Anyone who’s lived through a merger knows the biggest headache isn’t the people. It’s the systems.
Last week, SPG Canada CEO Cameron Copeland told Insurance Business the same thing about merging MGA brands.
Cansure, Beacon, i3 Underwriting, Totten Insurance Group and Anderson McTague & Associates started unifying under one national brand in August 2025. The new logo is the easy part. But the systems inside each business were built when those businesses were smaller and niche, and now they all have to run on, in his words, “one chassis and one rail bed.”
And here’s the line every ops person should frame: the workflow can’t be harmonized until the core systems are in place. Translation: you can’t line up work nobody has mapped. Not with a rebrand, not with a town hall, and not with a strongly worded memo.
The key is a solid core. Once that’s in place, harmonizing the systems and getting people buy-in comes cheaper and faster.
In other words, the core value of any organization should be to “Value the Core.” Easier said than done. It takes:
→ Expertise on the latest systems
→ Real ops know-how, not a slide deck
→ A plan for the unlearning, because people buy-in isn’t a town hall
“I would way rather have a system challenge than a people challenge.” Agreed. Systems can be fixed. Grudges take longer.
Merged businesses need to get on their feet fast. Customers are patient. Not that patient.
Friday is the honeymoon: deal closed, gong, refreshments. Reality hits Monday, and if you haven’t mapped it, everyone is lost!
Bottom line, tell me: in the last merger you lived through, what came together first — the logo, the people, or the systems?
Source: Insurance Business Canada https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/technology/core-systems-are-the-hardest-part-of-merging-mga-brands-spg-canada-ceo-says-593929.aspx
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This piece first appeared as a post on LinkedIn.