Closing Time: What Acquisitions Mean for Corporate Culture

You likely saw the news that PointClickCare recently announced its intent to acquire Audacious Inquiry, an industry-shaping connected care platform.

The combination of the two companies will help accelerate our shared mission to address critical gaps in healthcare and enable better care for vulnerable patients across the care continuum.

I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Audacious Inquiry employees to the PointClickCare community. Together, we have the ability to double down on our impact on healthcare, providing employees from both companies an opportunity to contribute to a truly meaningful social mission.

What follows are some specific steps and industry best practices to help optimize the acquisition transition for employees and, ultimately, for our customers.  

Best Practices for an Acquisition Integration

First, it’s important to bring employees from both companies together to build a sense of camaraderie and align on a joint mission in the early days of an integration. A team-wide orientation provides a deep dive into the brand, business objectives, and goals, and will ensure everyone is on the same page from the get-go.

This is also a great opportunity to reiterate the potential that comes with an acquisition, both for the business and for the individual. We believe our acquisition of Audacious Inquiry will generate great growth opportunities and open career doors for employees that may not have existed otherwise.

Next, prioritize the cultural integration. This should begin before a deal to ensure cultural values mirror each other and can be easily united as the companies come together. However, it’s critical to approach the integration with the intent to establish a new, combined culture taking the best that each of the companies has to offer. Once the new culture is defined, leaders should put measures and incentives in place that drive it forward throughout the organization.

Finally, leverage each company’s strengths and past experiences. Rather than creating a new policy from scratch, for example, build on something that might already exist and shape it to fit new business objectives. Leadership from both sides should recognize each companies’ past successes and use them to establish the best practices and principles that will guide the business into the future.

Stronger Together

Above all, an integration should be approached with an open mind and an appreciation for the history, values and experiences of each of the companies involved. From there, change management processes and regular progress check-ins can help guide employees and ensure initiatives are having their intended impact.

There is so much to gain following an acquisition and the integration of Audacious Inquiry will undoubtedly make PointClickCare a stronger organization. Together, and by following the best practices outlined above, we will be able to achieve more than we ever thought possible.