When your organization acquires 50, 100, or 250 new locations, the infrastructure challenge is immediate: every acquired site comes with its own legacy systems, cabling standards, and technology debt. A national workplace technology contractor can be the difference between a smooth integration and months of operational chaos.
The M&A Infrastructure Challenge
Acquired locations rarely match your corporate standards. You inherit:
Mixed cabling generations (Cat5e, Cat6, random fiber)
Different access control platforms and credentials
Surveillance systems from multiple manufacturers
Inconsistent documentation (or none at all)
Vendor relationships in dozens of local markets
Trying to manage this complexity with regional contractors creates a coordination nightmare. A national low voltage contractor provides the scalable infrastructure to handle enterprise-wide standardization.
Phase 1: Assessment
Before any remediation work begins, you need visibility into what you've acquired. A systematic assessment covers:
Structured Cabling Audit
Cable category and condition at each location
IDF/MDF configuration and capacity
Fiber backbone presence and specifications
Labeling and documentation status
Security Systems Inventory
Access control platform and door count
Camera count, resolution, and storage
Intrusion detection presence
Integration with central monitoring
A national low voltage installer with multi-site assessment capabilities can complete this inventory across 100+ locations in weeks, not months.
Phase 2: Prioritization
Not every location needs immediate attention. Prioritize based on:
- Business criticality: Revenue-generating locations first
- Security risk: Sites with inadequate access control or surveillance
- Lease timeline: Don't invest in locations you'll exit
- IT requirements: Sites requiring bandwidth upgrades
Create three tiers: immediate remediation (90 days), planned upgrades (6-12 months), and maintenance only (legacy sites).
Phase 3: Standardization
With assessment complete and priorities set, execute the standardization plan. Working with a single national workplace technology contractor provides:
- Consistent installation quality: Same standards at every site
- Coordinated scheduling: Multiple concurrent deployments
- Unified documentation: Standardized as-builts portfolio-wide
- Single accountability: One vendor, one escalation path
Phase 4: Ongoing Management
Post-integration, maintain standards with:
Master service agreement for MAC work
Defined SLAs for service response
Annual infrastructure reviews
Standardized processes for future acquisitions
Case Example: 250-Location Integration
A national insurance brokerage acquired a regional competitor with 250 office locations across 38 states. Working with a national low voltage contractor, they:
Completed full infrastructure assessment in 6 weeks
Identified 89 locations requiring immediate remediation
Standardized cabling and access control across all sites in 18 months
Consolidated from 40+ regional vendors to a single national partner
Related Articles
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The Long-Term Cost of Inconsistent Infrastructure
How installation variations from acquired locations create ongoing operational expenses.
Service Response for Multi-Location Organizations
How national contractors deliver consistent service levels across distributed portfolios.
Cabling Standards for IT Managers
What IT leaders need to know about structured cabling specifications.
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