Seven Companies. One Operating Reality.
Turning acquisition complexity into a scalable corporate operating model across systems, data, processes, people, culture, service delivery and local requirements.
RealityShared data · systems · processes
MasterCamping
Control Data
This M&A integration case study shows how seven legal entities and a parallel digital-services business line were progressively aligned around a shared operating model across data, enterprise systems, service delivery, governance and human adoption in Spain and Portugal.
Acquisitions create scale. Integration creates one company.
Each acquired business arrived with years of its own operating history: data structures, customer relationships, accounting practices, contracts, product definitions, tools, habits, workarounds and organizational identity.
The program had to connect strategy, data, systems, processes and people while preserving business continuity across a complex hospitality technology portfolio.
Duplicate, incomplete and historically inconsistent records.
Distinct commercial, contractual, billing and support workflows.
Legacy ERP, CRM, spreadsheets, ticketing and local tooling.
Local workarounds and operating mindsets shaped by each company.
The same chains, groups, clients and suppliers could exist across multiple entities.
Seven legal entities converging into one corporate operating model.
SME-like local structures adapting to matrix governance and shared corporate processes.
Identity, hierarchy, contracts, products and financial relationships required reconstruction.
Multiple ERP, CRM, service, collaboration and role-specific tools had to be deployed and aligned.
Corporate models had to operate within Spanish and Portuguese tax, invoicing and legal requirements.
French-led corporate communication met Iberian teams, local habits and different working cultures.
Employees were onboarding into a new company, office, toolset and operating model at the same time.
The corporate model had to meet local reality.
Integration meant translating entrepreneurial, often highly pragmatic SME-like ways of working into a larger matrix organization with common governance, approvals, ownership and systems—without losing operational responsiveness.
Inherited operating reality
Integration layer
Corporate operating reality
Corporate standardization had to survive local reality. Localization was not a final configuration task; it was part of the integration model.
Seven histories had to become one trusted commercial reality.
Customer identity, organizational hierarchy, contracts, recurring billing logic, accounting relationships and product definitions had to be reconstructed before they could be standardized.
Legacy reality
Each business carried its own interpretation of customers, contracts and commercial structure.
Resolution layer
Corporate reality
The objective was not a bigger database. It was a more trustworthy operating foundation.
Standardizing the business required rebuilding what the business meant.
MySepteo became the common operational backbone, connected to the corporate finance environment. Before recurring contracts or billing logic could be migrated, legacy product structures, contract models, clauses, terms and classifications had to be cleaned, reconstructed and normalized.
One transformation. Multiple operating layers.
The ERP rollout was one layer of a broader transformation architecture spanning commercial operations, finance, service management, client experience, collaboration and employee enablement.
MySepteo as shared operational backbone for customer, commercial, contract, planning, purchasing, invoicing, support and quality processes.
Operational invoicing connected into the broader corporate accounting and supplier-management environment, including NetSuite and Yooz.
Corporate CRM and commercial tooling aligned around shared customer and opportunity processes.
Matrix42 introduced a common service-management and asset-management discipline.
A shared client portal model was deployed across seven Business Units to improve visibility, interaction and self-service capability.
A SharePoint Communication Site connected onboarding, learning, tools, support, communications and common ways of working.
Standardizing support meant redesigning how multiple teams worked together.
Each acquired business arrived with its own ticketing, work-management, escalation logic and team organization. The challenge was not only migrating service data—it was creating a coherent support and delivery model across multiple digital products and specialist teams.
Legacy fragmentation
Different teams were using local platforms such as Zendesk, Freshdesk, Timeneye and other company-specific tools, with different priorities, queues, ownership models and escalation habits.
Support levels, escalation paths, ownership, development handoffs and service-management logic had to be harmonized so different product teams could operate within a common model.
The transformation also changed how teams sold, collaborated and delivered.
The commercial operating model evolved alongside MySepteo, requiring process redesign, customer-data alignment and user onboarding as corporate CRM capabilities matured.
Some development teams were introduced to Agile ways of working, Scrum concepts and Jira, requiring dedicated onboarding and learning content—not just account provisioning.
Employees also had to adopt password management, RG System remote monitoring and management (RMM) and remote support, VPN enablement, SSO access, Microsoft Intune Company Portal device enrollment and role-specific corporate tools as part of the new digital workplace.
Tool deployment was intertwined with organizational and workplace change, increasing the volume of simultaneous change experienced by end users.
Integrated in parallel with the camping workstream, the Web Agency business line became part of the shared Septeo Hospitality operating model and now operates as a Business Unit supporting campings and hotels.
Language became an integration layer.
French was the primary corporate communication language for many technical meetings and much of the software documentation. Spanish teams still had to understand, adopt and operate the new systems at speed.
Technical concepts, workflows and corporate standards had to be interpreted into practical local operating guidance.
Some solutions had limited online documentation, sometimes French-only, making local learning content essential.
French, Spanish and English communication supported coordination, training and issue resolution.
SharePoint-based communication, onboarding content, training assets and support pathways helped make the future state usable.
Understanding, documentation, learning design, local context and shared vocabulary all influenced adoption—not just software configuration.
The transformation was experienced by the people inside it.
Public professional recommendations independently reinforce strategic translation, cross-team integration, adaptability, training and support through change.
Strategic vision, proactive support and the ability to translate operational needs into effective digital solutions helped optimize processes and facilitate adoption.Public LinkedIn recommendation
Bridged French and Spanish teams, adapted to the corporate tool and helped integrate and train teams in Spain.Public LinkedIn recommendation
Adapted rapidly in a complex harmonization environment and helped structure the organization across technical, operational and multilingual dimensions.Public LinkedIn recommendation
Contributed to the transformation of tools and processes while supporting teams through change with adaptability, responsiveness and a strong solution-oriented mindset.Public LinkedIn recommendation
From a portfolio of acquired companies to a more scalable shared operating model.
The value was the progressive reduction of fragmentation across data, systems, processes, service management and employee experience.
Common operational processes increasingly replaced fragmented local practices.
Customer, contract, hierarchy and product information became more consistent and usable.
ITSM, client portal and support structures moved toward common enterprise disciplines.
Communication, training and onboarding were connected directly to systems transformation.
What post-acquisition integration really demands.
Customer identity, contracts, hierarchies and products become enterprise-design questions.
Common technology forces clarity about processes, ownership, standards and operating rules.
People need language, knowledge, context, training and practical support to operate the future state.
The goal is one organization operating coherently while preserving valuable acquired capabilities.
Questions leaders ask when acquisitions have to become one operating reality.
The recurring challenge is not whether acquired businesses can share a platform. It is whether data, governance, processes, systems, service models and people can operate coherently around the same corporate reality.
01What makes post-acquisition integration different from a software migration?
A software migration changes systems. Post-acquisition integration changes the operating reality around them: data definitions, decision rights, processes, ownership, service models, local requirements and the way people work. Technology can enable integration, but it cannot substitute for operating-model design and adoption.
02Why is master data so critical in M&A integration?
Acquired companies often define customers, hierarchies, products, contracts and billing relationships differently. Until those definitions are reconciled, a shared ERP or CRM can reproduce fragmentation rather than remove it. Master-data work therefore becomes an enterprise-design and commercial-integrity issue, not only a technical migration task.
03How do you balance corporate standardization with local operating requirements?
The shared model should establish common governance, processes, systems and information while identifying where fiscal, legal, contractual or operational localization is genuinely required. Localization should be designed into the integration model rather than treated as a final configuration exception.
04What role does human readiness play in post-merger integration?
People may be adapting simultaneously to a new organization, systems, processes, responsibilities, workplace and language context. Training alone is not enough. Communication, local guidance, knowledge, support pathways and practical adoption must be designed into deployment.
05How can multiple acquired support teams be integrated?
Start with the service model rather than the ticketing platform. Inventory support levels, terminology, queues, ownership, escalation paths and development handoffs; harmonize the process; then deploy shared service-management tools and train teams on the new ways of working.
06What does a successful M&A integration outcome look like?
The goal is not simply for acquired businesses to use the same tools. It is for the organization to operate coherently around trusted data, common operating rules, scalable service models and shared corporate capabilities while preserving valuable acquired expertise.
Integration succeeds when data, systems, processes and people converge around one operating model.
Guruti helps organizations connect transformation strategy with execution across M&A integration, enterprise systems, PMO, data, operating models and human readiness.