After a private equity firm has bought a portfolio company, the new management team is often charged with setting up new platforms that will allow them to hit the objectives that the investors have set. This could be a CRM, ERP, e-commerce platform, marketing platform, HRIS, customer experience platform, or an analytics or BI system. Or all of the above.
Along with the many tools to choose from, there are many stakeholders who will have an opinion about the course of action you choose. You need to act decisively but thoughtfully, keeping many competing priorities in mind.
Satisfying Your Constituencies
Figuring out the right course of action is tricky, as you need to satisfy various constituencies: investors, staff, customers, and partners.
Your private equity investors may not understand the business in depth or see why certain projects take longer than they think they should. They have opinions about what you should do and will often put pressure on you to use their money in the way they want you to depending on the management style of the fund.
For staff, the investment represents an opportunity for learning and growth, but it may be hard for them to see this. They are first trying to understand new imperatives and may be fearful of change, which can lead to resistance to adopting your priorities.
Those at the director and VP level are looking at the coming change through a lens of functionality, scalability, and visibility. Meanwhile, the CFO feels pressure from sponsors to go after new sales avenues immediately. And the IT department is tasked with implementation but may be hearing that staff don’t feel ready to pivot.
Add to all these competing needs and pressures the priorities of existing partners and customers, who will also be affected by new systems.
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