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22 January 2018

Analytics trends in diligence and beyond: Are technology company deal teams leveraging the best insights?

As private equity (PE) investors and strategic buyers continue their pursuit of M&A opportunities in the highly competitive technology sector, finding the right target and acting quickly are more critical than ever. Acquirers tell us they are using the latest data analytics to assess potential targets and outperform their competition. However, in many cases “analytics” is merely a buzzword, and we find practitioners barely scratching the surface of available capabilities — or worse, not doing anything fundamentally different than before. Data analytics, when employed correctly as an integral part of business strategy, can strengthen the diligence process and transform the way buyers manage the transaction after closing. In this article, EY aims to define leading practice in the use of analytics on the buy side, via a case study of an EY client looking to expand their Software as a Service (SaaS) footprint. The Buyer, an enterprise software company, was considering the acquisition of a SaaS-driven productivity business.

Document ID: 2018-5156

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