Synergy realization tracking
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Additional to the tools that were presented in the IMAA module, can you share your experience in terms of which tools you use to track synergies? It would also be interesting to learn how effective you believe they were to ensure accountability throughout the organizations and why.
My experience has been to use a central synergy tracker listing all identified and approved synergies part of the deal approval with the acquiring company. This has been both simple solutions in Excel, Power Point or similar tools or more complex software solutions supporting the entire deal flow.
Most importantly is the constant and ongoing focus on the identified synergies and if they are captured. Therefore, this must be a top priority for Deal Team, IMO/PMO team, and the SteerCo responsible for executing the deal and integration.
Including realization of synergies in the ongoing IMO/PMO reporting is key to keep focus on synergies and how to realize them.
In my experience, synergy tracking is often managed through a combination of central IMO trackers (typically Excel or dashboard tools like Power BI) and regular governance routines.
The tool itself is less critical than the structure behind it. What tends to work well is having clear ownership for each synergy, defined timelines, and regular reporting cycles (e.g., weekly or monthly reviews). This creates accountability and keeps progress visible to leadership.
Where I’ve seen challenges is when synergies are tracked at too high a level without linking them to specific actions. In those cases, even with good tools, accountability weakens.
So overall, the effectiveness comes more from discipline in tracking and governance rather than the specific tool being used.
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