Something missing
"World class support processes"? Well, that's about half the story. In fact those processes themselves are worthless without the world class engineers Rackspace employs to implement them. The personnel issue is one that's often -- correction, almost always -- overlooked in these kinds of acquisitions. The pattern has been repeated too often for anyone whose head isn't in the sand (or somewhere much darker) to deny: Big player acquires small but rocking upstart with a stratospheric reputation for customer service, then either lays off or drives out all the best talent, leading to the acquired business division's fall into obscurity amidst a reputational implosion of biblical proportions. But at the end of the day the CEO of the acquiring firm can comfort himself with the knowledge that there's no one (left) in the company that is more important than him.