Most M&A due diligence focuses on financials. Technology is the part nobody looks at closely enough — until after the deal closes and the problems surface.
Acquirers spend months analyzing financials, legal exposure, and market position. They spend days — if that — evaluating the technology they're inheriting. Then they close the deal and discover the target is running on a 15-year-old ERP nobody knows how to maintain, their data has never been cleaned, their systems don't integrate with anything in the acquiring company, and the two "databases" are actually a dozen spreadsheets on someone's desktop.
Technology risk is deal risk. Infrastructure debt, integration complexity, and data quality issues can cost multiples of what was identified in diligence — and they surface at exactly the wrong moment: when you're trying to run two companies as one.
We bring the same rigor to technology diligence that your financial team brings to the books.
A complete inventory and evaluation of the target's systems — ERP, CRM, data infrastructure, custom applications, integrations, and the technology team. We assess maturity, risk, and fit with your existing environment.
We look at the quality, completeness, and trustworthiness of the target's data. What does their reporting actually reflect? What will it take to consolidate reporting across both entities post-close?
A practical assessment of the target's security practices, vulnerabilities, and compliance status. Not a penetration test — a business-level risk evaluation that identifies what needs attention.
We estimate the true cost of what you're inheriting — licensing, maintenance, required upgrades, integration work, and remediation. Numbers you can use in valuation and negotiation.
A phased, realistic plan for combining systems, data, and processes. Sequenced to minimize disruption while maximizing the speed to unified operations.
Leadership needs one view of the combined business — fast. We build the consolidated reporting layer before the systems are fully integrated, so decisions don't have to wait.
Designing and implementing the integrations that connect the two companies' systems — or making the decisions about which systems win and which get retired.
Moving data between systems cleanly and completely, with validation that what arrived matches what left. This is where integrations fail most often — we do it right.
What does the combined company's technology stack look like in 18 months? We design the end state and build the roadmap to get there.
Two IT teams, two cultures, sometimes overlapping roles. We help you assess, structure, and plan for the people side of the technology integration.
We work with companies on both sides of a transaction. Acquirers need to know what they're buying. Sellers benefit from understanding their own technology risk before they enter a process — and from being able to present a clean, credible technology picture to potential buyers.
We also work with PE-backed businesses and their portfolio companies — where technology integration across acquisitions is often the biggest operational challenge in realizing deal thesis.
"The time to find out about technology problems is before you close — not six months after, when you're trying to explain to your board why integration is six months behind schedule and $2M over budget."
Technology diligence can happen quickly when it needs to. We work on your timeline — not a consulting firm's project schedule.