“We engage Compello Partners for diligence and post-close integrations. They understand the PE playbook and focus early on the critical areas that impact investment decisions.”
Partner, Mid-Market Private Equity Firm ($1B AUM)
Private Equity300+ diligences and 14 carve-outs for 50+ private equity firms. Our senior operators take the deal from the first read before the LOI through Day 1, the TSA exit and the hold, with cybersecurity and AI built in.
M&A IT services cover the technology side of a deal across the private equity investment lifecycle: IT, cybersecurity, HR and AI due diligence before signing, Day 1 planning, carve-outs and TSA exits, the integration that brings an add-on onto the platform, and post-close value creation over the hold. Done well, they protect the deal model: surfacing costs that can support a price adjustment, capturing the synergies the thesis depends on and leaving the company exit-ready.
The right services for every type of deal
“Can these systems carry the growth plan?”
Before signing
Day 1
First 100 days
Scalability: can the systems support the growth plan?
Resilience: are they reliable enough to keep downtime low?
Future-proofing: can they adapt as the business adds technology?
AI upside: where can AI lift EBITDA, and is today’s AI use governed?
“What will it cost to fold this company onto the platform?”
Day 1
First 100 days
Day 100 and beyond
What will it cost, and what could go wrong, to merge the two environments?
Will data migrate and stay in sync without loss?
Which systems should be consolidated, kept or replaced?
Does the add-on’s AI use fit the platform’s AI policy and data controls?
“What does it take to stand this business up on its own?”
Before signing
First 100 days
How long, and how much, to build an independent environment?
How will data and applications be separated from the parent?
Can the new environment support future growth?
Which AI tools and data access leave with the parent, and what replaces them?
“Will IT help or hurt the sale price?”
Data room
Buyer diligence
Does IT add to the company’s valuation?
Can closing IT gaps now improve the sale price?
Are systems secure and documented for the transition?
Will a buyer’s AI diligence find ungoverned AI use, or an AI story that supports the valuation?
Seven services that cover the deal from first look to exit. Start wherever the deal is; the same senior team of operators from Big 4, A&M and RSM backgrounds, with no junior leverage, carries it through.
A senior-led assessment of applications, infrastructure, security, the IT organization and core processes, scaled from a three-day read to a full carve-out review. Findings come with the cost to fix them, so they can shape the price.
Five lenses: technology, AI readiness, security, operations and technology product
IT scorecard, spend summary and roadmap
Read-out to the deal team and rep and warranty call support
How exposed is the target, and what will it cost to close the gaps? We review the security program, controls and compliance obligations, and flag what to fix before and after close.
Security program, policy and governance review
Vulnerability and penetration testing
Privacy and compliance review, from HIPAA to GDPR
Has the portfolio company outgrown its ERP or accounting system? Before signing, or after close as part of value creation, we assess the ERP and core processes, from order-to-cash to record-to-report, and size what it will take to scale, integrate or replace it.
ERP and core business process review
Fit with the platform and the investment thesis
Cost and timeline to integrate, upgrade or replace
Separating a business from its parent without disrupting it, then getting it off the TSA on schedule, or early. A transition services agreement buys time at a monthly cost, so we structure it and plan the exit before it’s signed, then design the standalone IT, run Day 1 cutover and move the business onto its own systems.
Separation perimeter, stranded costs and one-time spend
TSA scope, service schedules, pricing and exit dates
Standalone blueprint and Day 1 cutover plan
Identity, infrastructure, ERP and security separation
TSA governance, fee tracking and exit roadmap
Bringing an acquired company onto the platform: Day 1 readiness first, then systems, infrastructure and security on one standard, so the synergies in the deal model actually show up.
Day 1 readiness and cutover
ERP, network, email and identity consolidation
Synergy and integration cost tracking
Operational efficiency: process, sourcing and footprint
Every deal event needs an owner. We stand up and run the program office across every workstream, for carve-outs, ERP integrations and other transactions: plans, risks, decisions and reporting to management and the sponsor.
Integration and separation management office
Work plans, RAID logs and decision rights
Executive and sponsor reporting
AI is now a diligence question and a value creation lever. Employees are already using AI, often with company data and no policy. We assess AI readiness before signing, benchmark AI maturity after close, and train leadership and teams to use sanctioned tools safely, so AI shows up in EBITDA, not in a breach report.
AI readiness due diligence: AI use, governance, data readiness and upside for the thesis
AI maturity assessment, governance baseline and use-case-to-EBITDA roadmap
AI workshops and training for leadership, operating teams and employees
Every IT problem in a deal gets paid for. Diligence decides who pays. Find it before signing and it becomes a price adjustment or better TSA terms. Find it after close and it comes out of your returns.
A $300M division carved out of a $6B parent. A rapid IT assessment sized the new infrastructure and ERP before close, and the business ran on its own systems in five months, so seven months of TSA fees at $500K a month were never paid.
A carve-out and merger closed with no IT diligence. ERP integration and separating servers and networks also ran over, and because nothing was found before close, there was no price adjustment to negotiate.
Findings that support a purchase price adjustment or concessions.
The right services, for the right length, at the right cost.
Operational and security issues surfaced before close, not after.
IT strategies and synergies that lift earnings over the hold.
The confidence to bid for the most desirable targets.
Ungoverned AI use and data exposure found before close, and AI upside built into the value creation plan.
Most deal work starts with a specific moment. Pick the one in front of you, and the same senior team carries it from there.
“Is there anything in IT that should change our bid?”
A rough-order-of-magnitude review in three to five days: the red flags, the likely cost to fix them and what they mean for the deal.
CIM and management presentation review
A one-hour management interview
Separation and stand-up spend summary
“What are we really buying, and what will it cost to fix?”
A full IT and cybersecurity assessment across applications, infrastructure, security and the IT organization, with a read-out to the deal team.
IT and cybersecurity due diligence
Scorecard, spend summary and roadmap
Support on the rep and warranty call
“What does it take to stand this business up on its own?”
We size the separation before signing, then build the standalone environment, run Day 1 cutover and keep the TSA as short as it can be.
Separation cost and TSA dependency assessment
Standalone blueprint and Day 1 plan
Infrastructure, ERP and security separation
“How fast can we get off the seller’s systems?”
Every month on a TSA costs money. We plan the exit, migrate the systems and data, and track the TSA so the business leaves on time, or early.
TSA exit roadmap and cutover plan
System and data migration
TSA cost tracking and governance
“How do we bring this company onto our systems without breaking it?”
We plan Day 1, run the integration office and move the add-on onto the platform’s ERP, network, email and security standard.
Day 1 readiness and cutover
Integration management office
ERP, infrastructure and security consolidation
Operational efficiency and shared services
“Will IT help or hurt the sale price?”
A buyer-style review of the company’s technology and security before the process starts, so gaps are fixed and documented before the data room opens.
Sell-side IT and security review
Remediation before the data room opens
Support through buyer diligence
“Is AI a risk in this portfolio, or a lever we’re missing?”
Your LPs and buyers are asking about AI. We find where AI is already in use and with what data, set one governance baseline across the company or the portfolio, and turn it into a roadmap of use cases tied to EBITDA.
AI readiness due diligence on new targets
AI maturity assessment and value creation roadmap
AI workshops and employee training
“We engage Compello Partners for diligence and post-close integrations. They understand the PE playbook and focus early on the critical areas that impact investment decisions.”
Partner, Mid-Market Private Equity Firm ($1B AUM)
Private Equity“Compello isn’t a typical consulting group. They take the ‘Partner’ title seriously… they position us for our best future.”
CFO, $250M PE-Backed Financial Services Firm
Financial Services“Since partnering with Compello, I don’t hear about IT problems anymore. Their approach has streamlined our operations, saving us time and money.”
CFO, Healthcare Provider
Healthcare
IT due diligence and synergy analysis on 23 brands carved out of a global consumer goods company, then a right-sized move from SAP and Fusion to Business Central and a post-TSA IT model built for the new company.
Read the case study →
Two acquired industrial wire companies moved onto one network, one domain and one Azure footprint, with the ERP migrated and one business continuity plan for both.
Read the case study →
A $200M HVAC and plumbing platform built from fragmented local brands, with inconsistent technician training. A continuously learning AI platform unified training and operations across the brands.
Read the case study →Something we haven’t covered? A partner can answer it on a short call.
M&A IT services cover the technology side of a deal, from the first look at a target to the day it runs on its own or as part of the platform. That includes IT, cybersecurity and AI readiness due diligence before signing, Day 1 planning, IT carve-outs and TSA exits, post-merger IT integration, the program management that holds it all together, and the AI and technology value creation that follows over the hold.
For private equity, the point is deal value. Done well, diligence surfaces costs that can support a price adjustment or better TSA terms, and the integration or separation plan protects the EBITDA the deal model assumes. We provide all of it as one senior team, so nothing is lost between diligence and execution.
Both, and only inside private equity. Deal teams bring us in for diligence, operating partners for post-close work, and portfolio companies hire us to run IT, security and AI over the hold.
Because we stay across the lifecycle, the same senior team that diligenced the deal already knows the company when it is time to integrate the next add-on or prepare for exit.
Earlier than most deal teams think. A rough-order-of-magnitude review takes three to five days and can run before the LOI, using the CIM, the management presentation and a one-hour interview. It flags anything in IT that should change the bid.
Confirmatory diligence follows once there’s data room access. Starting early leaves time to negotiate on what diligence finds, rather than discovering it after close.
It depends on the decision. Our tiers run from three to five days for a rough order of magnitude or an executive summary, to two to three weeks for a full deliverable, and four to eight weeks for a carve-out, which adds the separation and TSA exit plan.
Every tier follows the same method: a diligence request list, data room review, stakeholder interviews, an IT and security assessment, a written report and a read-out to the deal team, with support on the rep and warranty call. See our IT due diligence services.
AI due diligence, also called an AI readiness review, looks at a target from two sides: the risk AI already carries and the value it could add. We review which AI tools employees use and what data goes into them, the AI policy and governance in place, AI inside the product and vendor stack, and whether the data can support the use cases in the deal thesis.
It runs as one of the lenses in our IT due diligence, so there is no separate workstream to manage. After close, an AI maturity assessment turns the findings into a governance baseline and a roadmap of use cases tied to EBITDA, and our AI workshops and training help leadership and employees adopt sanctioned tools safely.
An IT carve-out separates a business’s technology from its parent. That means defining which people, systems and contracts come across, designing the standalone environment, cutting over on Day 1 and then exiting the transition services agreement (TSA).
The TSA is usually the biggest cost lever. In one carve-out of a $300M division, standing up new infrastructure and a new ERP in five months saved $3.5M in TSA fees. Read more about our IT carve-out consulting.
We start before close with Day 1 readiness: what has to work on the first day, the cutover plan and the risks. Then we run the integration management office and move the add-on onto the platform’s systems, typically the ERP, network and domains, email and Microsoft 365, and security monitoring.
For two acquired industrial companies, consolidating onto one network, one domain and one Azure footprint saved $200K a year in maintenance. See M&A IT integration.
Yes, if you want us to. Most engagements continue with a post-close value creation workshop, where management and the operating partner turn the diligence findings into a prioritized plan for IT, security, ERP and AI. Most deal-side firms hand the business back once the project ends. Our team can stay on to run IT as the company’s managed IT provider, lead it as a fractional CIO or CISO, run AI governance and training, or support the next add-on, so what we learned in diligence isn’t lost.
See our IT services for private equity. It’s an option, not a condition of working with us.
Everything your private equity firm needs to create value with IT, from diligence to exit.
IT due diligence, carve-outs and TSAs, merger and add-on integration, and the PMO to run it.
Fractional and interim CIO, CTO, CISO and VP Ops.
Managed cybersecurity (MDR, SOC and vCISO), pen testing and compliance readiness.
Lean, supply chain and sourcing work that lifts EBITDA.
Bring Shadow AI under control with portfolio-wide policy, then build the AI use cases that pay off.
Help desk, NOC and Microsoft 365 on one portfolio standard.
NetSuite implementation, managed support and health checks.
Start with a rough-order-of-magnitude IT review: three to five days, a clear read on the IT, security and AI risks, and the likely cost to fix them.
