Acquiring another company has great possibilities and positive benefits for your company. It also has big risk and can literally destroy a company if not handled properly.

In the 1990's I was the CIO for a company that grew our revenues from a very modest $30 million to about $600 million in just over five years. We achieved this growth by acquiring other companies in our mission to consolidate a piece of the healthcare industry.

I have led the IT due diligence and assimilation planning for more than 40 company acquisitions. As the CIO, it was imperative for me to fully understand the capabilities and capacity, risks, opportunities, and issues of each of the company technologies we were acquiring.

To help my own productivity and to insure I conducted a thorough assessment of each new situation, I developed my own proprietary IT Due Diligence and Assimilation Process. I still use this process and the tools developed to support it when conducting an IT due diligence or IT assessment project today.

My process is thorough and battle tested, , , plus it works, and works very well.

If you have an IT assessment need or planning to acquire a company and need help in assessing its technology, MDE can help you in one of three ways:
        1.  MDE will conduct the entire project.
        2.  MDE will work with your IT managers to conduct the project.
        3.  MDE will teach your managers how to do the project and will
             mentor them as needed to support their efforts.

A comprehensive IT due diligence and transition plan will include:
    -  IT due diligence request list
    -  Onsite visit preparatory call
    -  Onsite discovery
          >  Executive interviews
          >  Department manager interviews
          >  External client interviews (if applicable)
          >  IT staff interviews
          >  Physical review of technology resources
          >  Review of IT processes and standards
          >  Review of IT contracts, budgets, and financial operations
    -  Business analysis
          >  Definition of company goals and objectives
          >  Definition of Client (internal & external) needs
          >  Quantification of IT issues
          >  Assessment of IT services capacity and quality
          >  Issues prioritization
          >  IT operations financial analysis
          >  Company capital expenditure needs and requirements 
    -  IT Due Diligence Report
          >  State of technology statement
          >  Key issues
          >  Risks and risk avoidance recommendations
          >  Opportunities and leverage recommendations
          >  Operational budget (24 months)
          >  Capital budget
          >  Key recommendations
          >  Transition plan
                   -  Immediate (next 90 days)
                   -  Strategic (1-year to 2-year recommendation)

A key emphasis is placed on the people aspect of the acquisition. A proactive plan is developed to help insure you do not lose key employees prematurely and that steps are taken to make the transition as smoothly as possible. The experience we have with over 40 acquisitions gives MDE significant insight in what to look for and how to handle difficult situations that often arise in an acquisition.

Contact Us:

MDE Enterprises, Inc.
3300 Stillcorn Ridge Road
Columbia, TN 38401
931-490-6932
mike@mde.net