Mikko Soirola, from IT integration specialist Liaison Technologies
In complex cases like this, integrating legacy systems can be a brutal task for even the most adept IT organisation, so walking away from the RBS deal might indeed be the right decision for Santander. However, deeper due diligence earlier on can quickly indicate the scale and complexity of the proposed integration between any organisation and assist the strategic decision-making process sooner, saving a lot of time and money.
That said, the growing ability to use cloud computing as a broker between highly disparate IT infrastructures is now making it possible to integrate IT where previously it was deemed impossible. This might be an example where traditional approaches to integration could have benefitted from fresh thinking.
Successful integration is also in the eye of the beholder – and RBS could have, and should have, ensured that its IT assets were implemented in ways that were more open to integration and change, which would have been to the benefit of both the seller and its shareholders. For any other potential suitor, the now very public issue on integration has had the added effect of substantially marking down the multi-billion dollar price tag that such a deal was originally deemed worth.