This topic contains 5 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by 
2 weeks, 2 days ago.
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When organizations engage in M&A initiatives, the IT topic is not taken into consideration. Target identified for acquisition, the HR, Finance, Operations, Legal, Quality, Engineering leads conduct their due diligence. Then, the Deal Team begins the creating of the Purchase Agreement (APA or SPA). At this point, the Deal Team asks the IT department to engage in the process, and asks the IT Lead to plan and deliver the Day 1 separation. I am not sure why IT is an after thought almost always. Does anyone agree with me on this?
Very interesting take! I can only speak from my experience and having come from an I.T. background – I find myself being the spokesperson for I.T and Systems in DD – ensuring that they have an equal stake at the DD process and ensure that ample time is spent looking at a target’s systems. If this isn’t the case at other companies and I.T is in fact an afterthought – I find that alarming as there are so many synergies and opportunities that can be gained by making sure that I.T. is looked at thoroughly during DD.
Interestingly, from my perspective, this might be due to the fact – how an organisation perceives it’s Information Technology. From my perspective, IT is and should be considered as an enabler for doing business; making IT part of DD will add value. I think global organisations have now started to realise this, but needs a wider acceptance.
The role of IT may be regarded lower in few industries causing the miss you suggested. In the healthcare IT product development space, IT is considered one of the key functions and brought onto discussion table and due diligence much earlier in the space.
I agree with Surabhi Khanna, in my opinion is up to the industry. I think that in the industries where IT is a supportive tool, should be a part of integration strategy, and as we all know the sooner you start to plan your integration (before transation) the smoothier it goes.
As a CFO, more often than not, the integration of infrastructure (Accounting, HR, IT, etc.) falls under our responsibility. I bring IT into the process as soon as we begin formal due diligence to have them be a part of the integration planning. We are a small company so our resources are limited. This means we have to do a solid job of planning up front to allow us to adequately allocate resources.
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