“This is the first time I’ve been acquired by a company that felt like it had a soul.” That’s what John Derusso was told after leading an integration. John is the Director of Corporate Development Integration with Cisco Systems and has been for the past four years.

0:00-0:10 John’s background with Cisco and supply chain

0:13-2:12 Successful acquisitions

2:12-6:42 Retaining people

6:42-9:36 Big picture view of integration

9:36-13:30 Excitement and adrenaline in integration (step-by-step process)

13:30-20:21 Planning considerations, diligence, and key indicators of success

24:22-30:20 Taking care of customers

30:20-42:19 Complexity, decision-making, and communication

42:19-46:37 Degree of integration (depth and speed)

46:37-52:25 Difficult aspects of integration

52:25-End Lifetime lessons learned and key traits

M&A Science by Kison Patel (kison@dealroom.net)

DealRoom: Data Science and AI for M&A (www.dealroom.net)