A training guide to get everyone up to speed immediately was given to each function, and internal communications went "live" on May 7, 2003. "Getting everyone to start executing the plan was also the riskiest part of the integration project, and the challenge was to get things communicated to the rest of the organisation in a rapid manner," saysHaas.

Engage all folks

The standardisation decisions weren't a case of IT choosing the platform. A cross-functional team comprising top executives from finance, HP's commercial operations, HR and other business units met every week to make sure that for any open item worked on, time was dedicated, and a process was set.

The reduction into one system is not done yet. One of the items on Haas' agenda is to deploy an hp.com business-to-business portal around the world for its private commercial customers. "We are creating a personalised experience that will dynamically render the specific products and services customers want access to, so that they can have a consistent experience around the world. They will be educated on available products and services, and can transact business directly and indirectly with HP's huge network of distributors and reselling partners, as well as enjoy a post-sales experience from a services standpoint, and activities such as global order reporting and global order status capability. Customers can then see the value of one company coming together with the largest portfolio of products and services, and full lifecycle capability online."

After that, Haas says, the public and private experiences will be blended into one 'my hp.com' experience. "Then, regardless of who customers are, we will know their preferences and can dynamically render their desired products and services because of a single blended infrastructure," he explains.

The jump to a single system involved a lot of risk. Many tasks were hard enough, says Haas. "Our customers wanted to receive a consolidated product, but not all components were assembled in one location, so the blue and red supply chain systems of HP and Compaq had to be planned for an in-transit merge. Also, when we 'adopt-and-go', the volume increases twofold, so where we might have one vendor handling the backend logistics, all of a sudden, if that vendor is not the same one used by the other pre-merged company, it would need to make sure its systems could handle two times what it was handling before."