Merger Lessons

Douglas Erwin is the new CEO of merged hosting companies ev1 and The Planet. In The WHIR, he gives lessons about mergers.

• "One of the things we need to focus on first is the integration of these two companies. We've got a lot of great assets. We've got a lot of great people. We've got a lot of great processes. But right now we're still two companies. And we need to merge ourselves with one management team understanding where we're driving." Focus and Strategy.
• "In the past we haven't really done anything to market to our install base. It's pretty much become a customer, send us your money, and that's it. So I think there are some very good opportunities there for us to supply more services to our install base." Market to your current client base.
• Things like backup capabilities, firewall protection. A lot of people don't want them when they first start, and after they realize they're putting more and more important stuff on these servers, those sorts of things become of interest to them. Where is the Client Pain and How can I utilize existing resources (human & network) to increase services and revenue.
• Whatever emerges from the 90 days of planning to come will be a powerful force in the Web hosting business. Timelines and Planning.