Joining the dots
EY India ensured the transition of 16,000-plus distributors without disrupting business. This included onboarding of about 3,400 employees and transitioning and rebranding 160-plus branches of the business. In addition, more than 30 million communications were sent to customers and partners regarding the merger. It also helped merge the two different product portfolios and data and technology systems.
Apart from scale, speed and transparency were the highlights of the acquisition, even as strict regulatory requirements were adhered to at every stage. The entire process was completed in 12 months, with the entire transition conducted virtually through frequent lockdowns.
“At the same time, we did not want to lose momentum on the core business in either organization. So, we had to ensure that it was business as usual while the integration took place at the pace we had set,” says Dasgupta.
More importantly, it was critical to ensure that employees were confident in joining the new setup.
Building sustainable advantages
The merger yielded several benefits, which included a bigger market standing achieved sooner; and gaining significant value by building on synergies, which was earlier estimated to be about INR 200 crore. While gains were anticipated in areas such as productivity, technology stack, and branches, some unexpected benefits emerged in claims management.
The benefits were, however, possible because the leadership had set out clear aims at the beginning itself — smooth and time bound, fully transparent, and beneficial to all.