Strategic approach to M&A and IT carve-out in the Arc Network & TPM transition
Overview
THE CHALLENGE
TPM’s carve-out from ALM and acquisition by Arc required separating decades of shared infrastructure, applications, and custom systems. Multiple stakeholders had to coordinate closely to enable a seamless, time-bound migration.
THE SOLUTION
Ollion delivered a phased transformation including discovery, roadmap planning, AWS cloud implementation, analytics modernization with Power BI and Snowflake, and controlled migration execution, ensuring minimal disruption and strong stakeholder alignment.
THE OUTCOME
The program enabled scalable cloud infrastructure, unified analytics insights, improved operational efficiency, reduced costs, and stronger security. TPM and Arc gained a flexible, data-driven technology foundation to support innovation and future growth.
About the Business
Arc is a global events, data, and information group dedicated to redefining business networking by energizing connections across live events, digital platforms, and engaging content. With a presence in 10 countries and a portfolio of 28 brands, Arc specializes in fostering growth, learning, and networking opportunities.
Touchpoint Markets (TPM), as part of this umbrella, is a business-to-business media company focusing on insurance, financial services, and employee benefits communities, providing vital information and intelligence to support industry vitality.
The Business Challenges
A critical separation was mandated by ALM’s strategic carve-out of Touchpoint Markets (TPM), which was shortly followed by an acquisition by Arc Network. The acquisition aimed not only to integrate TPM into Arc’s extensive and diverse operations but also to streamline and enhance their technological capabilities for better alignment with Arc's ambitious business objectives. The disentanglement of TPM’s technology assets from the ALM ecosystem was extremely complex due to over 25 years of shared infrastructure, application integrations, and customized business logic.
This transition represented a formidable challenge, marked by the necessity to address, align, and reconcile varying technological frameworks and operational strategies across the two entities.
The endeavor was complicated further by the vital involvement of multiple stakeholders from both TPM and ALM, in addition to third-party service providers who managed disparate segments of each organization's infrastructure. These parties had to be coordinated effectively to ensure a seamless disentanglement and integration process, all while maintaining ongoing operations without disruption. The project demanded high-level strategic planning, stakeholder management, and technical execution to meet stringent timelines mandated, thus adding layers of complexity to an already challenging technological separation and migration initiative.
The Ollion Solution
1. Comprehensive Discovery and Planning Phase:
Ollion began with a thorough Discovery Assessment that identified key dependencies and potential risks associated with disentangling TPM’s technology assets from ALM’s infrastructure. This phase involved mapping out all critical data flows, system interdependencies, and operational workflows. The purpose was to establish a granular understanding of the existing landscape to ensure a tailored and effective migration strategy that aligned with both business and technical objectives. During roadmapping, special care was taken to “do no harm” to existing operations. “Do no harm” is a hallmark of how Ollion operates on complex transformation projects. The detailed analysis and comprehensive planning, minimized the pain of change.
2. Strategic Roadmapping and Stakeholder Engagement:
With insights from the Discovery Assessment, Ollion formulated a detailed migration roadmap, categorized into distinct phases to address specific business functions and technical capabilities. This roadmap was collaboratively developed with key stakeholders from TPM, ALM, Arc Network, and third-party vendors to ensure alignment on project priorities, timelines, and expected outcomes. Regular workshops and steering committee meetings were instituted to maintain clear communication, manage expectations, and promptly address any emerging challenges. The strategic program management services provided by Ollion kept the program on time. Timely escalations, over communication, executive memos and briefs enabled timely decisions to ensure work was completed before the TSA deadline.
3. Advanced Technology Implementation:
- Cloud Infrastructure: Leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS), Ollion designed a robust, scalable cloud environment tailored to the specific needs of TPM. This environment was optimized for performance, security, and cost-efficiency, facilitating a smooth transition from on-premises systems.
- Content Management and Standarization: Touchpoint inherited a web of complexity to manage and serve content and analytics. It was expensive and operationally complex to execute on a daily basis. The program rationalized the process and tooling. This created a path for legacy system retirement that resulted in significant savings.
- Comprehensive Analytics Experience Layer: The Editorial team at Touchpoint inherited a fragmented data platform for editorial analytics. There were a significant number of dashboards, however the full story was spread across different reports siloed in disparate systems. Ollion created a single source of truth for analytics and a single window experience leveraging Power BI as a foundation tool for data visualization. This created excitement in the business to use data more regularly for decision making and provided a data foundation built on Snowflake that leaders can trust for operational and strategic decisions. The new platform shifted the process away from spreadsheets and manual processes to paint the full picture.
- Special Skills: Ollion supports complex transformation with a team of specialists who are experts in server technology. The team executed a proven playbook to handle complex situations - last minute surprises - in legacy technology migrations to modern cloud infrastructure, ensuring an “on time” go live.
4. Phased Migration and System Integration:
The migration was executed in carefully planned phases to minimize business disruption. Each phase involved meticulous testing and validation to ensure integrity and performance before fully cutting over from the legacy systems. Ollion also facilitated the integration of new systems into Arc’s existing technology stack, ensuring compatibility and functional coherence across the newly combined infrastructure.
5. Post-Migration Support and Optimization:
Post-migration, Ollion provided ongoing support and system optimization to ensure TPM and Arc Network could fully leverage their new technological capabilities. This included training sessions for staff, performance tuning of the systems, and iterative improvements based on user feedback and system analytics.
6. Cost Optimization Measures:
Throughout the project, Ollion implemented strategic cost control measures. This included rationalizing and consolidating IT assets, supported decision making for contract renegotiations with vendors, and deploying cost-effective solutions that reduced operational expenditures without compromising on service quality.
Ollion’s robust approach transformed the content platform at TPM, turning complex data streams into strategic insights that drive business innovation. The modernization went well beyond a mere technical separation—it catalyzed a fundamental business transformation, empowering TPM and Arc Network with a dynamic, data-driven framework poised for future growth and adaptation.
The Business Benefit
The successful completion of the migration project orchestrated by Ollion ushered in a host of pivotal business benefits for both TPM and Arc Network, critically transforming and enhancing their market position and operational efficacy:
Empowered Decision-Making
The unified analytics experience layer, implemented through Power BI, provides a single source of truth built on Snowflake, enabling real-time, actionable insights that drive informed strategic decisions across the organization.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency
The streamlined cloud infrastructure significantly optimizes processing capabilities and reduces system downtimes, enhancing daily operational efficiency by eliminating redundancies and previous inefficiencies.
Cost-Effectiveness
Consolidation of IT assets and migration to scalable cloud solutions have drastically lowered operational expenditures. Strategic renegotiations and rationalization of IT resources have redirected savings toward further innovations and business growth.
Robust Data Security and Compliance
Enhanced data security measures and compliance with regulations have been strengthened through the centralized data architecture and advanced protection tools provided by AWS and associated technologies.
Foundation for Scalable Growth
With a flexible, cloud-based system architecture, TPM and Arc Network are well-prepared to scale operations, absorb new technologies, and venture into new markets without the limitations imposed by their previous systems.
Competitive Edge in the Market
Advanced analytics capabilities and a streamlined data platform afford TPM and Arc Network a competitive advantage, fostering superior customer experiences, the development of innovative products, and a robust position in a dynamic business environment.
These strategic enhancements have significantly advanced the operational and strategic landscape for TPM and Arc Network, ushering in a new era of efficiency, security, and growth potential. Through the partnership with Ollion, both companies are well-positioned to thrive in a dynamic business environment, driving innovation, enhancing customer engagement, and maintaining a competitive edge. This project exemplifies more than a technological upgrade, but a pivotal transformation that ensures long-term success for both enterprises.
