A day to remember: 'You can't overcommunicate in a merger'

By ADAM GIFFORD

Hewlett-Packard New Zealand managing director Russ Hewitt unhesitatingly identifies May 7, 2002, the day HP merged with Compaq Computer to form an IT behemoth, as his biggest day in business.

It ended a long, unsettling spell of uncertainty for staff, Hewitt said. "It was the first time we were able to get all the people from both companies together and show them the plans and timelines for integration."

HP had 150 staff - 60 brought over from an earlier merger with the NZ arm of services firm CSC. Compaq had about 450 employees, making the combined entity one of New Zealand's largest companies.

Hewitt was to run it.

"On a personal level, getting appointed as managing director, that was a big day." He was equipped with an understanding of large organisations, gained working for IBM, and what he had learned about building companies from the ground up at Computerland, a systems integrator. Also, at the end of 1999, he had joined Compaq when it was still trying to digest Digital.

"I was brought in as the Quick-eze on that one," Hewitt said. "They needed someone with outside eyes to come in and say where they should be going."

He has put Compaq people's experience in the Digital merger to good use since May 7.

"The lesson is: you can't overcommunicate. Even if nothing is happening, you have to get information out there. Get the right people in place, make sure you have good leadership and communication."

He now looks back on "a long and successful year".