accommodate the business migration and ensure the stabilization and growth of the newly combined business.
• We could offer job security through the longer term employment and career opportunities for the organisation’s team that moved over to us.
• Through the outsource contract with us, the organisation was able to retain access to all the business and system IP and knowledge.

Our partnership with the organisation has also grown beyond this project to include further services and projects, within other parts of the organisation group as a result of the reputation gained through this successful sunset outsource contract.

“The key objectives of managing staff and retaining skills during an extended migration project was achieved with great professionalism by Alacrity (Now trading as Saratoga after a merger in 2017). The fact that they themselves underwent some changes during this contract period underlines the quality and commitment of the management team at Alacrity. It was a pleasure working with everyone on this project and it was especially reassuring to note how they catered for the people they inherited as part of the contract – shaping new careers for individuals, whilst still ensuring a well-managed hand over of skills. My lasting impression was one of a company willing and able to make things work despite the inevitable changes and challenges encountered during such a long contract.”

– Heinz Seldte, IT Co-ordinator Momentum EB