Driving People-Centred Post-Merger Integration
Project Overview
TotalEnergies acquisition of Maersk Oil saw the need to integrate 5,500 people into an organisation with different systems, cultures and ways of working. This required adoption of business processes, tools and values across multiple global locations (Aberdeen, Copenhagen, Esbjerg, Kazakhstan, Houston).
Afiniti were engaged as the change partner to support the integration activities following a previous engagement with Maersk Oil. Initially asked to resolve urgent pain points in the ERP domain, Afiniti were then invited to support across the entire IT integration workstream, providing business change services across 4 ERP projects, local change support in Aberdeen, Copenhagen and Denmark as well as supporting the wider programme activities.
Our Solution
- Co-created a consolidated change management plan through collaborative workshops with the internal change team to establish a forward-looking view of change activities.
- Coordinated day one activities to ensure all employees could access systems on launch day through user guides, password guides and floor-walker support.
- Managed comprehensive technical migration including email address changes, IT equipment rollout alongside technical teams, implementation of help desks and drop-in centres, and coordination of security pass distribution essential for computer access. Coordinated the intranet migration from Maersk Oil to TotalEnergies.
- Built dedicated change teams supporting key locations with consistent methodology and ensuring synergies to support value add.
- Developed a sophisticated planning template to track key deliverables and activities.
- Supported five SAP projects:
– Creating a bold visual identity and collateral templates that brought consistency to the messaging across all affiliates
-Comprehensive change impact assessments across all business functions and developed stakeholder analysis, personas and key message frameworks to inform messaging
-Managed and equipped the change adoption networks for UK and Danish affiliates
-Built business readiness dashboards that tracked activities, driven by the business
-Supported business continuity planning, coordinating and aligning the business teams
-Built intranet resources for the new ERP solution and developed a training hub with location-specific materials.
-Coordinated hypercare support during the critical post-go-live period.
-Supported the carve-out activities for the Kazakhstan affiliate
The Differences We Made
- By focusing on people rather than just technology, we de-risked the entire project. Employees received consistent, proactive communication and support throughout, reducing uncertainty.
- The planning template was adopted throughout the wider organisation as the gold standard for tracking progress across all subsequent integration phases.
- Our end-to-end change management approach enabled the seamless integration of all systems, from core business applications to everyday tools like email, meeting rooms, and video conferencing. This meant a faster return to BAU and earlier realisation of the synergies that drove the acquisition.
- TotalEnergies UK became the first affiliate to successfully implement the UNISOL (SAP) solution, setting the standard for a global rollout.
- The integration of help desks, training hubs and floor-walker support dramatically reduced productivity losses typically seen during large-scale system migrations.
- By establishing robust change management capabilities, we created a repeatable model that TotalEnergies could leverage for subsequent rollouts, turning a challenging merger integration into a foundation for global sustainable business transformation and knowledge sharing still in use today.
Our M&A experience
Explore other M&A case studies and discover our rich history in the energy industry to learn how we can enhance your people engagement.
