Case Study: Building a Regional PMO for Integration After Acquisitions

 Overview

When organizations expand through acquisitions, growth on paper often hides fragmentation in practice. That was the case here. Two newly acquired organizations added scale and valuable capabilities, but they also brought their own systems, reporting methods, and ways of serving customers. At first, this seemed manageable, yet small cracks soon widened. Local managers worked hard, but without a shared framework their efforts moved in different directions. Efficiency slipped, accountability weakened, and the customer experience became uneven.

This was the moment when transformation management shifted from being a helpful idea to an operational necessity. Post-acquisition success required more than merging charts or consolidating platforms. It demanded leadership to provide conviction, disciplines to add structure, lifecycles to establish rhythm, and culture to sustain adoption. The breakthrough came with the creation of a Regional Project Management Office, which anchored governance, introduced shared tools, and turned service delivery from inconsistent to reliable.

The Challenge

As the region absorbed its acquisitions, four barriers quickly rose to the surface. Each one disrupted daily-operations and threatened the ability to capture full value from the deals.

• Disconnected tools. Each department relied on separate project systems, leaving leaders without a regional view. Strategy looked strong on paper but faltered before reaching execution because leaders lacked the transparency needed to act.
• Weak governance. Without shared standards, practices varied widely. Change management was inconsistent, and change control was ad hoc. Priorities blurred, accountability eroded, and decisions slowed to a crawl. 
• Employee resistance. Teams already stretched by transition clung to familiar methods. Many employees hesitated to embrace new ways of working, and adoption lagged without cultural alignment or visible support from leadership.
• Inconsistent customer experience. Clients began to notice the disconnect. Service interactions differed depending on which department they engaged, creating a fragmented journey that weakened trust and loyalty.

Taken together, these barriers underscored a larger truth: post-acquisition integration cannot be solved by cost-cutting or system consolidation alone. What the region required was transformation management to align leadership, disciplines, lifecycles, and culture into one coherent system.

The Solution

Leaders recognized that scattered fixes would never keep pace with the complexity of integration. Instead, they committed to a coherent transformation anchored by a Regional Project Management Office. The PMO replaced inconsistent practices with unified governance, offering standards, templates, and reviews that provided both clarity and speed. A regional Project Management Information System gave leaders, for the first time, a single view of projects and resources, improving both efficiency and confidence. To build cultural momentum, a Change Advisory Board gave employees a voice in shaping integration, turning resistance into ownership and optimism. Finally, journey mapping shifted attention outward, aligning processes with what mattered most to customers. By weaving leadership, disciplines, lifecycles, and culture into a single system, the region transformed complexity into capability and positioned itself for sustainable growth.

The Results

The Regional PMO delivered visible improvements across operations, culture, and client relationships:

• Resource utilization increased. A single view of demand and capacity allowed smarter staffing, balanced workloads, and better use of regional resources.
• Change adoption accelerated. The Change Advisory Board engaged employees directly, turning hesitation into advocacy and modeling optimism across teams.
• Reporting improved. Standardized processes and consistent tools produced reliable data, enabling leaders to make faster, sharper decisions with confidence.
• Client satisfaction rose. Journey mapping uncovered hidden pain points and aligned services with customer priorities, creating consistent experiences and restoring trust in the brand.

Most importantly, these results did not stand alone. Governance created clarity, information systems provided transparency, cultural engagement sustained adoption, and customer focus rebuilt trust. Together, they generated momentum that no single intervention could have achieved in isolation.

Takeaway

Acquisitions may promise growth, but they can just as easily create fragmentation if integration is left to chance. In this case, the Regional PMO provided the anchor that aligned governance, introduced a shared project information system, and embedded structured change management. Employees were not just told what to do; they were engaged through a Change Advisory Board that gave them a genuine voice in shaping integration. Departments that once operated independently began to function as a unified whole.

The deeper lesson is clear. Post-acquisition success is not measured by how quickly systems are merged or reporting lines redrawn. It is measured by the capabilities leaders choose to strengthen. Transformation management ensures that governance provides clarity, disciplines create structure, lifecycles establish rhythm, and culture fosters adoption. When these elements reinforce one another, integration does more than preserve value. It multiplies it, turning complexity into the foundation for long-term growth and confidence.

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