M&A Science
Integration-Led Diligence: Cisco's M&A Approach with Johanna Jaakola & Tesia Hostetle
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Show notes
Johanna Jaakola – Integration Lead, Corporate Development Integration Team, Cisco
Tesia Hostetler – Leader, Acquisition Integration Practice, Cisco
At Cisco, the integration lead runs diligence. The integration strategy is already part of the deal thesis before LOI, in the first approval conversation with the CFO.
Johanna Jaakola, integration lead for the Splunk acquisition, and Tesia Hostetler, who leads Cisco's acquisition integration practice, explain how Cisco moved from throwing deals "over the wall" to integration-led diligence. They break down the integrate, don't integrate, and reverse integrate models, why Splunk ended up running Cisco's observability business, and what happened when regulatory approval came six months sooner than planned. They also get candid about the culture gaps that never showed up in diligence. This is part one of a two-part conversation.
Tesia's warning that teams who bring integration in late "start flat footed" at close is the problem DealRoom Integration was built to fix. Integration planning begins during diligence, and diligence findings link directly to the integration tasks that resolve them. See how it works: click here.