When planning M&A integrations, teams focus intensively on migrating financial systems and customer databases. But there's a critical blind spot: the unstructured data—emails, documents, and files—that often contains the most valuable knowledge assets and justifies the acquisition in the first place.
This oversight doesn't just leave value on the table; it creates hidden risks and operational chaos that can undermine the deal's success.
I have lost count of how many data integration meetings I’ve sat through where I’m met with blank stares when I ask, “What about all the documents, emails, and files?”
The focus is on the usual suspects: financial systems and customer databases. This is understandable, as integrating core systems must be prioritized to keep the business running. Structured information may feel more urgent to address because it’s clean, neatly organized, and easier to manage.
Meanwhile, no one knows what to do with the acquired company’s unstructured data: the files and records that capture so much of an organization’s knowledge. Part of the issue is that unstructured content is sprawling and chaotic. It lives in emails, shared folders, and documents scattered across different platforms.
With tight deadlines and limited resources, teams often choose the path of least resistance. Instead of dealing with it, a decision is made to move it over, with no one even tasked to handle "all those files."
This doesn’t mean unstructured data lacks value. In fact, it often contains the most meaningful content. Contracts, proprietary research, design documentation, and critical communications all live in this space.
These materials often contain the very insight or knowledge that made the acquisition worthwhile in the first place. When we neglect these assets, we diminish the value of the deal. Think about acquiring a company for its expertise and relationships, only to leave behind the documents that reflect them.
There is also a serious risk dimension. Unmanaged files and emails are not harmless leftovers. Many are subject to legal holds, privacy obligations, or records retention schedules. If no one takes the time to determine what needs to be kept or securely deleted, the buyer inherits everything, including problems. Expired records, confidential information, outdated employee data, and the rest of the clutter all become part of the deal. And often, the problems only come to light when litigation or regulatory inquiries begin.
The impact doesn’t stop with risk. When employees from the acquired company cannot find the files they need to do their jobs, productivity drops. Work slows, confusion rises, and frustration builds.
There’s also the matter of turnover. On average, a third of the acquired team will leave within a year. If we have not preserved their institutional knowledge of their documents and folders, we lose it for good.
All of this is avoidable. The first step is to recognize that information is not just a technical concern. It is a core business asset. Unstructured data must be treated with the same seriousness and discipline we give to systems and applications.
That means involving information governance professionals early in the process. They can help determine what content exists, how much of it is valuable, and what should be securely disposed of. Someone must take ownership of this effort and ensure that content goes to the right place.
Yes, this takes some time and effort. But it prevents downstream problems and helps organizations make better use of the information they’ve acquired. Ignoring unstructured data increases risk and leaves knowledge untapped. Paying attention to it preserves institutional memory and helps the organization move forward with clarity.
We need to stop thinking of unstructured data as secondary. The mindset that "if it’s not in a database, it can wait" no longer holds up. In reality, the files, emails, and shared content carry operational, legal, and strategic value. They are not a footnote to the transaction. They are part of the reason the transaction happened in the first place.
Mergers are not just about systems and customers. At their core, they are about knowledge. And much of that knowledge is captured in unstructured content. If we want to realize the full value of a deal, we need to start giving this information the attention it deserves.
Unstructured data should not be an afterthought. It should be carried forward with intention and consideration, because it is often the very thing that can make or break a deal.