The euphoria of signing an acquisition agreement often gives way to a complex operational reality: how can entities that, until yesterday, ignored or fought each other be made to work together? Too many executives find themselves at the head of a financial holding company managing local "fiefdoms" instead of steering an integrated industrial group. This fragmentation, which we call the archipelago of silos, is the primary destroyer of value in M&A. In this feature article, we analyze how the champions of"Buy and Build"break down these barriers to build coherent giants. You will discover the concrete mechanisms—technological, human, and marketing—to transform your acquisitions into a unified continent and restore meaning to your external growth.
The ink is dry, the closing is celebrated. On paper, your company has grown. By acquiring three competitors, you have gained market share, patents, and talent. However, six months later, the reality is bitter: salespeople are fighting over the same customers, IT systems are incompatible, and the original "SME" spirit fiercely resists any attempt at synergy.
You haven't created a group. You've created an archipelago. Each island has its own laws, its own culture, and views the neighboring island with suspicion.
The “Buy and Build” model is the cornerstone of current growth strategies. Driven by private equity and ambitious industrialists, it promises rapid value creation through asset accumulation. But speed comes at a price: integration debt.
In a globalized market, size is protection. Companies buy to gain leverage against giants, to dominate their domestic market, or to acquire a missing piece of technology. However, when a player like ChapsVision makes nearly 30 acquisitions in five years, management time becomes the scarcest resource.
The classic mistake? Granting "default autonomy" to acquired entities so as not to disrupt the commercial machine. What was supposed to be a transitional phase becomes a permanent structure. Silos are created.
The silo structure is not just an internal communication problem. It is a structural pathology that affects four vital dimensions:
| Silo size | Operational Demonstration | Impact on Value |
| Technological | Multiple disconnected ERP, CRM, and HR tools. Fragmented and duplicated customer data. | Impossibility of a 360° customer view, skyrocketing IT maintenance costs, slow and complex financial reporting. |
| Cultural | Persistence of "us" (acquired) vs. "them" (purchaser/headquarters) identities. Loyalty to the former leader/founder. | Difficulty retaining talent, resistance to change, passive sabotage of group initiatives. |
| Sales | Protected sales territories, internal competition on the same bids, lack of cross-selling. | Revenue cannibalization, customer confusion, loss of cross-selling opportunities. |
| Brand | Maintaining a portfolio of historic brands without a clear hierarchy (unmanaged House of Brands). | Dilution of marketing budgets, lack of global brand awareness, unclear offering for the international market. |
The cost of these silos is exorbitant. Research by the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey converges to confirm that companies that fail to integrate their targets culturally and operationally see their stock market and operational performance stagnate or even decline. The historical example of the Daimler-Chrysler failure, which destroyed $36 billion in value, remains a relevant warning: the juxtaposition of two giants with incompatible cultures and processes does not create a leader, but an unmanageable monster.
In the specific case of SME buyouts, the human factor is paramount. These companies are often the life's work of their founders. During the buyout, even if the founder leaves or stays on for a transition period, middle management (the "lieutenants") remains in place. These managers have built their legitimacy on local processes and strong decision-making autonomy. The arrival of a group, with its reporting processes, centralized IT department, and group HR departments, is experienced as a loss of power.
If the buyer does not quickly propose a new shared narrative (a "North Star"), these managers fall back on their historical boundaries, recreating invisible but impermeable borders. They protect "their" developers, "their" customers, and "their" budgets. This is how we end up with three competing SMEs under the same legal umbrella, continuing to wage commercial war on each other while sharing the same coffee machine at annual seminars.
There is no universal remedy, but rather approaches tailored to each group's industrial DNA. The analysis of ChapsVision, Vitaprotech, and Exail shows us the way forward.
ChapsVision, founded by serial entrepreneur Olivier Dellenbach, embodies a hyper-growth strategy aimed at building a European giant in sovereign "Data Intelligence." With revenue reaching €200 million in 2024 and more than 29 acquisitions , the integration challenge is colossal.
The lever: The ArgonOS data operating system.
The method: Rather than abruptly merging products, the group creates a common foundation. The acquired companies (Deveryware, Sinequa) become modules that are "plugged" into this sovereign platform.
The result: Technical autonomy preserved for experts, but a unified value proposition for the customer.
Rather than attempting to immediately merge the source codes of 30 different software programs, which would be a technical nightmare, ChapsVision developed a strategic integration layer: theArgonOS data operating system.
Mechanism:ArgonOS serves as a common platform capable of ingesting massive amounts of heterogeneous data. Acquired companies, such asDeveryware(geolocation and investigation) andQwam(semantic intelligence), become application modules that connect to this operating system.
Advantage:This allows the product teams of acquired SMEs to retain a certain degree of technical autonomy (they continue to maintain their expertise) while unifying the value proposition for the end customer, who gains access to a consistent suite via ArgonOS.
Integration of Sinequa:The recent acquisition ofSinequa(end of 2024) perfectly illustrates this logic. Sinequa is not just another SME; its Neural Search and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) technology is positioned to become the cross-functional intelligence engine for the entire ChapsVision offering, powering the Chaps Agents platform. The acquired technology becomes part of the group's infrastructure, effectively breaking down application silos.
ChapsVision uses a flexible brand architecture. While the corporate brand "ChapsVision" is heavily promoted, it does not abruptly erase acquired brands with strong sector recognition. We see the use of endorsed brands such as"Articque By ChapsVision" and strong product names such asCoheris CRMare retained within the "Customer Engagement Suite." This approach reassures existing SME customers (no disruption to service) while gradually acculturating them to the umbrella brand.
Olivier Dellenbach uses the theme of digital sovereignty as a major lever for cultural integration. By positioning the group as the European alternative to Palantir or GAFAM, he gives meaning ("Purpose") to the merger that goes beyond financial considerations. The engineers and founders of the acquired SMEs, who are often committed to French technological independence, are more likely to embrace this political and industrial project than a simple cost-cutting approach.
The Vitaprotech Group, a leader in securing sensitive sites, has long operated as a federation of recognized SMEs (Sorhea, TIL Technologies, etc.). However, to accelerate its international development and achieve €153 million in revenue, the group made a radical shift on July 1, 2024.
The lever: The global brand HIRSCH.
The method: Historic brands (Sorhea, TIL) are fading into the background behind functional banners (Hirsch for integrators, Prysm for software).
The benefit : Total clarity for international business. An American customer no longer buys a French SME, they buy a global solution.
The old organization reflected the history of acquisitions: one entity for infrared barriers (Sorhea), one for access control (TIL), etc. This created product silos where a customer had to talk to three different sales representatives to secure the same site. The new organization reverses this logic by structuring the group around "Sales Channels," disregarding the original legal boundaries of the SMEs :
HIRSCH (System Integrators):This new international brand now brings together all product brands intended for integrators (Sorhea, TIL, Protech, etc.) under a single banner. It is a total marketing merger: the former SME brands become product ranges under the Hirsch umbrella brand.
PRYSM (Software):Merger of software publishers PRYSM and ESI to create a unified software division.
ARD (Key Accounts) :Maintaining a structure dedicated to end customers requiring direct service.
This strategy is bold because it "kills" the corporate visibility of long-established SMEs in favor of new or redefined brands (Hirsch, resulting from the acquisition of Identiv in the US).
Risk:Loss of loyalty among long-standing Sorhea or TIL employees who no longer work for their "home" company but for the Hirsch division.
Benefit:Total clarity for the international market. An American or German distributor no longer has to understand the complexities of French SMEs; they simply buy "Hirsch." This also forces internal integration: the R&D teams at Sorhea and Protech must now collaborate to feed into the same Hirsch product catalog.
The case of Exail Technologies (formerly Groupe Gorgé) is the most successful example of the transformation of a diversified holding company into a single integrated industrial enterprise.
The lever: A new, neutral, and powerful identity.
The method: The merger of ECA Group and iXblue under the name Exail. Integration extends down to the product level: ECA robots natively integrate iXblue navigation technologies.
The lesson: To succeed, you sometimes have to accept "killing" historic brands to create a shared future.
To create a coherent group, Raphaël Gorgé first had to "clean up" the portfolio. The sale of the Engineering & Protection Systems division (Nuclear/Seres) to the shareholder family for €27.4 million was a seminal act. It enabled the company to divest itself of profitable but non-synergistic activities in order to focus all its resources (financial and managerial) on the technology division.
The acquisition of iXblue by Groupe Gorgé (which already owns ECA Group) could have resulted in a simple juxtaposition. Instead, the group opted for a full merger under a new identity:Exail.
Identity:The name change of the listed company (ticker EXA) is a powerful signal. There is no longer a "Gorgé Group" managing subsidiaries, but a single technology company.
Industrial Complementarity:Integration has been extended to the product level. ECA Group (robotics specialist) and iXblue (inertial and photonic navigation specialist) have combined their expertise. ECA's robots now natively integrate iXblue's inertial measurement units, creating vertically integrated and more powerful products.
Unified Governance:The establishment of governance that includes post-acquisition integration experts (Julie Avrane, Pierre Verzat) on the board of directors shows that the issue has been addressed at the highest strategic level, rather than delegated to operational levels.
The failure rate of M&A deals (70-90%) is mainly due to cultural factors. ChapsVision, Vitaprotech, and Exail appear to be successful because they have each addressed the risk of transplant rejection in their own way.
Cultural audits are often overlooked during due diligence processes, which tend to focus on financial and legal aspects. However, there are profound cultural differences between SMEs and large corporations.
Relationship to time and decision-making:SMEs make quick decisions based on the intuition of their CEO. The Group makes decisions through processes, committees, and budget approval. This slowdown is often perceived as unbearable bureaucracy by loyal teams.
Defeated Syndrome:Employees of the acquired company often feel like second-class citizens. If the acquirer indiscriminately imposes its methods ("Cultural Imperialism"), it causes key talent to leave. However, in the tech industry (ChapsVision, Exail), value lies in the minds of engineers. If 20% of key engineers leave, the value of the acquisition collapses.
It is in commercial integration that silos are most costly.
Problem:Two sales representatives from two acquired SMEs find themselves working with the same customer, sometimes offering competing products or unaware of each other's products.
Vitaprotech's solution:The creation of theHirschbrand unifies the catalog. Sales representatives no longer sell "a Sorhea barrier" but "a Hirsch perimeter solution." This requires cross-training and harmonization of commission plans.
Solution at ChapsVision:The "Customer Engagement Suite" approach aims to unify tools (CRM) to provide a single view of the customer. The challenge is to transform product sellers (single product) into global account managers capable of selling the entire ArgonOS platform.
Rumors are the worst enemy of integration. Uncertainty about organizational charts, duplicate positions, or the future of brands creates paralysis.
Transparency:Employees need to know quickly who their boss is and what the mission of their new entity is.
Success Stories:It is crucial to celebrate early "quick wins" of integration (a contract won thanks to the synergy of the two entities, a product innovation born out of R&D collaboration) to prove that the merger is not just about cost reduction.
You can't manage a group using Excel.
When acquiring technology SMEs, the integration of information systems (IS) is not a support function, it is the core of the reactor. It is often the state of the IS that determines whether you are a group or an archipelago.
Data at the service of business: The goal is not to have a single ERP system on day one, but to have unified data. Knowing that a customer has multiple pieces of equipment within the group allows us to transform product salespeople into global account managers.
CRM as a unifying tool: A shared CRM is often the first tangible tool that forces sales teams to collaborate and share a common customer vision.
To break out of the archipelago, you need to decide on your brand architecture and governance model.
| Status of the Acquired Brand | Recommended Strategy | Example | Justification |
| Strong brand, leader in a specific niche, loyal customer base. | Endorsed Brand | Articque by ChapsVision | Capitalize on existing brand awareness while highlighting membership in the group to reassure customers about financial stability. |
| Local brand, low international recognition, integrable technology. | Absorption (Total rebranding) | SMEs integrated into Hirsch (Vitaprotech) | Simplify the export offering, focus marketing budgets on a global brand (Power Brand). |
| Direct competitor brand with identical positioning. | Merger/Disappearance | ECA/iXblue merger under Exail | Eliminate customer confusion, force team unification, create a new neutral dynamic. |
| Brand in a completely separate market segment. | Independent Brand (House of Brands) | Rare in pure integration strategies | Only if no commercial or operational synergies are sought (financial holding company approach). |
IMO (Integration Management Office): Create a dedicated team. Integration is not a secondary task for operational staff who are already overwhelmed.
Top Line first: Focus on revenue synergies (cross-selling) before seeking cost savings. Growth is the best driver of customer retention.
North Star vision: Define a political and industrial project that goes beyond numbers. Why are we together? To become the undisputed leader? To revolutionize a use?
Analysis by ChapsVision, Vitaprotech, and Exail Technologies proves that the inevitability of silos can be overcome.
ChapsVisionhas chosen unity through the TechnologyPlatform.
Vitaprotechhas chosen to focus on itssales channeland global brand.
Exailhas chosen unity throughindustrial mergerand the redefinition of its mission.
In all three cases, the leader made a conscious decision to sacrifice part of the history and local autonomy in favor of a more powerful collective vision. Creating a Group means accepting to break down local fiefdoms in order to build a coherent empire. If you have not yet unified your information systems, harmonized your brands, and aligned your sales forces, you are not at the head of a group, but the guardian of a fragile archipelago, vulnerable to the first market storm. The real value of your acquisitions lies not in their past income statements, but in the future synergies that only rigorous integration will unlock.
Building consistent external growth requires a compass. Without a clear vision of your final destination, each additional acquisition will only add complexity to the confusion.
Would you like us to conduct an assessment of your brand architecture and strategic alignment to transform your archipelago into a market leader?
