Cutter Consortium’s Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions ensures an unbiased assessment of the software, software architecture, technology, security, and technology skills of your potential acquisition.
Discover the value and SWOTs of your target company’s current-state systems.
Why Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions?
- Support your go/no-go decision
- Determine an appropriate bid
- Negotiate with the owner should his asking price fail to reflect reality.
What can you discover with Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions?
Cutter Consortium’s Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions is a high-level assessment of a target firm’s software, software architecture, and the software process, as well as a technical debt assessment of the software to identify risks and areas of vulnerability that will need to be addressed going forward. The Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions addresses questions such as:
| A Note About Cutter Consortium’s Interaction with the Target Firm |
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Often, a target firm is uneasy about making its system and code available for assessment by a potential buyer. They worry that the assessment will not be objective and could be used against them to lower the purchase price. In addition, they want to protect their IP in case the deal falls through. Cutter Consortium has addressed these very real concerns and collaborates with all parties to determine a course of action that makes everyone comfortable. |
- What risks exist as a result of how the software was written and architected?
- What is the value of the existing code?
- To what extent does the system, in its current state, have the ability to scale?
- What is the level and nature of the technical debt?
- Where are the flaws in the system? Are there single points of failure?
- What are the security vulnerabilities?
- Are the change management and release management processes sufficiently mature and robust?
- What is the technical maturity level of the top team members?
What happens during Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions?
The assessment consists of five components. You can choose to have any or all of them assessed as part of your due diligence process.
- Technical Processes
Cutter Consortium examines the target company’s internal development artifacts to determine the team’s current capability to develop new features and respond to change requests and problem tickets.
- Technical Debt Assessment
In this code-level analysis, Cutter Consortium looks for measurable aspects of risky code. Our technical debt analysis is done with a variety of analysis metrics: complexity, test coverage, duplication, code rules, and documentation. The Cutter team identifies gaps in architecture and code that represent significant technical debt, and reviews both the architecture maturity and the organization’s ability to change/modify the code base without significantly re-architecting/re-factoring.
- Security Review
In its Security Review, Cutter Consortium identifies high-level security inherent risks. Our approach includes areas such as: application security reviews, analysis of static code security, review of AWS or similar accounts and services, security governance, and extensive penetration testing.
- Skills Audit
The Skills Audit is an assessment of the technical skills of the top members of the target firm’s technical team, as well as the proficiency of the team as a whole, since both are critical to success. To assess both individual skills and team dynamics, Cutter conducts extensive interviews with team members individually and in groups.
- Software/IP Due Diligence
During this assessment module, Cutter Consortium performs a high-level analysis of the software, software architecture, and the history of the process used to create it to identify intellectual property risks and areas of vulnerability the acquiring firm will want to address prior to finalizing an acquisition.
Cutter Consortium has performed numerous technical due diligence assignments and possesses both the technical know-how and the sensitivity, diplomacy, and confidentiality required when interacting with a potential seller.
How quickly can the Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions assessment be completed?
We understand how important time is when you’re making an acquisition. That’s why, depending on how many modules you engage for the Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions, you’ll have preliminary findings within a week of the assessment, and a final report just a week later.
How can you get started?
Acquisitions are a huge investment and can alter the future for your business. Ensure you understand the systems you’re acquiring and the value they truly bring. For more information or to schedule a Technical Due Diligence for Acquisitions, contact us at sales@cutter.com, +1 781 648 8700, or complete the form below.