Integrating an Acquisition to Drive Value
Challenge
Lighthouse Global (Lighthouse) is a leader in the legal technology industry, providing technology-enabled eDiscovery, Review, and Information Governance services in support of the legal needs of corporate clients and law firms. In July 2021, Lighthouse acquired H5, an innovative industry leader in advanced search, review, and data analytics products and services. Considered a lever to disrupt the industry and gain competitive advantage; the acquisition strengthened Lighthouse’s availability to meet accelerated demand for technologies and services that span the entire client data life cycle, and fully embrace the rapid shifts to cloud and hybrid environments.
To realize the value of the acquisition, the two separate companies needed to successfully integrate into one cohesive, collaborative team. Doing so required combining complementary but distinctly different services and technology, adding approximately 250 employees to the Lighthouse team, creating a world class employee experience, addressing operational considerations across multiple locations, and achieving or exceeding revenue goals.
Solution
Forum Solutions provided leadership, advisory, and hands on support to the newly established Integration Management Office (IMO) to successfully integrate H5. Our contributions included:
Leading the IMO in making decisions about: scope, approach, timelines, risks, issues, escalations, dependencies, decision-making practices, and providing progress report outs to key stakeholders across the organization, including Executive leadership.
Facilitating collaboration of a critical cross-functional team of leaders as thought partners in the strategy, planning, and implementation of combining solutions (services and technology) and delivering a new set of market changing products to clients.
Leading change management activities, galvanizing teams during integration and keeping everyone informed of activities, progress, and details about changes specific to their work as they evolved into catalysts of change.
Creating a seamless, and successful transition path for H5 clients into the Lighthouse organization and for new clients to access the newly combined solutions.
Elevating the end-to-end integrated workflow and processes to operationalize the combined solutions for a more efficient, valuable experience for clients and employees.
Results
Lighthouse celebrates the H5 integration as a success. In addition to leading the successful integration, Forum also enabled Lighthouse’s future success in multiple ways by creating repeatable processes that can be templatized or emulated in other areas of the organization. The Forum team continues to support critical efforts related to the next evolution of solutions as a trusted partner.
Forum Solutions is a management consulting company dedicated to crafting and delivering transformational outcomes for our clients, our colleagues, and our community. With our help, clients become more agile, resilient, and connected, bringing great ideas to fruition with brilliant results. From start-ups to the Fortune 50, business leaders rely on Forum Solutions to help them form and realize their strategies. Our company is a certified Woman Owned Business that believes in developing and growing our colleagues, company, and region in a socially conscious way.