CIO Guide: Achieve Zero Downtime with Data During M&A
Mergers create data chaos. Learn how CIOs can unify data, avoid downtime, and deliver visibility in weeks—not months.
Ali Z.
𝄪
CEO @ aztela
Table of Contents
Why Data Is the #1 Risk Factor in M&A
Every CIO knows the feeling:
No visibility into either company’s numbers.
Leadership asking for reports no one trusts.
Dozens of overlapping tools, disconnected systems, and no unified truth.
Pressure to deliver “synergies” while flying blind.
Here’s the reality: you don’t need a 12-month migration to fix this.
You need a lean, business-first data strategy that delivers results in weeks.
Step 1: Assess Data Maturity on Both Sides
Every merger involves two companies at very different stages of data maturity. Before moving anything, ask:
What platforms are in use (CRM, ERP, warehouse)?
Do they have a real data stack or just Excel power users?
Is data used operationally or just for dashboards?
Where are the biggest trust gaps?
📌 Pro tip: The bigger company doesn’t always have better data. Often, it’s the opposite.
Step 2: Start with High-Value, Low-Complexity Data
Don’t try to unify everything on Day 1.
Ask:
What data do we need immediately to evaluate business health?
Which datasets are clean and already trusted?
Which metrics drive investor confidence and board reporting?
In most M&As, finance and sales data are the best starting points.
This becomes your data MVP—actionable in 2–4 weeks.
Step 3: Separate Analytics from Tech Migrations
ERP migration ≠ analytics visibility.
CIO mistake #1: treating them as the same initiative.
ERP timelines stretch months (or years). Your exec team can’t wait.
Build an analytics layer independent of ERP to provide real visibility now.
Step 4: Centralize, Don’t Over-Engineer
Once you’ve picked the starting data, bring it into one trusted place:
Cloud warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks)
Lightweight modeling (dbt optional)
Simple dashboards (Looker, Tableau, even Sheets)
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s ending spreadsheet chaos and Slack pings for numbers.
Step 5: Build a Roadmap That Maps to Business Value
From here, use a Value vs Complexity matrix to prioritize what’s next.
Run stakeholder interviews across finance, sales, marketing, and ops:
What decisions do they need to make today?
Which KPIs are broken or untrusted?
Where is adoption lowest?
This gives you a roadmap that scales trust, not just tech.
See our data strategy framework for how we run this with clients.
What the Timeline Looks Like
Week 1–2: Interviews + maturity audit → unify finance + sales into dashboards
Week 3–6: Add marketing, revenue ops, CS data → establish single source of truth
Week 6–12: Standardize definitions, add ownership + governance, expand scope
This is how CIOs achieve zero downtime while delivering clarity to the exec team.
Blunt Bottom Line
You don’t need to fix everything to succeed in M&A.
You need a fast data MVP, visible KPIs, and a roadmap tied to ROI.
If you want visibility in weeks—not quarters—Book a Data Strategy Assessment.
We’ll show you exactly how to unify the right data fast, avoid downtime, and deliver exec-ready dashboards while your peers are still stuck in migrations.
