How we work - Agents do the work. Practitioners decide it.
We run every programme on the atlanticma.ai, a system of work that augments and automates the transformation team. It follows the method our partners have used for years; the difference is who does the legwork.
Agents and practitioners, together
Agent: Read the SPA and due diligence summaries, and draft the value drivers and integration objectives
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Review the draft, and test the deal thesis with the executive sponsor
Agent: Propose how each value driver will be tracked
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Agree what the deal is for, and how value will be tracked
Set the direction
Every integration starts with what the deal is for. We read the deal documents, talk to the executives, and turn the thesis into value drivers and objectives that the rest of the programme traces back to.
Agents and practitioners, together
Agent: Draft a charter per function from the agreed objectives
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Review each charter, and settle decision rights and resourcing with the function
Agent: Propose quick wins, end state, risks and key workstreams
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Accept, change or reject each proposal, and confirm which objectives each function owns
Charter each function
Integration happens function by function, across both companies. Each function's charter says which objectives it delivers, what done looks like, its quick wins for the first 30 days, and its risks.
Agents and practitioners, together
Agent: Turn key workstreams into an outline work plan
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Review the plan, and sequence it across Day 1, 100 days and Year 1
Agent: Suggest tasks and milestones as the plan deepens
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Accept what serves the thesis, and hold the line on what matters
Plan the work
Key workstreams become each function's work plan, by horizon: Day 1, the first 100 days, and the first year. Hygiene work sits alongside deal-thesis work; both have to get done.
Agents and practitioners, together
Agent: Capture decisions and actions from meetings
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Confirm them, and resolve the issues only people can resolve
Agent: Track RAID, synergies and TSAs as the work happens
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Review progress, and drive TSA exit and synergy realisation
Agent: Assemble the steering committee pack
Practitioner reviewsPractitioner: Review it before it goes out, and chair the steering committee
Run and report
Status is recorded where the work is done, so the steering pack is current without a reporting cycle. Partners spend their time on decisions, escalations and the people side of the deal.
Three key events - Orientation, engagement and focus, in that order
Thomas Kessler's model for the start of every integration. Each event answers a question the organisation is already asking: why are we doing this deal, who owns what, and how will we talk about it.
Step 1
Executive Alignment
Just before the deal is announced
Clarifies the why, clear roles, integration principles and the rules for communication.Step 2
WeekOne
Right after Executive Alignment
Engagement down to manager level. Teams build and adapt their own plan, so they own it, and meet each other properly for the first time.Step 3
Synergy Working Session
Six to eight weeks after closing
By then the teams have formed, and the first quick wins can typically be announced.
Integration isn’t a checklist; it’s a human process. … Friction drops when people feel seen, heard, and included in shaping what’s next.
How we think - Four gears make or break an integration
From Richard Parry's article “A Better Way to Grow” in London Business School's Business Strategy Review. If one gear slips, the programme slips with it.
- People. How will you communicate and engage people? Integration is a human process; fear, confusion and overwhelm destroy value faster than any process gap.
- Capability and capacity. Do you have the know-how to integrate, and the people to do it while the business keeps running? Companies are built for today's performance; integration needs both surged.
- Leadership. Do you have the right mix of internal and external integration leaders? Frameworks need steering, and the outcome hinges on the quality of the people leading.
- Tools. Do you have tools and frameworks that make integration reliable and repeatable? This is the gear atlanticma.ai now turns.
When to bring us in
When due diligence starts, about two months before signing.
Early enough to flag integration risks, test the synergy case and feed what we find back into the valuation; close enough to signing that both sides prepare in earnest. Every integration lead says the same thing: “I usually get involved too late.”
Why it matters - A senior team, not a pyramid
A traditional programme needs a layer of analysts to collect status, chase actions and rebuild the steering pack every week. atlanticma.ai does that work, so the client pays for judgement, not for the pyramid.
The bottom part of the pyramid has been replaced by automation and project management tools. What you really need is senior people at the top who know how to work across an organization and how to build trust with the functional leaders and the executive team, and can reliably deliver an integration.
- The people you meet do the work. A senior practitioner leads your programme day to day. There is no hand-off to a junior team after the pitch. A partner oversees each territory: Richard Parry the US and UK, Thomas Kessler the DACH region and Branka Dessens the Netherlands.
- Reporting as a by-product. Workstream leads record delivery as they do it, so the steering pack is built from the work itself rather than reassembled by hand.
- Agents propose, practitioners decide. Every agent output arrives as a suggestion. Nothing reaches the plan, the RAID log or the pack until your engagement lead has reviewed and accepted it.
- Nimble. A smaller team moves faster and costs less, and can scale up for a carve-out or down for a bolt-on without re-staffing.
- Your programme stays yours. The plan, charters and decisions live in a system your team keeps using after we step back.
- Cross-border by default. One way of running the programme in Europe and the US, worked across both time zones.
Forty years of PMI, and where agents fit in.
The evolution of PMIHave a deal in mind?
Tell us about the transaction and the timetable. A partner will come back to you, not a sales team.
Where to find us
Atlantic M&A Partners
- Boston, MA
- London, UK
- Rijswijk, Netherlands
- Bonn, Germany