While the pandemic halted many mergers and acquisitions in 2020, all that pent-up activity is expected to be unleashed in 2021, as interest rates remain low, more individuals become vaccinated, and COVID-19 abates. McKinsey & Company experts state that successful M&A activities will be more highly dependent on digital technology prowess and the ability to execute quickly.
Are you prepared to respond? If not, you’re not alone. Many HR and IT leaders struggle to manage M&A activities while juggling day-to-day business needs and strategic goals to advance the business. According to Gartner, only one-third of mergers and acquisitions are clear successes. How do you improve these odds? How can you use new solutions and software to streamline your business processes and create efficiencies, to reduce the time and resource drain of M&A activity?
Digital communication is a critical factor for M&A success
Several MeBeBot customers have experienced fast growth, with both organic innovation and M&A activity. They have found success by incorporating digital prowess, as a crucial part of their M&A activities. Onboarding newly acquired employees quickly and ensuring these new employees feel a part of their new culture is no small feat. How can you gain the trust of these new team members and provide them with the answers to all their questions and concerns during this major change in their career?
One of MeBeBot's customers, E2open, a leading global provider of cloud-based software for optimizing supply chains, began a fast-growth strategy through acquisitions in 2015. Over the past few years, the company has expanded globally, with 14 acquisitions in 3 year and has more than tripled its headcount to over 2,400 employees.
The E2open team was faced with a challenge in being able to transition such a large number of employees smoothly while also supporting the broader business in a time of extreme growth. The on-boarding work was time consuming and the global communication was often frustrating.
E2open needed holistic on-boarding and support strategy, including tools that could begin providing additional impact quickly. The team selected MeBeBot’s artificial intelligence-driven Intelligent Assistant as a way to begin connecting employees more quickly with vital personal and company information without relying more heavily on the stretched HR team.
E2open leveraged the MeBeBot knowledge base of FAQs to jumpstart the process customizing and tuning their chatbot. The team chose to integrate the bot in Microsoft Teams and SharePoint (the company intranet platform) and MeBeBot was launched to all employees globally in under one month.
The MeBeBot and E2open teams devised an innovative launch plan, including the chatbot in new hire packets, annual open enrollment information, and introducing MeBeBot at company All Hands meetings. The HR and IT teams sent out company emails and added MeBeBot to their email signatures. Digital signage in offices and posted flyers within physical spaces included details on how MeBeBot could help them day-to-day.
Results: Questions to the HR team dropped by 75 percent
The E2open HR team began to suddenly realize MeBeBot's impact, primarily in the sheer volume of questions that the chatbot was fielding. In the first three months, the number of questions that the HR team needed to directly address dropped by 75 percent. This allowed them to focus on strategic priorities including implementing a new Total Rewards process and system as well as global recruiting efforts.
Today, MeBeBot answers hundreds of IT and HR questions per week, surpassing internal business goals. The success of MeBeBot has saved IT over 300 hours of help desk hours per month and over 120 hours of HR help desk questions per month, resulting in cost savings, improved efficiencies and 24/7 internal support of their employees.
MeBeBot Drives M&A Communications and Employee Support
MeBeBot is affordable, easy to implement and update and the AI Intelligent Assistant installs in two to six weeks, not in six months or more, providing companies with a fast time-to-value and investment return.
MeBeBot's Intelligent Assistant answers the commonly asked questions of HR, IT, and operations frees up the time to pursue more strategic work. It improves employees' productivity and experiences by providing accurate answers to them 24/7–no waiting for the staff or call centers to return a call or for a manual email response.
MeBeBot smooths out the employee onboarding process, which is particularly important for fast growing companies, especially during rapid growth and M&A activities.
Request a quick demonstration, and get an estimate on the incredible return MeBeBot will provide you for your investment.
