What is the biggest challenge in the integration process? Is it the docking of technical platforms, the fusion of corporate cultures, or the streamlining of business lines?

Okay, let's dive into this. Speaking as someone who's "been there, done that," these three challenges are like giving the new company major surgery. Each step has its pain, but if I had to pick the most critical one, it would undoubtedly be the integration of corporate culture.

The Core Challenge: Making Two Families Truly One

Think of this integration as a marriage between two highly successful families.

Integrating Technology Platforms: This is like connecting both houses into one and renovating after the wedding. For example, the plumbing, electrical, and gas systems of House A and House B are different and need to be connected. This process is incredibly complex, involves massive engineering effort, requires top-notch engineers for blueprints and coding, and consumes significant time and money. Yet, it's ultimately a largely technical endeavor with clear objectives (e.g., allowing all users to log in with a single account) and established blueprints and methods for solutions. With sufficient resources, it can eventually be solved.
Streamlining Business Lines: This is akin to sorting out the belongings from both households after the wedding. Both families have TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines, all good brands—throwing any away feels wasteful. The newlyweds need to sit down and discuss: Which is more power-efficient? Which better suits our future lifestyle? This process can be agonizing, painful, and might even involve "cutting one's losses" (e.g., discontinuing some redundant but beloved products). But fundamentally, it's a business decision, a "rational choice" driven by data and market analysis.
Integrating Corporate Culture: This is the truly difficult part. It equates to asking members of both families to live under the same roof, adhering to one shared way of life.
- Different Habits: The LINE side might be used to quick decision-making and a rapid, iterative approach typical of internet companies—think of them as a family that lives in t-shirts and jeans. The Yahoo! side might be more traditional, valuing process and multi-layered approvals—like a family accustomed to suits and ties. Now, get them living together. In meetings, whose approach prevails? How should emails be written? For afternoon coffee breaks, espresso or matcha? These seem like small things, but they happen constantly.
- Lack of Unified Purpose ("Heart"): Employees will think internally, "I came from LINE" or "I came from Yahoo!". This invisible "us vs. them" divide is highly damaging. It hinders teamwork efficiency and obstructs the flow of information. Getting people to genuinely feel "We are now LY Corp employees" and building a new collective identity is harder than writing any code or creating any PowerPoint deck.
- No Standard Solution: Technical problems have optimal solutions; business decisions have data. But there's no clear answer for cultural issues. You can't calculate the "perfect corporate culture" with a formula. It requires immense wisdom and patience from leadership to guide the process, needs time to develop, and often involves painful adjustments and even staff turnover before a new, unified cultural environment slowly emerges.

To Summarize

In simple terms:

Technology Integration is "physical + mental work" with a clear roadmap.
Business Streamlining is an "arithmetic + strategic problem," testing the decision-makers' courage.
Culture Fusion is a "psychological struggle + reshaping of values." It's intangible, yet it determines the new company's very "soul" and "direction," deciding whether everyone on board can row the ship together in unison.

So, while integrating technology platforms and business lines – the "hardware and software" – is crucial, truly merging the "people" who operate these systems is the single biggest and most fundamental challenge of the entire integration process.