IT situation picture and due diligence for holdings.

IT due diligence examines, before or after an investment, whether a company’s IT can carry the business model and the growth plan. It assesses architecture, security, costs, dependencies on people and vendors and regulatory obligations, and quantifies what is needed to remedy the findings.

Before the investment, when IT can be a value driver or a risk. In the first weeks after the investment, when management needs a plan. And whenever a holding grows, enters new markets or becomes regulated.

I take on a clearly defined engagement in the holding, clarify the situation, implement the most important decisions and hand over with documentation to management or an internal team. No lasting dependency on the advisor arises.

Yes. Family offices often hold stakes in different industries and sizes. A situation picture per holding makes IT risks and costs comparable, without a large consulting team being needed for every question.

Typically a system overview, contracts with IT vendors, costs of recent years, roles and access rights, security concepts, incidents, certificates and audit reports. What is missing is itself a finding.

That depends on the exit horizon and the valuation logic, not on a fixed rule. In a valuation based on EBITDA multiples, running expense (OPEX) lowers EBITDA and thus tends to lower the multiple value, while capitalised investments (CAPEX) do not burden EBITDA directly, but tie up liquidity and free cash flow. Before a near exit, investments that a buyer does not pay for are usually avoided; with a long-term investment horizon, CAPEX for a supporting platform can make sense. The assessment belongs in the IT situation picture of the holding.

Legally, in most cases working in a conformant manner is enough, meeting the requirements of a standard in substance without being externally audited. In due diligence reviews, supplier assessments and customers’ security questionnaires, a certificate nevertheless makes a big difference, because it creates trust without a review of your own and can shorten sales cycles.