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CIO Jeff Connery's Merger Blueprint |
Phase 1 (2005)
- Bring IT departments under one head; coordinate technology strategy
- Develop common IT architecture and infrastructure strategy
- Integrate IT resources and staff cross-utilization
- Plan, design and set up new banking system for First Calgary
- Create five-year strategic plan and three-year operations plan
- Lay groundwork for inUnison
- Create change management plan to ensure buy-in for all staff
Phase 2 (2006)
- Implement the new banking system at First Calgary
- Develop and integrate common systems and applications
- Harmonize the Envision banking system to the enhanced First Calgary version
- Integrate project planning and budgeting for both credit unions
- Create inUnison Technology Services Ltd.
- Focus on staff-related issues and HR policies
- Build branding and excitement among staff for new company by distributing golf shirts, coffee mugs and pens
- Expand data center capacity
Phase 3 (2007-2008)
- Integrate a common business systems model
- Integrate CRM and data warehouse into common business support tools
- Move into enhancement and development of new business support systems
- Foster and support the growth of the combined business operations
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The Pathways Project
In 1938, First Calgary opened the first credit union in Alberta, loaning $50 to a member to buy a washing machine. Envision's origins date to 1946, when a group of fishermen in British Columbia joined together to run a credit union out of one of their homes; 20 years later, the union had only five employees. But growth picked up in both provinces as the result of numerous local mergers. Envision Financial grew to become British Columbia's third-largest credit union with more than $3 billion in assets, and First Calgary Savings reached $1.5 billion in assets.
Then, in 2003, the CEOs of both credit unions began discussing ways to merge operations -- including IT -- without running afoul of laws forbidding credit unions from operating across provincial boundaries, something lawmakers had never considered. The next year they announced the Pathways Project, which combined operations and executive teams, except CEOs and CFOs.
The first phase of the project, which would take three years, called for merging IT and operations and creating inUnison. The second phase would be to roll out services to other credit unions across the country.
"First Calgary and Envision are working together in a unique and innovative manner to establish a strong and relevant financial network for western Canadians," First Calgary CEO Dave Gregory said at the time. "Unlike traditional mergers, where one company gobbles up the identity of the other, the First Calgary-Envision partnership would be based on both credit unions maintaining their local identities and continuing to provide unequalled personal service throughout their local communities."
Enter Connery, who has a degree in fine arts photography as well as Microsoft and Cisco training. He had spent most of his career at Canadian Airlines International Ltd., where he managed corporate support and infrastructure for the airline worldwide. After 21 years at the airline, Connery jumped to Sierra Wireless Inc., a telecom equipment maker, as director of IT, where he was responsible for a major J.D. Edwards ERP implementation.
While at Sierra, Connery got a call from a search firm: Envision was looking for a CIO. Initially, Connery didn't think the job was for him. "Going from high-tech to a credit union didn't seem that interesting," he says. "But they laid out this idea of forming a partnership with First Calgary."
Such partnerships often don't live up to expectations, notes Forrester analyst Lewis Cardin. "I have a client who didn't do the preparation work," he says. "The project took three years, they're not sure they're there yet and it blew the business case out of the water. The ROI keeps getting diluted and diluted until there is none."
The most crucial step is the pre-merger planning. If companies don't spend enough time on the planning and communication for employee engagement, Cardin warns, "you'll wind up doing them anyway during the time of the transition and increase the time and the probability that things will fail. You won't get the value out of the business case, which is very time sensitive. The actual transformation is the last step. Make sure that takes place in the shortest time possible."
In February 2004, Connery was hired as Envision's CIO. Five months later, he added the same job at First Calgary. For the next year and a half, he ran each department separately. Then, in January 2006, the two IT departments merged.
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