--- titel: "IT due diligence in business succession · SACOSI" url: https://sacosi.ch/en/succession seite: /en/succession stand: 2026-09-24 beschreibung: "IT situation picture before handover, technical due diligence at purchase: investment backlog, key-person dependencies, legacy issues. Switzerland and Germany." --- > Knowledge version of the page https://sacosi.ch/en/succession. It contains the full text, including what is shortened or collapsible on the page itself. Publisher: SACOSI, Situational Awareness Consulting by Ivo Schönberner, Zürich. # IT situation picture before business succession. **Short answer:** Anyone handing over or taking over a company is dealing with more than figures. Financial due diligence does not show the condition of IT and technology, how much investment backlog is pending, or how strongly the company depends on individual people. Before a handover, I produce an IT situation picture, or, before a purchase, I check what a buyer is actually taking on, making risks, investment backlog and key-person dependencies identifiable before they become a point of dispute or a surprise. ## Which IT risks does a buyer take on? What does not appear on the balance sheet: investment backlog, security gaps, legacy licence and contract issues, and dependency on individual people. - **Investment backlog:** systems and devices that should long since have been renewed but keep running. - **Legacy security issues:** outdated software, open access points, missing or incomplete security concepts. - **Legacy licence and contract issues:** subscriptions, maintenance contracts and usage rights that are not readily transferable. - **Dependency on individual service providers:** can make the handover harder or more expensive if it only comes to light afterwards. - **Investments not yet written off:** IT investments (CAPEX) capitalised shortly before a handover, with their own useful life, are often not fully paid for by a buyer or are written down in the due diligence. Whether an investment still makes sense before a handover depends on the exit horizon, not on the previous funding habit. ## What does financial due diligence miss? Financial due diligence examines what can be expressed in figures. The condition of the technology is not part of that. - It examines revenue, costs, contracts and balance sheet items, not the technical substance behind them. - Investment backlog usually does not appear on the balance sheet at all, because it is a foregone investment, not a liability. - Key-person dependencies and undocumented knowledge are not visible in any financial metric. - Technical due diligence complements the financial one; it does not replace it. The same gap applies to portfolio holdings and investors, more on that under Investors and Family Offices. ## How do you identify key-person dependencies? When one person leaves and no one knows the access credentials, configurations or workflows, that is a key-person dependency, not a special case. - A key-person dependency map records which knowledge is tied to which person. - Typical signs: one name comes up for every technical question, access is not documented, there is no cover. - The map shows what documenting it or arranging cover costs, and where a handover is even possible without that person. ## When should an owner produce the IT situation picture? Well before the first approach to a buyer, so that findings can still be remedied rather than merely disclosed. - **Before the sale process:** investment backlog and key-person dependencies can still be remedied before a buyer negotiates them as a price deduction. - **During succession planning:** a successor from the family or the team needs the same handover documentation as an external buyer. - **For buyers:** the situation picture can also be produced after the initial approach, as your own technical due diligence, then serving as the basis for price negotiations. ## Questions about succession. What owners, successors and buyers most often ask before a handover. ### Which IT risks does a buyer take on in a business succession? Without their own review, a buyer takes on the condition of the IT as it is: open investment backlog, outdated or poorly maintained systems, ongoing licence and contract commitments, security gaps, and dependency on individual people or service providers. These risks often only become apparent months after the handover. ### What does financial due diligence miss in IT? Financial due diligence examines figures, contracts and balance sheet items. It does not show whether an application is technically outdated, whether investment backlog is pending, whether knowledge exists only in one person's head, or whether security gaps exist. These questions are answered by a technical due diligence, which complements the financial one, not replaces it. ### How do you identify key-person dependencies? Key-person dependencies show up when access credentials, passwords, configurations or workflows are known to only one person and are not documented anywhere. A key-person dependency map systematically records which knowledge is tied to which person, and shows what documenting it or arranging cover costs. ### When should an owner produce the IT situation picture before a handover? Well before the first approach to a buyer or the succession arrangement, so that investment backlog and key-person dependencies can still be remedied rather than merely disclosed. Even without a concrete sale plan, the situation picture is worthwhile as soon as a succession becomes foreseeable. ### What belongs in a technical due diligence for a succession? The architecture and condition of the systems, security and access, ongoing costs and contract terms, dependencies on people and service providers, the licence inventory and its transferability, and the question of whether the existing documentation is even sufficient for a new team. ### What does investment backlog mean, and how is it estimated? Investment backlog is technology that should long since have been renewed or replaced but keeps running because no one has approved the investment. It cannot be quantified to the exact franc, but it can be estimated as a range with reasoning for each item, so that buyer and seller have a common basis for negotiation. ## Is a succession or takeover coming up for you? Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation of the handover or the purchase, I ask questions. Afterwards, we both know whether an IT situation picture or a technical due diligence makes sense. CH +41 78 251 09 69 DE +49 152 27602667 ZRH 47.3769°N · FRA 50.1109°N · German, English