Acquiring company on Salesforce is faster than acquiring company on different platform. Plan accordingly.
Pre-acquisition (target evaluation):
1. Salesforce due diligence.
- Target's Salesforce edition, age, customisations.
- Tech debt assessment.
- Integration complexity.
- Data quality.
2. Cost analysis.
- License consolidation savings.
- Migration effort.
- Maintenance.
3. Architectural approach decision.
- Migrate target into acquirer's org.
- Keep separate (multi-org).
- Consolidate in some hybrid.
Post-acquisition:
Phase 1: Discover.
- Inventory target's customisations.
- Identify overlaps with acquirer.
- Identify gaps in acquirer that target fills.
Phase 2: Decide.
- Migration strategy.
- Timeline.
- Resourcing.
Phase 3: Bridge.
- Both Salesforce orgs running.
- Critical data syncing across.
- Federation of identity.
Phase 4: Migrate.
- Phased migration of target's data and customisations into acquirer's org.
- Or keep separate and integrate.
Phase 5: Decommission target's org.
- Or transition to spoke role.
Acquirer's preparation (architecturally):
1. Multi-org-ready.
- Mulesoft / iPaaS infrastructure.
- Cross-org data sync patterns documented.
- Identity federation in place.
2. Standards documented.
- Easy for acquired team to learn acquirer's patterns.
3. Modular architecture.
- Acquirer's org can absorb target's capabilities without disruption.
4. Capacity headroom.
- License capacity.
- Sandbox availability.
- Architect availability.
Common pitfalls:
- Underestimating data quality differences.
- Cultural friction between teams.
- Integration complexity (especially if target uses different patterns).
- Decommissioning original org too quickly.
- Not preserving target's institutional knowledge.
Architectural patterns:
- Consolidate — most common for similar businesses; takes 12-18 months.
- Coexist (multi-org) — for autonomous business units; medium-term plan to consolidate.
- Hybrid — target's Salesforce becomes a region / specialty within acquirer's federation.
Senior architect insight: Salesforce-on-Salesforce M&A is much easier than Salesforce-and-not-Salesforce. Architecturally similar, leveraging similar talent.
The senior framing: architect the acquirer's org with absorption in mind. Standards, multi-org tooling, integration patterns. The acquirer that's M&A-ready can move faster.
For frequent acquirers: invest in M&A architecture explicitly. Pays back across multiple acquisitions.