Managing an IT carve-out at a multi-national enterprise

Mergers, acquisitions and divestments, including the carve-outs of business units or parts of them, are standard strategies used by multi-divisional organizations to adjust their business portfolios. Carveout projects are critically dependent on their management of IT. Systems, which have been integrated in order to deliver seamless and efficient IT operations, must now be pulled apart under demanding time and compliance constraints. In 2007, Delta IT Consulting (DIC), one of France’s biggest ITservice provider, sold one of its three service provider divisions, IT Product Services (IPS). This division employed about 3,500 employees in 20 countries and previously generated 0.7 billion of DIC’s 3.8 billion euro revenues. DIC itself is a division of Delta Corporation - a French high-tech company and leading player in a wide array of businesses, industries and countries around the world. This teaching case challenges the reader to analyse and manage the IT carve-out as a critical component within the divestment project. The case includes insights into strategic and organizational challenges of planning and managing an IT carve-out project