Driving M&A Transformation with Data @ Microsoft
Leveraged assessment and psychometric data to identify operational, revenue, and talent challenges post-M&A, with strategic recommendations that reduced projected turnover by ~30% and hiring needs by ~40%.
BACKGROUND
Following a recent Microsoft acquisition (Xbox Division, Trust & Safety), leadership raised concerns about talent engagement, turnover risk, and operational challenges, particularly within their Client Success (CS) department — the revenue generating backbone of the company responsible for onboarding, supporting, and expanding enterprise client relationships.
An immediate problem was also building. Prior to the acquisition, the CS department had been increasingly challenged by a growing bottleneck in new client onboarding. CS technical staff, responsible for the often month-long onboarding process, were routinely stretched thin, splitting time between troubleshooting existing client issues and onboarding new ones.
Now, with a large influx of new Microsoft clients incoming, and a limited hiring capacity for these highly specialized technical roles, the risk of operational failure, attrition, and service disruptions was rapidly looming.
ACTIONS
Acting as an independent consultancy, we proposed, designed, and conducted a Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) Assessment with company identified staff, as a means of diagnosing alignment gaps and uncovering solutions that would improve retention, performance, and operational efficiency.
Using a PE Fit framework and research, the assessment involved a combination of structured qualitative interviews between identified talent and their department heads, quantitative psychometric personality data analysis, and cross-referencing response data across all participants to identify commonalities and trends. From the assessment findings, we discerned critical misalignments in job, team, manager, and Microsoft values that posed inordinate risk to future engagement and turnover, and operational challenges that limited the organization’s ability to meet oncoming client demands.
Summary reports around each participant were disseminated to department heads and executive leadership, with recommended solutions, including:
Role Alignment
Redeploying select CS talent from reactive account servicing to new proactive Client Support roles, focused on anticipating and resolving emerging client issues before escalation, increasing efficiency across all accounts.
Cross-Development
Establishing structured, competency-based learning and mentorship pathways between new Client Support roles and CS technical leaders, facilitating immediate knowledge transfer and continuous technical upskilling.
Cross-Collaboration
Implementing regular, structured communication channels between Client Support and CS technical leaders, eliminating redundancy, streamlining support workflows, and improving response time for client needs.
RESULTS
Through the emergence of the Client Support role and associated learning and collaboration channels with technical staff, the CS department measurably increased their resourcefulness in troubleshooting client issues, significantly reducing the departments overall dependence on high-demand technical staff.
In turn, technical staff could be freed up to focus on the immediate bottleneck in client onboarding. Regular development and mentorship opportunities for identified CS staff further advanced project management skills and strengthened leadership pipelines outside traditional promotions, reinforcing the department’s long-term effectiveness.
Rather than simply fix a short-term problem, our solutions set up the company to develop a more resilient, self-sustaining Client Success department that could adapt to their future challenges. A year later, implementation of these changes correlated to:
~30%
reduction in projected organizational turnover
~40%
reduction in projected CS department hiring
(primarily technical staff)
LESSONS
Rethinking Leadership: Growth Beyond Titles → Traditional leadership roles may not always be available, sought after, or well aligned with talent. At the same time, employees need a clear sense of progress and purpose to stay engaged and attached to an organization. Expanding leadership development opportunities beyond traditional promotions involves meaningful work variation, opportunities to innovate, and the ability to mentor and lead from any position. By defining clear roles and implementing creative career pathways, organizations continually develop top talent, improve retention, and strengthen adaptability, particularly in post-M&A environments where alignment between existing roles and new strategy can be at risk.
Data-Driven Talent Strategy → PE Fit assessment, psychometric surveys, and similar provide an empirical and structured basis to identify misalignments and guide targeted interventions. Combining qualitative and quantitative data ensures more accurate and impactful insights, leading to better hiring, development, and strategy decisions.
Cross-Functional Learning for Organizational Agility → Encouraging knowledge-sharing and collaboration across teams enhances problem-solving, resourcefulness, and agility. Beyond short-term gains, cross-functional learning builds a pipeline of well-rounded, future-ready talent, reinforcing long-term organizational resilience.
“Quickly grasped the evolving challenges in our division and delivered creative, data-backed solutions to reduce turnover and disengagement risk. Highly effective.”
— Jonathan Bepple M.Sc., Client Success, Microsoft.