Smart Business Magazine, Mar 2013

14 Smart Business Philadelphia March 2013 nearly five years before the merger took place We actually had known each other since 2007 so there wasnt too much change in the transition for the management teams Rafaeli says We put together a project team that was running the two companies as if we were merged about eight months before the merger happened We were making decisions and considering things together and we built our plan to make changes both before and after the merger As the larger company Radiancy had the majority of the resources that would be needed during the merger process but since the combined company would be publicly traded and carry the PhotoMedex name PhotoMedex served as the basic template by which the new company would be constructed It was a matter in many cases of the combined leadership team creating operational alignment by building more efficiencies into the previously existing PhotoMedex processes A lot of it happened before the merger was even consummated so for example we took apart all of the logistics philosophies in the old PhotoMedex but reassembled them based on the old PhotoMedex while using Radiancys resources Rafaeli says Since Radiancy was bigger we had better costing to do things resulting in a savings post merger We did the same thing with our insurance platforms We put together a project team that was running the two companies as if we were merged about eight months before the merger happened DOLEV RAFAELI CEO PHOTOMEDEX INC payment processing platforms and with our PR and advertising companies With an aligned leadership team creating aligned strategies systems and processes it became much easier for Rafaeli to bring the rest of the companys workforce on board with the merger An important first step was letting the company at large know that no layoffs were planned as part of the merger The scale and geographic diversity really required that nobody leave Rafaeli says We needed to keep all the finance teams that both companies had pre merger Each side had to learn what the other was doing and develop a way to combine the systems We had to become SOX compliant and handle a very coherent reporting system In some areas of the company the best solution was a combined one implementing practices from both pre merger companies But in other areas Rafaeli and his team decided to take an either or approach to implementing best practices aligning the company with one standard or the other The operations team in both previous companies had two complementary sets of knowledge and we had to merge the two of them in a way that took advantage of all the areas of strength Rafaeli says What happened was we had the quality manager of the old PhotoMedex oversee the quality system of the combined company The supply chain manager of Radiancy took over material supply for the whole company because Radiancy was doing it more efficiently It is crucial that you paint an accurate and complete picture of your vision for the post merger company and that you do it early in the process If you are going to create buy in and subsequently create complete alignment throughout all levels of your organization everyone has to know where they fit and what will be asked of them We have very talented and experienced people and we wanted all of them to stay and be engaged in the process of the merger and remain engaged post merger Rafaeli says The important part there is keeping them engaged throughout the process of the merger Announce your arrival Even if youre keeping the identity and product lines from both companies as the relaunched PhotoMedex did it wont be business as usual for your customers Theyll see a new company with a future in flux which is why you need to connect with your customers and paint the same clear accurate and candid picture that you did for your employees One of the ways Rafaeli and his team sought to announce the arrival of the new PhotoMedex and affirm the companys identity to outsiders was through its marketing efforts It was a very interesting process he says We took two companies one that has the knowledge of how to advertise and the other with knowledge of the business One of our main business lines is in the area of psoriasis treatment and the PhotoMedex people knew a lot about psoriasis and psoriasis treatment They knew about the view in the market the conditions of the marketplace how physicians view it and the markets view of that COVER PHOTOMEDEX INC