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Small Enterprise SituAction: A New CIO Prepares for M&A
Mergers and acquisitions are challenging for many IT leaders in small enterprises. Use Info-Tech’s resources to assist with appropriate due diligence and prepare for eventual integration.
Situation: A long-time Info-Tech member joins a large professional services firm spread across several Canadian provinces with smaller operations in South America and the southern United States. Within a few months, her new company is acquired by a private equity (PE) firm as part of a strategy to consolidate that particular corner of the market.
Complication: The acquisition changes the role of IT and the newly minted CIO. She had expected to fulfill a largely operational role, but now has a much more strategic one. The PE partners expect her to be involved in due diligence as they pursue new acquisition targets. She is excited by the change in role, but also intimidated due to her lack of familiarity with mergers and acquisitions.
She needs to get up to speed. Fast.
Recommendations
- Make IT a Partner in Successful M&A Due Diligence. Mergers and acquisitions are a major IT challenge. Ideally, IT is involved before the deal actually closes and can provide some guidance on the feasibility and challenges of integration. Some of the relevant resources are:
- IT M&A Capabilities Readiness Check Template (PowerPoint)
- IT Due Diligence Report (Excel)
- Business Modeling Template (PowerPoint)
- Merger & Acquisition Target Technology Environment Selection Tool (Excel)
- Make IT a Successful Partner in M&A Integration. After due diligence, there is integration. It involves – by definition – a lot of planning and a lot of change. IT leaders must put a plan together. Some of the relevant resources are:
- IT Integration Charter (Word)
- IT Integration Roadmap Tool (Excel)
- M&A Runbook for Infrastructure & Operations. This blueprint focuses specifically on the integration challenges related to I&O. Neither the acquiring company nor the company to be acquired have an easy time of it. This blueprint is a practical guide to overcome the deer-in-the-headlights reaction of many IT executives to the prospect of M&A. Some of the relevant resources are:
- I&O M&A Project Napkin (Word)
- I&O M&A Discovery Template (Excel)
- I&O M&A Risk Assessment Tool (Excel)
- Don’t Allow Software Licensing to Derail Your M&A. Software licensing is a crucial component of effective planning for M&A activity. It's complicated and it often gets overlooked. Some of the relevant resources are:
- M&A Software Asset Maturity Assessment (Excel)
- License Inventory (Excel)
- IT Due Diligence Report (Excel)
- Effective Licensing Position Tool (Excel)
- IT Integration Roadmap Tool (Excel)
Bottom Line
Info-Tech’s blueprints and tools are valuable starting points for getting IT leaders up to speed quickly with their M&A-related responsibilities.