How the Rules of Connection Rule the Economy

Boomi CEO Steve Lucas shares his vision for the "self-driving enterprise," where AI agents orchestrate processes, reduce complexity, and build trust through human-centered integration.At Boomi World 2...

Introduction Acquiring businesses is straightforward compared to integrating them. Many companies discover this too late — after the deal closes, when four separate finance systems, four HR platforms, four sets of processes, and four cultures are expected to operate as one. For a private equity-backed healthcare consulting and lobbying firm that had grown aggressively through acquisition but had never actually integrated a single business it had bought, the gap between strategy and execution had become impossible to ignore. Altum Strategy Group was brought in to close it. The Challenge The client had completed three acquisitions and needed to integrate all four entities — including the parent — simultaneously. Each business brought its own finance system, its own HR and payroll arrangements, its own technology stack, and its own ways of working. There was no established integration methodology, no playbook, and no prior experience within the organization to draw on. The stakes were high. The client’s growth strategy depended on acquisitions continuing to function as a lever for scale. Without a disciplined integration capability, each new acquisition would add complexity. The business needed not just to complete this integration, but to build the organizational muscle to do it again — faster […]