Technical Due Diligence: More than Checking Software

In our technical due diligence, we investigate the software, infrastructure, processes and organisation of a tech firm or financial institution.  Our team has relevant IT background, having worked both on the provider side at software firms and on the user side in financial instiutions.  With our expertise in developing and managing software, we know what to look for – and how to assess what we see.

What we cover in a Technical Due Diligence

Three core pillars of technology are the subject of our analysis:

  • IT Architecture is the combination of the different technologies and applications used to develop and deploy the software solution.
  • IT Processes encompass all steps from designing and coding software to testing, deployment and release management
  • IT Organsation reflects the people element of software development and maintenance: The structure, skill set and the recruitment and talent development aspects.

How we go about a tech due diligence step by step

From outside-in analysis to hands-on tech workshops, we ensure our clients understand the technology at stake.

1. Outside-in Tech Analysis
For many software firms, technical documentation is publicly available and allows an outside-in assessment of the IT architecture and typically also parts of the IT processes. We combine our industry and tech experience with this documentation into an initial view of the tech components.
2. Data Room Analysis
If not already provided, we will request a specific list of technical documentation from the sell-side. Most of the documents will be standard for an organisation to have - so it should be available off-the-shelf. We will work through the material to come up with a corroborated view on IT architecture, IT processes, and IT organsiation.
3. Tech Workshops
We prepare and lead hands-on tech workshops. Expect us to provide a structured agenda, key questions, and requested participants – based on our prior analyses. We will take a tour of the development environment and code, diving into tools online. As end products, we will synthesize the key findings and identify further issues to probe.
4. Expert Interviews
Let us lead the expert-to-expert discussions. We know the industry and we have the relevant managerial and operational context to get the most out of industry expert interviews. We know what can and should be asked. And we know how to interpret the answers. We prepare, conduct and synthesize calls with industry experts. We work with the preferred expert networks of our clients to profile, identify and vet potential industry experts for discussions. We prepare interview guides. Following the interview, we synthesize the insights in homogeneously structured minutes