Communications Advisor to CompuVision on its Merger With VC3

The Evolving IT Industry

Continuous innovation, cyber security improvements, and automation are critical to the IT industry’s ability to enhance client experience – often achieved through collaboration and partnerships.

CompuVision is an IT management and consulting company that has leveraged technical innovations to protect and accelerate small, medium, and large businesses in Canada for over 30 years. As the IT industry continues to grow and evolve, CompuVision realized an opportunity to strengthen its client service capabilities and better lead the industry by merging with VC3, a provider of IT services for municipalities and commercial businesses in the United States.

Identifying the Information That Matters

CompuVision engaged Incite as its communications advisor a few months before the deal closed. It was crucial for the organization to develop and execute on a Communications Strategy surrounding the transaction to ensure alignment and buy-in with the varying types of internal and external stakeholders.

By bringing together the CompuVision and VC3 deal teams for a facilitated kickoff and planning session, Incite was able to define and outline in detail the profiles of key stakeholder groups that would be impacted by the merger. The planning discussion was an opportunity to help the combined executive team better understand and articulate what the merger meant to the two organizations and the future of IT.

Incite honed the brainstormed messaging that resulted from the session and determined how to clearly express the core deal narrative. Due to fact each stakeholder group had varying needs, pains, and risks associated with communications timing and amount of information received, the core deal messages were tailored to reflect each, helping to control the narrative and perceptions of the merger.

Some key questions posed in the session included:

How can the new leadership team articulate to each stakeholder what this merger means to them and why it matters? How can we prioritize the maintenance, or improvement, of client relationships through this process?
What style and tone do deal messages need to have when relayed from the new leadership team to each stakeholder group? How do we ensure the established culture and brand of CompuVision and VC3 are reflected in the messaging and tactics surrounding the merger?
How can the CompuVision team empower its managers and team leads in a way where they feel confident equipping their front-line staff so deal messaging stays consistent, even across countries?

The experience, advisory, and execution from Incite around change management and communications provided tremendous value to this deal and was foundational to both the initial rollout and long-term success of the merger.

- David Bridges, President, CompuVision

The Path Forward to Success

Once a robust strategy was developed, refined, and finalized, it was vital for Incite to lay out a clear path forward for CompuVision’s tactical communications surrounding the transaction close. These activities leveraged CompuVision’s already established and effective channels, and included details around methodology required to deliver the deal communications, provided a schedule of dates and trigger events, and assigned ownership of the communications tasks.

Communicating From the Inside Out

Prior to the all-staff and public deal announcements, Incite held a communications and change management training session to inform and equip senior and middle management. The training session focused on addressing the following questions:

What are the communications best practices both teams should be following when informing others about the deal?
What does our team know about change management and how does the change management process need to be implemented through deal close, announcement, and initial stages of integration?
What are the most likely questions to be posed by front-line staff and clients?

Following the training session, management members felt confident in their role as ambassadors of the brand, champions for organizational change, and able to be supports for their team through both the deal close and into the first couple months of integration.

Outcomes That Accelerate Value

Incite helped deliver meaningful deal communications for the CompuVision and VC3 teams:

A thorough understanding of relevant stakeholder groups and their communication needs, potential areas for concern, and effective mediums for communication
Alignment on the narrative by identifying core messages for the merger given how it came about and the emerging benefits for all stakeholders
Clear path forward with a solidified schedule of communications activities and details, trigger events, and execution ownership
Understanding of responsibilities and expectations related to the merger communications rollout across all levels of internal management

This partnership with CompuVision highlights an area often overlooked by deal teams leading up to transaction close. By working with both the CompuVision and VC3 executive, we were able to hone and deliver an impactful merger messaging strategy and equip their team to communicate the right messages at the right time, optimizing external deal buy-in and positioning the company for longer-term success in value creation.