Enterprise networks in times of change and M&A

What happens to enterprise networks during M&As and carve-outs? A lot—and fast.

Mergers, acquisitions, and carve-outs. These boardroom moves ripple through all business departments—including IT. 

For enterprise network teams, the message is clear: Rebuild, fast… and don’t break anything.

In fact, this is how we’ve met many of our existing customers. Whether they were spinning off a business unit or integrating two into one, the networks had to keep up. The stakes? Uptime, user experience, data integrity, and in many cases, a complete architectural overhaul.

Tear down and build up like nothing is happening

During M&As or carve-outs, enterprise IT teams face a tricky balance. On one hand, they need to plan, migrate, and launch a new (or combined) infrastructure. On the other? Business continuity is non-negotiable.

These are the most common pain points: 

• Tight, non-negotiable timelines: Project deadlines are often driven by legal or finance. Not IT. And those legal deadlines usually come with substantial financial penalties when missed.
• Legacy network tech: Many inherited networks are MPLS-heavy, fragmented, or reliant on outdated providers. Get ready to uncover some old copper lines that everyone had forgotten they even existed.
• Coverage gaps: Whether it’s a merger, acquisition, or a carve-out, you might have to deal with new sites, some of which are outside the scope of your existing ISPs. This implies procurement work, vendor onboarding, and much paperwork.
• Contract headaches: Coordinating multiple carriers, aligning end dates, and managing novations can quickly become a full-time job.
• Limited visibility: In a carve-out, it’s common to lose access to the parent company’s infrastructure sooner than planned. Or it can be that, suddenly, some jobs become no one’s job. That means less time, less control, and more pressure.

And yet—every challenge hides an opportunity.

A clean slate for a better network

Done right, these transitions can be a springboard (which has been the driver of some successful customer relationships). Think of it like spring cleaning. Time to get rid of what “doesn’t bring joy to your network anymore”.

What opportunities can you take during M&A or carve-out transitions?

• Future-proofing your networks: Switching from MPLS to internet-based connectivity (DIA, broadband) paired with SD-WAN offers agility, performance for your cloud applications, and cost savings.
• Global ISP diversity: Instead of relying on one provider, building a multi-vendor, fit-for-purpose underlay boosts resilience.
• Unified visibility and control: Moving to cloud-based tools gives teams better control across regions, no matter how complex the setup.
• Contract alignment: This might also be the time for contract negotiation: lower rates, bandwidth changes, or updating billing terms to better align with your business. 

A good example?

When a global customer, a manufacturer of construction chemical products, spun off from its parent company, it faced exactly these hurdles: 14 countries, strict timelines, and the opportunity to rethink its network from the ground up. GNX helped them go from legacy MPLS to a modern SD-WAN-ready setup in just six months—resulting in cost reductions and full global coverage with true diversity baked in.

A leap forward (and how GNX can help)

If you’re facing a carve-out, merger, or acquisition, your network plan should do three things: support the transition, future-proof your setup, and avoid locking you into yesterday’s tech.

Here’s what to focus on:

• Start early—understand the existing estate and business requirements in terms of geographical scope and what you want to connect. Ensure your network partners understand them and that they can deliver within your timelines.
• Ask the right questions: don’t focus on bandwidth-only, but inquire about diversity, latency, support SLAs, etc.
• Negotiate contracts that match your future strategy, not your past.

Too much on your plate?

At GNX, global connectivity is what we do every day. With our portfolio of internet and private connectivity services, we help you design the solution that best meets the needs of your business. Site by site. In 180 countries worldwide. 

Once that’s done, we take care of the heavy lifting: 

• Sourcing (or novating) local ISPs
• Managing deployments in a timely and flexible manner
• And supporting your teams’ daily operations through our automated platform, GNX+

Got a merger on the horizon? Need help getting your networks right, and on time? Let’s talk. We’ve done it for some of our best customers, and we’d love to do it for you, too.