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Digital Masterplan for Acquisitions | Darwin

Digital transformation plan for acquired companies by private equity and venture capital firms.

The Situation

You’ve just bought a company and want to improve its digital capabilities in order to create value? First off, congratulations! We can help you upgrade the digital aspects of your new acquisition, by defining a strategic digital transformation plan and support you in executing it.

Our 5-Step Process

In 5 compact steps, we determine what is needed to get the company up to par in all its digital aspects.

Step 1: INTAKE

The first step of our process is an intake with key people in your newly acquired company. We determine the history and current state of digital initiatives, the view senior management has on the role of digital and – if they have one – the existing digital roadmap.

This session helps us define the overall strategy & value proposition and allows us to set an ambition for the project. We also get a clear impression of the maturity of the team.

Step 2: MARKET & COMPETITION ANALYSIS

Next, we have a look at the landscape you will be operating in. If your investment company targets a certain sector, you will undoubtedly have a good view on the market overall. We can add digital insights to you market knowledge and scan the playing field for ideas and best practices found with your competition.

Thanks to our wide experience, we can also find parallels with neighboring sectors and innovations that are already occurring in other countries and regions.

Step 3: INTERVIEWS

The next step is to take a deep-dive into the building blocks of the organization, to determine what your digital value proposition will look like and what will be needed to reach the proposed ambition. Some common building blocks are the following:

  • Business model & the place of digital in the financials
  • Products and/or services
  • Customer experience
  • Marketing & CRM
  • Operations
  • Technology, tools & data/data quality
  • Organization

Depending on the nature of your company, some of the building blocks can get more or less focus or other blocks may be added. For example, in a B2B environment, a review of the sales process might be included. Or perhaps the company manufactures its own products and we can evaluate potential digitization in that area.

Step 4: ROADMAP

There will be a large list of potential improvements, tools, actions, features, processes to implement. In the 4th step, we assess what should be done when and by whom. We determine what the quick wins are, what the mid-term priorities should be, what the structural improvements are and what the critical path for implementation is.

Step 5: DIGITAL MASTERPLAN

Finally, we put all of it together in a digital transformation masterplan, including an estimate of the required budget and potential gains of the plan. This way, you will get a clear view on the profitability over a 3-5 year horizon.

To make sure all stakeholders can easily be brought on board, we also include a slide deck that you can use to communicate the results of this project.

Step 6: EXECUTION SUPPORT (Optional)

No plan survives first contact with the customer. Although we are confident in our strategic capabilities, the reality is that unexpected elements always show up during the execution of a plan. This is why we prefer to stay involved in any project we consult on. This way, we make sure that the plan doesn’t end up unused in a drawer somewhere and that we can learn and adapt based on real-life feedback.

The Darwin network has a wide range of partners, including parties that can assist at the (daily) operational level of the plan.

What to Expect

Based on the assessment done with the DARWIN PERFORMANCE MODEL®️ , we will together uncover the real state the business you acquired is in. This will give us the insights to kickstart the Digital Masterplan with the right approach.

  • A network of best in class, renowned specialists picked based on your challenge
  • An approach based on proven successes with companies like Action or LVMH 
  • Focus on strategy, decision making and organization enablement
  • Quick wins implementation to get momentum and create value

Reach out to our Darwin Experts

Let's discuss how the Digital Masterplan for Acquistions model can work for your objectives.

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