For CIOs: How to Achieve Zero Downtime with Data When Going Through M&A

We’ve seen it again and again.

A merger or acquisition gets announced, and executives and CIOs go into full panic mode because of one thing: data chaos.

• They don’t have visibility into either company’s numbers

• They can’t trust the data they do have

• They’re expected to integrate dozens of tools, fast

• And they’re flying blind while trying to “synergize” two orgs

Here’s the thing:
You don’t need a full-blown 12-month system migration to get clarity.
You need a lean data strategy that delivers results in weeks.

Here’s how we’ve helped companies get data visibility and trust — fast — even in the middle of M&A chaos.

Step 1: Assess the Data Maturity of Both Organizations

Start with the basics. Every M&A deal involves two companies at different stages of data maturity.

Ask:

• What tools and platforms are they using?

• Do they have any sort of modern data stack?

• Are they using their data operationally — or just for dashboards?

• Is their data even unified?

• Is there a real data team or just scattered Excel power users?

Knowing this helps you find the middle ground and define what’s possible in weeks — and what needs deeper transformation later.

📌 Pro tip: Don’t assume “the bigger company has better data.” Often, it’s the opposite.

Step 2: Start with Low Complexity, High Value Data

Most CIOs assume data unification will take 18+ months.
It won’t — if you pick the right starting point.

Ask yourself:

• What data do we need right now to evaluate the business health post-M&A?

• What’s most critical for sales, finance, and marketing?

• Which of those datasets are already clean and somewhat trustworthy?

In 90% of cases, finance and sales data is your best starting point.

This becomes your “data MVP” — something usable and actionable in 2–4 weeks.

Step 3: Analytics ≠ Tech Migrations

One of the most common mistakes CIOs make:
They lump business analytics and data visibility into the same bucket as ERP or system migrations.

These are not the same.

Your analytics layer — aka the source of decision-making truth — should be built independently of your ERP migration roadmap.

Why? Because ERP timelines often stretch for months (or years).
And your exec team can’t wait that long for a dashboard that actually works.

Step 4: Unify First, Perfect Later

Once you’ve identified key, high-value data — bring it into one place.

That usually means:

• A cloud data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, etc.)

• A lightweight modeling layer (optional)

• Simple visualization or dashboard tools

The goal: No more emailing spreadsheets.
No more “pinging Sarah on Slack” just to get revenue numbers.
No more digging into two CRM systems just to understand pipeline.

Get it centralized, and plug in more data sources as you go.

Step 5: Build a Data Strategy That Maps to Business Value

Now that you’ve got momentum — it’s time to scale smart.

This is where most companies screw up:
They go after “everything” instead of mapping initiatives to business value and complexity.

Use a prioritization matrix and run quick interviews across key functions:

• Who are the primary users of data in each department?

• How do they currently make decisions?

• What metrics actually help them act?

• Where’s the trust already broken?

You’ll come away with a clear roadmap of what to build next, what can wait, and where governance or ownership needs to improve.

Here’s What It Looks Like in Practice

📆 Week 1–2:
Data interviews + maturity audit → Finance + Sales data unified into dashboards

📆 Week 3–6:
Add marketing, revenue ops, and customer success data
Establish single source of truth across key KPIs

📆 Week 6–12:
Standardize definitions, layer in ownership, governance, and deeper automation

This is the real playbook for data success during M&A.
And you don’t need a 12-month consulting engagement to get there.

TL;DR

You don’t need to fix everything to make progress.
You just need to align on what matters now — and get your “data MVP” live fast.

From there, you’ll have clarity, momentum, and a system you can build on.

📞 Want Data Visibility During Your M&A — in Weeks, Not Months?

At Aztela, we help CIOs and exec teams build fast, lean, and practical data infrastructure during critical transitions like mergers, acquisitions, and rapid growth.

We’ll help you:

• Unify your most important data

• Build visibility across both companies

• Create a custom roadmap aligned to your business and complexity

Schedule a free M&A Data Strategy Session →
We’ll give you a clear plan in 30 minutes.