Many corporate mergers fail.
A look at Cisco Systems Inc.'s biggest deal so far shows how the company has made a science of digesting acquisitions. But the secret to Cisco's merger success kicked in even before the deal was signed, when the company mobilized a transition SWAT team to oversee every detail of the start-up's assimilation. Led by Cisco's resident makeover expert, Mimi Gigoux, the team drew on its pool of three dozen Cisco staffers who work full-time shepherding newcomers into the fold. When Cisco formally took control two months later, every Cerent employee had a title, boss, bonus plan, health plan and direct link to Cisco's internal Web site. Yet, aside from their newfound stock wealth, most of them hardly noticed the changes.