This article originally appeared in Transaction Advisors (subscription required).

Whether businesses are seeking to cross-sell products and services as quickly as possible or combine organization systems effectively, IT integration is critical to achieving M&A goals.

Too often, executives lose valuable time post-deal by taking too long to decide on critical issues. Low-priority projects (e.g. merging mail) receive too much focus, delaying larger scale IT integration.

This article establishes key chronological benchmarks executives should strive to meet in a successful IT integration.

Clear IT integration goals should be established after the first month. After three months, the makeup of the future integrated system should be known as well as the investment and resources needed.

Integrated systems should be delivering at least half the value of anticipated cost and revenue synergies after the first year, with full integration coming within two or three years

Read the full article in Transaction Advisors (subscription required).