That quote is catchy, but it ignores the fact that in a merger situation there are different competitive factors and different customer segments involved.

If this stuff didn't take substantial time and capital to do, sure, standardize/normalize everything one day, then figure out how to expand the next.

But that's the difference between a textbook and reality.

UA/CO is a great example of how they standardized without taking enough time to understand the customer base from the other entity, and they made some shortsighted decisions as a result. Sure they standardized the product and policies and systems, but they drove away large numbers of customers in the process. They continue to pay the price for this strategic error to this day.