When the Belgian bank Fortis joined with the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Spanish Banco Santander to acquire the Dutch bank ABN Amro, the integration project involved over 6000 people and was expected to take 3-4 years to complete. The objective was to evaluate what each side brought to the table and select the best technologies through extensive communication and brainstorming. The fi rst nine months were spent evaluating every system and project that would be affected by the merger, resulting in a portfolio of 1000 projects that needed to be accomplished. A third of the projects were IT system choices which were to be based on multiple criteria such as functionality, cost, maintainability, etc. The plan was to make the choices based on facts instead of emotions, relying on ABN Amro’s data and including them in the decision making. The biggest set of system projects involved mapping and integrating the IT systems. But ABN Amro had thousands of applications and resisted sharing their information, which led to constant confl icts, delays, and artifi cial obstacles. The result was that Fortis spent thousands of hours to complete even the simplest projects. The years-long project duration also hindered progress since the longer a project takes, the more con- fl icts, especially cultural (that can’t be solved simply with additional resources), will arise. Eventually, the problems and delays depleted Fortis’ capital, and, exacerbated by the global credit crisis, they went bankrupt. Fortis was then sold to the French bank BNP Paribas. In contrast to Fortis’ approach, BNP set up an 18 month project to phase out all of Fortis’ systems and move Fortis’ accounts and data into their own system. They integrated the Fortis team into their own organizational structure and put their own people into the key roles—there was no discussion, just work to do. It was a top-down approach that was easier, faster, and more effi cient, though it didn’t sit well with the Fortis employees. After the integration was complete, BNP refocused on rebuilding any lost morale. For example, most of the Fortis people kept their jobs, and BNP opened four global centers in Brussels (called BNP Paribas Fortis) to show their interest in strengthening the bank’s national and global presence.
1. Do long project durations in other industries also lead to conflicts and project problems?
2. Was the difficulty in this situation due to the upset ABN Amro employees, or were there more serious project planning problems?
3. Do you agree with the “solution” exemplified by BNP? Might there be some compromise plan?