Read this article about HP Inc., one of our finalists, in the category Best Achievement in Operational Excellence to deliver an outstanding Business Expansion and Revenue Growth, selected by the independent judging panel, for the 2019 Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Industry Awards program. Click here to read articles on other finalists.

Overcoming major complexities to help enable HP’s largest print acquisition ever

On the first day of HP Inc.’s fiscal 2018, HP acquired Samsung’s printer business (S-Printing) in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. HP’s motive was to strengthen its own position in the $55 billion laser printer, multifunction printer, and copier markets by revolutionizing devices with additional next-generation technology. This acquisition also provided HP the opportunity to grow its already industry-leading market share.

The largest print acquisition in HP history, S-Printing brought over 6,500 printing patents, as well as 1,300 researchers and engineers. IT acted as a facilitator during the merger process to enable this acquisition and onboard 7,500 employees across 50+ sites as IT touched nearly every business function. An integration of this complexity required over 970 man-months of IT work, beginning with an integration roadmap that HP developed with help from Samsung.

To enable this acquisition successfully, HP’s comprehensive IT Integration Management Office (IMO) team was deeply involved in planning and executing various phases of the project. Detailed planning from both companies, including walk-the-walls sessions, blueprinting, and workplans were facilitated with dedicated IMO and Divestiture Management Office (DMO) teams to facilitate this acquisition.

Unexpected complexities in the integration process provided more challenges than initially anticipated, requiring creative solutions. A contrast in importance of the deal for the two companies was a main source of conflict. Samsung also expressed challenges in providing TSAs to its global applications, which were shared by other parts of its business. HP quickly changed its approach to stand up all the required systems and processes by Day 1. This took fast and diligent work from HP and Samsung IT teams, who were required to stand-up 51 applications and 25 interfaces in total, integrating them with over 130 existing HP applications.

Additionally, complex regulatory laws in South Korea and China meant acquiring production data during integration for testing and Day 1 readiness was challenging. HP IT worked with the IMO and legal teams to identify and segregate commercially sensitive and non-sensitive data. Lastly, manufacturing processes used by Samsung and HP differed greatly. HP had outsourced manufacturing for almost all of its print products, while Samsung came with possession of a complete manufacturing site and also operated as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) provider to other major print companies. HP IT teams needed to enhance their systems to support these new capabilities before Day 1.

Throughout the unique challenges presented along the way, IT and Samsung partnered to ensure fast, creative solutions to enable an integration that created a breakthrough portfolio of printing solutions. The end product was a highly valuable deal for HP which greatly strengthened its position in the market.