The ink is dry on the acquisition. The press release promises "immediate cross-selling opportunities" and "operational synergies." But six months later, you have two sales teams working out of two different Salesforce instances, creating a data silo that makes cross-selling impossible. We call this the Two-Tenant Trap.
For Private Equity Operating Partners, the temptation to delay CRM consolidation is high. It feels risky. It feels expensive. It feels like a distraction from "selling." But the data proves that delay is the real killer. According to McKinsey, 70% of high-tech mergers fail to achieve their anticipated revenue synergies, primarily due to failures in post-merger integration (PMI).
When you maintain separate instances, you are actively choosing to:
The investment thesis wasn't built on "keeping things the same." It was built on technology stack consolidation and value creation. Every day you delay the merge is a day you bleed value.
The most common question we get from the Office of the CIO is: "Should we merge the acquired data into our existing instance (Brownfield), or start fresh with a new one (Greenfield)?"
Most consultants will give you a vague "it depends." We look at the Technical Debt Ratio. If your current instance is over 5 years old and heavily customized with Apex code that no one understands, moving an acquired company into it is like adding a new wing to a burning house. In that case, Greenfield is safer. However, for 80% of PE-backed add-ons, a Brownfield approach (merging into the acquirer's instance) is the fastest path to EBITDA impact—if you solve the data hygiene issue first.
Do not trust the target company's VP of Sales when they say their data is clean. Experian reports that poor data quality costs organizations 15% to 25% of their revenue annually. In an M&A context, this "dirty data tax" is amplified. Migrating bad data (duplicates, dead contacts, non-standardized fields) corrupts your primary instance and destroys trust with the sales team.
Your 120-day roadmap must follow three strict phases:
The biggest reason CRM consolidations fail isn't technical; it's political. Sales leaders from the acquired company will fight to keep their "unique" processes (which are often just bad habits). If you try to replicate every custom field and workflow from the old system, you will fail. This is why we advocate for an Integration Management Office (IMO) led by an Operating Partner or neutral third party, not the legacy sales leaders.
You need a "Minimum Viable Integration" (MVI) mentality. What is the minimum data required to sell, bill, and support? Build that. Everything else is noise.
Successful consolidation isn't just about saving license costs. It's about revenue velocity. When you have a single source of truth:
Don't let the technical complexity paralyze you. Follow a rigid integration roadmap, enforce strict data governance, and treat the Salesforce merge as what it truly is: the operational heart of your investment thesis.
