Carve-outs & Separation
Carve-out and separation programmes delivered to fixed deadlines
In a carve-out, the deadline is fixed, the old ERP never gets switched off, data really does equal money, and the people who will run the new business often haven't been hired yet.
What I take care of
- Day 1 minimum capability, and scope cut to what Day 1 actually requires
- Data separation and migration, including sweeps for data that selection criteria miss
- In-flight transactions: cut-offs, closure in the source system, and reconciliation
- One trusted P&L for buyers across multiple ERPs and charts of accounts
- Interim process owners and a decision log for the leadership team that arrives later
Recent separations
At Quadient I delivered the carve-out of a separate business unit in four months to a fixed deadline, and carved out the French digital division onto Salesforce in four months. At Fonterra, centralising finance onto SAP Central Finance across 40 countries enabled the divestment of the global foodservice division. At Brambles, I worked on M&A and carve-out within a global data and ERP transformation.
Case studies
Where I've done this
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the biggest risk in an ERP carve-out?
In-flight transactions. Half-shipped orders, renewing contracts, payments landing in the old entity's account. Decide early, in writing, for every transaction type, and prove it with reconciliation.
Who designs processes if the new leadership isn't in post?
Interim process owners from today's organisation make the calls, against a fit-to-standard rule, and every decision is logged with its reason so the real owners inherit a clear trail.
Further reading
Related insights
Everyone plans the ERP go-live. Nobody plans the goodbye.
In a carve-out the old ERP never gets switched off. How to handle in-flight transactions so customers never notice the separation.
10 September 2026 Data migrationERP data migration is not an IT task
IT moves the data. Only the business knows if it's right. Ownership, design, trial loads and the special rules of carve-out migrations.
8 October 2026Is a programme keeping you up at night?
A short, confidential conversation is usually enough to tell whether it needs recovery, assurance or simply a second opinion.