“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 EquityMost portfolio companies don’t lack technology. They lack a plan tied to the thesis and a senior leader to deliver it. We bring both: a costed roadmap built from an honest assessment, and a fractional or interim CIO, CTO, CISO, VP Ops, CMO, CHRO, program lead or sales leader in the seat until the work is done.
Private equity IT strategy consulting aligns a portfolio company’s technology with the investment thesis. We assess where the business stands, build a costed roadmap the sponsor can hold the team to, and put a senior leader in the seat to deliver it, turning technology from a drag on EBITDA and exit value into a driver of both.
Portfolio company leadership seats
CEO
Your management team
CIO
Chief Information Officer
CTO
Chief Technology Officer
CISO
Chief Information Security Officer
VP Ops
VP of Operations
We review the technology, security, operations and leadership of the company against the investment thesis, led by senior operators rather than a junior bench.
A costed, prioritized plan with a business case for each move, tied to the value creation plan, so the sponsor gets a roadmap to hold the team to, not a list of observations.
We put a fractional or interim leader in the seat to deliver it, then hand over to a permanent hire when the company is ready.
Senior leaders in the seats that matter most, and the advisory work that tells them where to go. Start with what the company needs now; the same team carries it forward.
A senior technology leader, often called a vCIO, who sets the IT strategy, runs the systems and vendors, and reports to the board in the sponsor’s terms. Fractional when the company needs senior direction alongside its team; interim when the seat is empty or a major program is in trouble.
IT strategy, budget and governance tied to the value creation plan
Vendor, systems and IT spend management
Interim leadership through an ERP rollout, integration or leadership gap
For companies whose product is software, a CTO who owns the platform and the engineering team’s direction: the product roadmap, the architecture, and the security of the code the company sells.
Product and platform roadmap
Architecture, modernization and technical debt
Application security testing for custom software
A senior CISO who owns the security program, sets the roadmap and reports to the board, without the cost of a full-time hire. The role sits within our Security and Compliance practice.
Security strategy, governance and an annual roadmap
Audit readiness, from SOC 2 to CMMC
Interim CISO through a carve-out, audit or leadership gap
An operations leader who steps in when the seat is empty or a turnaround needs an owner, leading the improvement work our Operations practice delivers.
Interim operations leadership
Lean continuous improvement and supply chain
Sourcing, procurement and S&OP
A senior program lead who owns the plan, the deadlines and the reporting for a major initiative, from an ERP rollout to the value creation plan, without a full-time hire.
Program charter, milestone plan and weekly cadence
Risk, issue and decision logs
Executive and sponsor reporting
Growth comes from more high-quality sales conversations with the right buyers. A fractional commercial leader, backed by a flexible bench of sales management and pricing talent, fills the gaps in process, tools and team. Most companies need gaps filled, not a new strategy.
Commercial diligence and value creation plan
GTM system build: CRM, sales process and weekly cadence
Fractional sales leadership and pricing support
A senior marketing leader who sets positioning, builds the demand engine and ties marketing spend to pipeline and revenue, without a full-time hire.
Positioning and messaging after an acquisition or rebrand
Demand generation, digital and marketing technology
Marketing spend tied to pipeline and revenue
A senior HR leader for the people side of the deal and the hold: retaining key people, designing the organization and bringing teams and HR systems together after close.
HR due diligence and Day 1 people readiness
Organization design, compensation and key-person retention
HR, payroll and HR system integration for carve-outs and add-ons
An objective, senior-led review of systems, infrastructure, security, AI readiness, the IT organization and key processes, ending in a costed roadmap and business case the sponsor can hold the team to.
Private equity technology assessments and scorecards
IT roadmap and business case tied to the investment thesis
IT spend analysis and application rationalization
AI maturity assessment and use-case roadmap
Post-close value creation workshop with management
Big technology programs fail without an owner. We stand up and run the transformation office that governs every workstream and partner, with weekly executive reporting to management and the sponsor.
Transformation and program management office
Process owners and a Center of Excellence
Knowledge transfer and handover to internal hires
We sit on the company’s side of the table: running software and integrator selections, negotiating contracts, and holding vendor-led projects to a plan, scope and budget before more money is committed.
Software and system integrator selection
Contract negotiation and vendor risk
IT procurement and spend controls
Most advisory work starts with a specific moment in the hold. Pick the one in front of you, and we’ll put the right senior leader on it.
“What should we fund first, and what will it return?”
A costed roadmap that quantifies the cost and risk in the company’s technology, so IT spend is tied to the investment thesis from the start.
Technology assessment and scorecard
Costed, sequenced roadmap
A business case for each initiative
“Who runs IT while we hire?”
An interim CIO keeps systems, vendors and projects on track, steadies the team, then helps you hire and hand over to the permanent leader.
An interim CIO in the seat, quickly
IT operations and vendors stabilized
Hiring support and a clean handover
“Can our systems absorb the next add-on?”
Buy-and-build stalls when every acquisition keeps its own systems. We set the target architecture and lead the move to one operating platform.
Enterprise assessment and multi-year roadmap
One ERP, CRM, warehouse and reporting backbone
A repeatable playbook for each new add-on
“Why is the rollout late and over budget?”
We step in with senior leadership and program governance, diagnose what has gone wrong and get the rollout moving again.
Root-cause diagnosis and recovery plan
A PMO that tracks issues, risks and resources
Integrator and vendor accountability
“Who is accountable to our timeline?”
Several vendor projects in flight with no unified plan. As the company’s advisor, we force scope, timeline and cost discipline before more money is committed.
One prioritized plan across every initiative
Contract and pricing negotiation
Security terms written into vendor contracts
“What will a buyer’s diligence find?”
Senior leadership to close the gaps a buyer would flag, documented and defensible before the data room opens.
Pre-exit technology and security review
Remediation led by a fractional CIO or CISO
Documentation ready for buyer diligence
“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
An interim CIO stabilized a drifting SAP rollout, built IT governance from scratch and consolidated 29 ecommerce sites into five for a PE-backed distributor.
Read the case study →
We ran the transformation office for a buy-and-build platform, governing 43 systems across 25 partners, then handed the platform to internal hires.
Read the case study →
An assessment-led roadmap and business case for a PE-backed platform, including the diagnosis and recovery plan for a stalled flagship project.
Read the case study →Something we haven’t covered? A partner can answer it on a short call.
Private equity IT strategy consulting aligns a portfolio company’s technology with the investment thesis. It starts with an objective assessment of systems, infrastructure, security and the IT organization, and ends in a costed roadmap that shows what to fix, what to fund and in what order.
What sets PE work apart is the deal context. The roadmap is tied to the value creation plan, the hold period and the exit, and it’s reported in the terms a sponsor cares about. The same senior team can then lead the work, as a fractional or interim CIO, CTO, CISO, VP Ops, CMO, CHRO, program lead or sales leader.
A vCIO and a fractional CIO are largely the same thing: a senior technology leader who works with the company part-time, sets the IT strategy, manages vendors and spend, and reports to the board, alongside the existing team. It suits companies that need senior direction but not a full-time executive.
An interim CIO steps into the role itself, usually when the seat is empty after close or a major program is in trouble. The focus is stabilizing IT and keeping projects moving, then handing over to a permanent hire. We provide both, and an engagement can shift from one to the other as the company’s needs change.
When the company sells software or runs on its own technology platform. A fractional CTO owns the product and platform roadmap, the architecture and the direction of the engineering team, and makes sure the code the company sells is tested and secure.
The need often comes up after an acquisition, when a founder-led team needs senior technical leadership, or when a flagship product has stalled and needs an objective diagnosis.
Yes. Alongside fractional CIO, CTO, CISO and VP Ops roles, we provide senior program leads to run major initiatives, fractional commercial leaders for sales, pricing and go-to-market, a fractional CMO for marketing and a fractional CHRO for HR, all from the same senior bench.
IT due diligence answers the deal team’s questions before signing: what you’re buying, what it will cost to fix, and what could affect the price. IT strategy consulting picks up after close and runs through the hold: setting the roadmap, leading the work and keeping technology tied to the value creation plan.
The two connect. Diligence findings and the draft 100-day plan become the starting point for the roadmap, and the same senior team can carry the work forward. See our IT due diligence services.
Both. Our advisors don’t hand over a report and leave: they step into leadership seats, run the transformation office and manage the vendors doing the implementation.
For one buy-and-build platform, we assessed the business, set a three-year roadmap and then led the transformation across 43 systems and 25 implementation partners, before handing the platform to internal hires.
Yes. A fractional CIO or CTO often leads an existing internal team and manages the company’s current vendors and service providers, holding them to a plan, scope and budget.
If the company needs a provider to run day-to-day IT, our managed IT services can take that on, so strategy and operations sit with one team. 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 technology assessment: a senior-led review of systems, security and the IT organization, with a costed roadmap for what to fix first.
