Post-Merger Data Integration

The Challenge

Mac Mentor acquired a company and needed to consolidate customer data from two separate platforms into one system. The merger moved familiar IT tools to a different app. Members, primarily professionals 50 and older, lost access to features they relied on daily.
Platform utilization dropped 78%. Fifteen percent of the customer base closed accounts during onboarding. The company was at risk of losing its most loyal users.

The constraints:

• Customer data lived in two incompatible CRM systems with different taxonomies
• No documentation on how legacy records mapped to the new service offerings
• Members 50+ were disproportionately impacted and vocal about the disruption
• Timeline pressure to stop churn before it compounded

My Role

Business consultant brought in to reverse retention loss through platform analysis and end-to-end implementation strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conducted stakeholder interviews with founders, mentors, and key customers
• Analyzed customer data across 3 platforms to find integration opportunities
• Designed unified system restoring IT tool access
• Coordinated development handoff for native Mac app implementation
• Configured Google Tag Manager for engagement tracking post-launch

Approach 

Discovery & Data Mapping (Weeks 1-3):

• Interviewed 20+ stakeholders to identify pain points and priority features
• Audited customer records across CRM, training platform, IT tools, and post-merger support requests
• Mapped legacy records to new service offerings, flagging gaps and conflicts
• Identified 20+ opportunities to improve accessibility and reduce friction

Sankey diagram data, mapping legacy records to new service categories to maximize adoption and utilization.

Platform Integration Strategy (Weeks 3-6):

• Prioritized restoring IT tool access (highest volume customer complaint)
• Designed mentor collaboration features to rebuild member relationships
• Integrated ML/AI training recommendations from existing platform data into unified app
• Created modular component system so features could scale without rebuilding

Above: Table view of Sankey Chart data, mapping legacy records to new service categories based on product topics utilized by each plan, which supported ML/AI training recommendations from existing platform data into the unified system.

Implementation & Validation (Weeks 6-10):

• Built low-fidelity prototypes for A/B testing before committing to development
• Designed familiar list view interface. Customers who were used to it adapted immediately.
• Coordinated development handoff with detailed technical specifications
• Monitored adoption metrics weekly post-launch to catch issues early

Analytics Configuration:

• Configured Google Tag Manager to track engagement across the merged platform
• Increased engagement visibility 75% compared to pre-merger baseline
• Used analytics data to inform iteration decisions in real time

The Results

When they asked for “better design”, discovery revealed they actually needed:

• Post-merger service requests analyzed
• Integrated ML/AI training recommendations from existing platform data into a unified app
• Mentor access to client utilization data from the Education platform in support window views

Retention Recovery:

• Retained 85% of recurring members (reversed the 15% churn from merger)
• Platform utilization recovered from 22% back to baseline levels at 94%

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Process Optimization:

• Increased task automations from 4 to 32 (540% improvement)
• Reduced support requests 40% through better self-service access

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Customer Experience:

• Restored IT tool access in a familiar interface
• Unified 3 separate platforms into a single native Mac app
• Enabled mentor-member goal collaboration as a new feature

Solutions to Key Challenges

Incompatible Customer Data

Two CRM systems used different field structures and service taxonomies. A direct import would have corrupted records.

Solution: Built a mapping layer that translated legacy records into the new taxonomy field by field. Flagged records that didn’t have a clean match for manual review before import. Validated data integrity after migration before making anything customer-facing.

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Member Trust After Disruption

Members felt abandoned. The merger removed features they used daily without warning or transition support.

Solution: I prioritized restoring the most-used IT tools first, in the interface layout members already knew. By aligning mentor goal-setting features, we gave members a reason to re-engage beyond just accessing tools.

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Speed vs. Accuracy Tradeoff

Churn was accelerating. The company needed the new platform live quickly, but rushing data migration risked making things worse.

Solution: I mapped the educational evaluation and lead capture first (low risk, immediate value). That bought time to do the data migration carefully while the business was already seeing engagement gains.

Tools & Methods

• Platform Analysis: Customer data mapping, architecture review
• CRM: Legacy system audit, field mapping, validation
• Analytics: Google Tag Manager, engagement tracking
• Collaboration: Miro workshops, stakeholder interviews
• Testing: Low-fidelity prototypes, A/B testing, post-launch monitoring

What I Learned

The admin-side mentor goal tracker feature came later in the process than it should have. Mentors had gaps in their workflow during the transition that slowed their ability to re-engage members. Building admin and customer-facing features together reduced that friction.

The biggest win wasn’t the technical integration. It was rebuilding trust with members who felt like the company had stopped listening to them. Everything else was secondary to fostering stakeholder relationships during the M&A handoff.