Although the cultures of two organisations appear to be well-aligned, it remains important to obtain a thorough understanding of what the other group has (and doesn’t have) in terms of assets, contractual commitments and processes and to understand how the risks associated with individual aspects can be managed and mitigated.

The due diligence process is also vital in providing insights for management as to how a combined entity would work – both in terms of longer-term implementation of strategy and in terms of the reality of near-term workarounds to ensure that the service experience for customers is not adversely impacted during the transaction.