As the picture of a super power--combining the heft of the No. 2 and the No. 5 home building businesses under the Lennar umbrella as a 43,700-home, $17.2 billion enterprise--comes clear, it's hard to overstate the role technology and data will play in the bold plan's success.

Both to reach the kinds of synergies necessary to capture $85 million in overhead efficiencies, and to leverage national scale and local market share to capture another $165 million in direct cost savings on purchasing and labor, technology and data-evidenced operations will be critical. What's more, to unleash the fullest upside scenario possible--removing a competitor in many important markets, and integrating that oppositional force... read the article