Following an acquisition, each subsidiary continues to use its own business systems, managing inventory, production, and finance separately. For the group to operate collaboratively, it must address the issues of fragmented information, disparate processes, and inconsistent internal rules. Moreover, since each subsidiary's customer operations are still running, the integration must be advanced simultaneously.
The U.S. unmanned systems group Ondas is tackling this exact issue. Through a series of acquisitions, Ondas has gradually incorporated drones, ground robots, and stratospheric observation platforms into the group, providing products and services to defense, security, and industrial customers.
Partnering with Palantir, Ondas retains the original business systems of each subsidiary. Leveraging Foundry and Warp Speed for manufacturing operations, it builds a cross-subsidiary collaborative operations platform and utilizes AI agents to assist in integrating internal management rules, inventory, supply chains, and finance.
01. First, Clarify the Tasks to Be Completed Jointly by Multiple Companies
Ondas's acquisitions are primarily aimed at filling product capability gaps. The acquisition of World View in April 2026 brought the capability for long-duration, large-scale stratospheric balloon observations; the acquisition of DZYNE in July supplemented the portfolio with long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles and other products. These two types of platforms undertake missions at different altitudes and for varying durations. The group aims to combine them with its existing drones and ground robots to provide comprehensive solutions for customers.
Whether products can be delivered at scale also depends on how the group organizes its operations. Eric Brock, Chairman and CEO of Ondas, hopes that multiple products can share sales and marketing resources, and that the supply chain, production, and field support can scale with business expansion. This is especially true for specialized technology companies joining the group, allowing them to leverage these resources to overcome the stage where products are available but delivery scale is hard to expand.
In daily operations, each subsidiary uses a different ERP system, managing procurement, inventory, production, and finance separately, with distinct engineering and manufacturing processes as well as internal management rules.
Ryan Hartman, President and CEO of Ondas's Defense Business Unit and former CEO of World View, has also experienced consecutive corporate acquisitions. He recalled that integrating business systems and processes took years in the past, and operations remained inefficient. At that time, badges reading "Cash is King" were issued to employees, which reminded him of the financial pressure during the integration process.
In March 2025, Ondas announced the introduction of Palantir's enterprise data and business operations platform, Foundry. As acquisitions increased, this platform was further utilized for collaboration among multiple companies.
02. Original Systems Continue to Run While Cross-Company Tasks Are Connected Item by Item
Implementation began with field operations at World View. Palantir FDE Matt Shepherd and his team visited the company almost every week to understand the specific obstacles affecting business expansion and to advance Warp Speed with the supply chain and manufacturing teams.
Warp Speed is Palantir's operational software platform for manufacturing enterprises, referred to as the "manufacturing operating system." It connects production, inventory, and supply chain information on top of existing systems, helping teams check material kitting, balance inventory, adjust production scheduling, and promptly respond to material shortages and demand changes.
After World View joined Ondas, the integration tasks expanded to multiple subsidiaries under Ondas. The team then collaborated with Palantir to create various AI agents to help connect ERP, supply chain, and inventory management, extending to financial integration. Each subsidiary continues to use its original systems for daily operations, while the team builds cross-company tools on top of them via Warp Speed to aggregate operational information from all subsidiaries.
Management likens this situation to "changing the tires while the car is moving": new members already have customers and ongoing missions, making it impossible to stop and completely replace the ERP or inventory systems.
These efforts rely on a shared Ontology, which is the enterprise business model within the software. The Ontology organizes companies, assets, internal management rules, finance, decision-making, and operational information, linking data, business logic, and actions. During cross-company discussions, the team can clearly see which company the information comes from, which businesses are involved, and the relationships between them.
The integration of internal management rules is a specific example. After a newly acquired subsidiary's data and processes are connected to the shared operations platform, the team uses tools to compare the institutional documents of each company, check for clause differences, and then decide on the merged rules to form commonly followed management requirements.
The platform also connects finance, business development, and CRM operations, enabling finance and operations teams to work based on the same set of up-to-date business information and workflows. Next, the group can also use the Ontology to view supply chain gaps across member enterprises and, combined with the group's existing capabilities, determine what to invest in next to fill those gaps.
Once this step is completed, subsequent integration can build upon two foundations: the constructed software modules and the organized business information and relationships. First, the team initially built modules like Warp Speed at World View; after World View joined Ondas, they began considering extending these modules to other member enterprises in the group. Second, with each new task connected, the Ontology links an additional part of the business information, allowing subsequent teams to continue their work on the existing foundation.
At AIP Con 11, Hartman stated, "Value comes from the connections between workflows." According to his explanation, each new workflow adds context to the Ontology, allowing the next team to start with a more complete business view.
03. Accelerating Integration: Where Exactly Are the Speed Gains
When announcing Q2 results in August 2026, Ondas disclosed that Foundry is running in four of its five U.S. business locations and is deployed in global operations, supporting eight enterprise workflows and 24 active operational use cases. The platform's usage has expanded across multiple locations and functions.
During the same earnings presentation, time comparisons for three types of work were listed separately:
The three sets of comparisons correspond to data processing, post-M&A integration, and operational work in ongoing operations. For the group, the business value lies in connecting these tasks earlier: data can enter discussions faster, cross-system tools can support collaborative work, and finance and operations teams can utilize the same set of up-to-date business information.
In a September sharing session, Hartman noted that traditional corporate integration usually takes 12 to 24 months. Based on workflows and processes built on a shared Ontology, Ondas has reduced the relevant integration time to approximately three months.
Ondas also expects administrative management efficiency to improve by approximately 20%, and anticipates improvements in manufacturing, supply chain, and flight operations.
04. What Practices Can Domestic Groups Learn From
For domestic enterprise groups engaged in continuous M&A with disparate systems and uninterrupted operations, the following recommendations can help arrange the integration.
Which Tasks Must Be Collaborated on First?
The enterprise group can first select a customer business that requires joint delivery by multiple companies, or a supply chain shortcoming that the group must coordinate to resolve. They should clarify the required data, participating personnel, and deliverables before deciding which systems to connect. First, define the scope of the current project: which matters will continue to be handled by the original systems, which information needs to be compared together, and which issues require group coordination.
Who Confirms the Information and Who Makes the Decisions?
In the integration of internal management rules, the technical team is responsible for presenting data and clause differences, while business leaders decide on the common rules and their scope of application. Progress checks can separately review whether data has been organized, which clauses are pending decisions, and which rules have been handed over to relevant teams for use. Inventory collaboration requires agreeing on whether available inventory deducts order allocations, who updates the information, and who to consult for confirmation when discrepancies arise. Field development should identify bottlenecks in data acquisition, pending confirmations, and discrepancy handling along the actual process, implementing tool support and personnel responsibilities together.
When the Next Company Joins, Which Tasks Can Be Continued?
Retain the completed tools, organized business relationships, and established rules separately. When a new company is onboarded, check which tasks the existing tools can handle and which inputs and processes need adjustment, then supplement the new company's information to confirm which rules apply and which need re-evaluation. For example, document comparison tools and processing workflows can be reused; confirmed rules and their scope of application help the team identify differences in the new company. Assign separate persons in charge for tool adaptation and rule re-evaluation, so subsequent integration can proceed based on existing work. For the CIO, CFO, and group executives, they should not only see whether cross-company work is truly underway but also see how much repetitive work can be avoided in the next acquisition.