Service Provider Type: Independent Consultant with Financial Expertise
Industry: Healthcare
The Need
Ready to sell one of its portcos, the PE firm was looking for an outside expert to provide pre-sale diligence
The PE firm was ready to sell its diagnostic supplies and equipment manufacturer and was looking for a financial expert to get them across the finish line.
The Challenge
Financial expert to help prepare a portco for sale
The individual would need to help review quality of earnings, perform a market study, validate a financial model, coach management on pitching, and most importantly, be able to close the books and handle data requests.
How we helped
Connected the client witha PE-grade CFO
BluWave provided three experienced resources – all with CFO experience – from its pre-vetted network in less than 24 hours. We were by the firm’s side throughout the vetting calls, and helped them choose a best-fit option.
The Result
Consultant comes on-site and helps the PE firm close the sale in the same calendar year
Months after signing on the independent consultant, who worked on-site throughout the process, another PE firm purchased the portco. The consultant helped the organization with pre-sale diligence, optimized its finance function and ensured a smooth handoff to new ownership.
The buyers commented on the strong foundation and high growth potential of their new asset. The selling PE firm was equally pleased with the process.
We had a great experience with the consultant. My key feedback is that he has a great temperament and worked well with us and management. He has an ability to work independently and delivered solid results.
A product vision roadmap defines your vision and strategy, creates your product roadmap, gains alignment and buy-in, and tracks progress and re-aligning.
These steps serve as a guide for your team and key stakeholders throughout the product vision process.
Defining your product vision is the first step in creating a roadmap.
It should explain the purpose of your product, how it aligns with your company’s vision, the problems your product aims to solve and who it is intended for. It will guide all your product development efforts.
Your strategy should outline key objectives and priorities to achieve your vision. It should articulate how your product will be successful in the marketplace as well as differentiate itself from competitors.
Once you have defined your product vision and strategy, it’s time to map out your product roadmap.
This visual representation involves determining key product milestones and timelines to achieve the product vision and strategy. It also provides a high-level overview of the product’s development, identifying major releases and features.
The roadmap should be detailed enough to guide the product team yet concise enough for leadership and stakeholders to quickly grasp.
It requires balancing short-term and long-term goals to keep the product competitive while focusing on key priorities.
Communicating your product roadmap to stakeholders and customers is critical to gaining alignment and buy-in. Sharing it and receiving feedback will uncover questions and concerns to address.
The project leader must explain how it supports the overall vision and company strategy. They should then be willing to adapt the roadmap based on feedback to ensure support. This is a critical step for the success of a product, which is why it’s important to take the time to listen to needs and build consensus.
Once your product vision roadmap is in place, you must monitor key performance indicators to ensure it stays on track. Regularly revisiting your roadmap and vision will enable you to optimize your roadmap and achieve the best outcomes.
Some KPIs to track a product roadmap’s progress include:
Customer adoption and retention rates
Revenue and profitability
Customer satisfaction scores
Feature usage metrics
Market share
Product quality metrics
Tracking these metrics will ensure your roadmap is achieving key business and customer objectives.
Defining your product vision and strategy, mapping your product roadmap, gaining alignment and buy-in and tracking progress and re-aligning are key steps in this process. By following these steps and leveraging the resources available, you can create a clear roadmap.
By evaluating the technology, processes, and people within the finance function of their portcos, private equity firms can make informed decisions that can lead to improved financial performance and increased profitability.
Here are a few ways they’re already doing so:
Technology: After an acquisition, portfolio companies incur debt that they need to measure against for the duration of the hold period. To effectively measure financial goals like these, companies need a robust, PE-grade reporting package
People: Firms want to ensure that the right talent is in place to effectively manage the unique demands of a PE-backed finance function. Assessing finance talent often includes bringing in search firms to fill skill gaps, or bringing in leadership coaches and training providers
If you or your portcos have a finance need, or any other third-party need, contact our research and operations team to set up a scoping call.
A strong organic search presence is a great way to attract new readers, users or clients. As you rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), you can usually expect more traffic, conversions and revenue. But it’s important to have the right person in place to lead these efforts.
What is SEO? Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process or strategy behind improving a website’s content so that it organically ranks well on search engines like Google or Bing. This is different from paid search ads which fall under SEM, or search engine marketing.
A search engine optimization guru (though they probably don’t call themselves that) will know that more organic traffic to your website means more potential customers.
They will know how to improve your site’s user experience and position content in a way that boosts conversions. This is especially important if people can make purchases or book business directly on your site.
While SEM requires ongoing investments, the right organic search strategy can yield long-term results that require less maintenance. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. A good search strategy could take months to bear fruit, depending on how competitive your market is.
That’s why SEO recruitment continues to be a hot topic for private equity firms, portfolio companies, and independent and public companies.
“SEO is an foundational component of any modern business’s digital marketing strategy,” BluWave’s Senior Content Marketing Manager Brad Gerick says. “With so much information available, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find a true expert, which is why it can be helpful to work with a specialized recruiting firm to hire the right candidate.”
Let’s dive in to what you should look for in an SEO, and how to hire someone whose talent matches your needs.
What Skills and Tools Do You Need for SEO
On-Page Skills
On-page SEO skills include optimizing your website content and technical elements to improve your rankings in search engines. Some of the more important ones include:
Conducting keyword research to determine the best keywords and phrases to target for your site and content. Choose keywords that your audience is searching for and that you can rank for.
Optimizing your page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt attributes and content for your target keywords. Include keywords prominently and naturally to signal their relevance to search engines.
Improving your internal linking structure by connecting related content and categories across your site. Link to high-quality, relevant content to guide users and search engines to your most important pages.
Optimizing your URL structure with descriptive, keyword-rich page names. Well-structured URLs make your pages easier to read, navigate and rank in search engines.
Providing valuable, high-quality content that matches for what your audience is searching. (The latter part is also known as keyword intent.) For more information about this, check out Google’s E-E-A-T documentation.
Off-Page Skills
Off-page SEO skills include building relationships with other websites and influencers to earn high-quality backlinks and increase your site’s authority. Key off-page SEO skills include:
Conducting outreach to other websites and influencers for backlink opportunities like guest posts, interviews, mentions and citations. Build relationships with other industry leaders to earn high-quality backlinks over time. Be careful, though. Buying backlinks or engaging in shady link-exchange tactics can get you in trouble with the algorithms. Avoid these schemes at all costs (no pun intended).
Leveraging social media platforms to increase exposure for your content and brand. Share your blog posts, news, events and other updates on sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to reach new potential customers and backlink partners.
Engaging with your audience and influencers through email marketing campaigns. Send a regular newsletter, promote new content, share industry news and build rapport with subscribers to earn more links and social shares.
Participating in relevant online communities and forums to establish yourself as a thought leader. Answer questions on sites like Quora, Reddit and industry-specific forums. Provide value to others while linking back to your website. (Do this with caution, though. Reddit moderators don’t like it when users hijack their subreddits simply to get more traffic.)
Technical SEO skills refer to the technical knowledge and abilities required to optimize a website for search engines like Google. Some key technical SEO skills include:
Optimizing page-load speed. Some tactics for this include reducing file sizes, minimizing redirects, optimizing images, caching content and compressing code. Fast page load speeds improve the user experience and search engine rankings. A well-structured site with logical navigation and internal links helps search engines understand your content. Google’s Core Web Vitals are a great starting point to learn more about this topic.
Ensuring your content is mobile-friendly and responsive, with a clear focus and user experience for all device types. The majority of web traffic now comes from mobile devices, so a mobile-optimized site is essential. In fact, Google uses mobile-first indexing to crawl sites.
Troubleshooting any technical SEO issues like duplicate content, broken links, crawl errors or penalties to resolve problems and avoid negative impacts on search visibility.
Content Marketing
Content marketing refers to the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant content to attract and retain customers. It is closely tied to SEO, as high-quality content helps to improve search rankings, increase traffic, build brand authority and boost lead generation. Key content marketing skills for SEO specialists include:
Conducting keyword research to identify topics and questions that your target audience is searching for. Then, create content that answers those questions and optimizes for relevant keywords.
Writing informative and engaging blog posts, articles, case studies, whitepapers and other content assets. Content should be valuable, well-researched, and optimized for both search engines and readers.
Promoting content on social media platforms to increase traffic and engagement. Share updates on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reach new readers and earn more links and social shares.
Analyzing the performance of your content using tools like Google Analytics, Search Console and Buzzsumo. Track traffic, rankings, engagement and conversions to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Strategy and Planning
SEO strategy and planning refer to the high-level thinking and goal setting required to optimize a website for search. Some key SEO strategy and planning skills include:
Conducting a comprehensive SEO audit to analyze your website and marketing performance. Review on-page and off-page factors like technical issues, content gaps, link profiles and keyword rankings to determine your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.
Developing a data-driven SEO plan that outlines your goals, key objectives, actions, timelines, resources and expected outcomes. Set specific, measurable goals for traffic, rankings, conversions and revenue that align with your business objectives. Determine the strategies and tactics you will use to achieve those goals.
Implementing and monitoring your SEO plan to ensure you stay on track. Use project management tools and best practices to organize workflows, assign responsibilities, track progress and make adjustments as needed. Regularly evaluate your results and key metrics to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Adjusting your plan based on feedback, insights and changes in the search landscape. Search engines frequently update their algorithms and best practices, and the needs of your audience may evolve over time as well. Review your plan regularly and make data-driven changes to optimize your efforts and results.
Commonly Used SEO Tools
Here are some of the higher level categories of search-related tools, as well as some specific recommendations within each one:
Technical SEO:Screaming Frog, Google Search Console and Ahrefs Site Audit help assess technical issues that could affect your search rankings. They crawl your site to identify errors like broken links, slow page load times, duplicate content and more. They also provide metrics on site speed, mobile-friendliness and XML sitemaps to help optimize technical SEO.
Content optimization: Content optimization tools like Yoast SEO, Grammarly and Hemingway Editor help create blog posts, articles and other content that ranks well in search engines. They analyze content for keyword usage, readability, grammar and plagiarism to ensure it is high-quality, informative and optimized for your target audience.
Link building: Tools such as Ahrefs Backlink Checker, Moz Link Explorer and BuzzSumo help build high-quality backlinks to improve your site’s authority and search rankings. They provide data on your existing link profile as well as opportunities for new links and influencers who may be interested in linking to or sharing your content.
Analytics: Analytics tools like Google Analytics 4, Looker Studio and Google Tag Manager help track the performance of your SEO and content marketing efforts. They provide insights into metrics such as traffic, rankings, engagements, conversions and revenue to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Artificial Intelligence: With the wide release of ChatGPT, as well as the creation of myriad other AI tools, this is quickly becoming an essential part of the content-creation process. Just make sure the SEO you hire uses these tools to complement their job, and not do all the work for them. AI can be great, but it shouldn’t be applied to an SEO strategy without thorough human refinement and vigilance.
If your SEO candidate can’t talk to you about Google Search Console in detail, don’t hire them.
Assess a Candidate’s Knowledge and Experience
This role requires a combination of both technical knowledge and strategic thinking to analyze data, identify opportunities and develop high-impact solutions.
Here are some ways to make sure they fit the bill:
Online tests: Services like Imocha, TestGorilla and Vervoe offer skills assessment tests tailored for SEO specialists. These measure a candidate’s knowledge of on-page and off-page optimization, content strategy, link building, analytics and more.
Portfolio reviews: Ask the candidate to share examples of previous SEO projects, case studies or their own website to evaluate their work. Look for clear goals, data-driven insights and measurable results and impact. They may have to anonymize some parts of the report for client confidentiality, and that’s OK. The main think you want to see is that they have experience executing successful projects.
Case studies and scenarios: Present the candidate with an SEO challenge or problem and ask them to walk through how they would approach and solve it. This helps assess their strategic thinking, decision making and problem-solving abilities. Don’t be afraid to do it live during the interview. If they don’t know some of these things off the top of their head, they’re probably too green to lead in this area.
References and testimonials: Speaking with a candidate’s past clients or employers is one of the best ways to evaluate their skills, work quality and professionalism. Look for references that can speak to their SEO experience, key accomplishments and strengths. This will also be a sign that they’re pleasant to work with if others are willing to help them.
When you use a resource from the BluWave-vetted network, they have already been vetted multiple times before we ever consider connecting you. They must also have multiple high-quality references from private equity firms and other top businesses.
Even then, we won’t just send you a list of all the candidates available. We will select from the best resources on standby to give you two or three best-fit options for your specific situation. Within one business day, you’ll have two or three SEO options that are tailored to your niche.
There are many key terms used in SEO that are important to understand. They describe concepts, strategies and metrics that specialists reference on a regular basis. Some of the top words and phrases to know include:
Basic terms:
Search engine: A website that allows users to search for information on the internet, such as Google, Bing or Baidu.
Crawler: A program that searches the web to build an index of websites and content for a search engine.. This could also be referred to as a “bot” or “spider.”
Index: A search engine’s database of websites, pages and content that have been crawled and indexed.
Query: The search terms entered by a user into a search engine. This is more commonly referred to as a “keyword” in many cases.
SERP: Search engine results page, or the page of results returned for a user’s search query. It’s pronounced just as it’s spelled.
Organic vs paid results: Organic results are earned, while paid results are advertising spots purchased by businesses. Make sure you’re not hiring an SEM expert to do SEO work. While related, these are completely different skills.
This is a search engine results page (SERP).
Technical terms:
URL: Uniform Resource Locator, or the full address of a page on the web. And a URL slug is everything that comes after .com or .net, for example. This page’s URL is https://bluwave.net/seo-recruitment/, but the slug is simply /seo-recruitment/.
Domain name: The main part of a URL, like “bluwave.net“.
HTTP status code: A number that indicates the status of a request to a web server, such as 200 for success or 404 for not found.
Robots.txt: A text file that tells search engine crawlers which parts of a website to index or avoid. If a candidate doesn’t know how to find your robots.txt file in 10 seconds or less, don’t hire them. (Hint: All they have to do is go to yoursite.com/robots.txt)
Sitemap: An XML file that lists the pages on a website to help search engines discover and crawl content.
On-page terms:
Keyword: A word or phrase that users may search for to find content on a specific topic.
Title tag: HTML element that contains the main headline for a page and is displayed in search results. In the code, this would be <title>Page Title Here</title>. This is one of the most important elements of ranking on SERPs.
Meta description: A concise summary of a page’s content that is displayed in search results. This is important, but it does not have an affect on a page’s ranking.
Heading tag: HTML elements like <h1> to <h6> that indicate the importance and structure of content on a page. A page’s headline is usually within an <h1> tag. It’s best to have only one <h1> tag per page.
Alt text: Description of an image that is displayed if the image cannot be seen by a user. This is especially important to making your site accessible for people with disabilities.
Why do you have more than one H1?
— johnmu is not a chatbot yet 🐀 (@JohnMu) June 15, 2017
Off-page terms:
Link: A hyperlink that connects one page to another.
Anchor text: The clickable text of a link.
Backlink: An incoming link to a page from another website. This is a significant factor in ranking well on Google.
Link building: The process of acquiring high-quality backlinks to improve a website’s authority and search rankings. This is best done naturally and not through paid schemes or shady exchanges.
Domain authority: A score that indicates the strength and influence of a website based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to it. Search engines like Google do not recognize domain authority. It’s a score used by platforms like Ahrefs and Semrush. Think of it as a barometer and not a thermostat.
Top KPIs in SEO
To track the success of your SEO efforts, you need to choose the right KPIs. Some of the top ones to consider are:
Business outcomes: Focus on conversions, customer lifetime value, cost per acquisition and return on investment. These show the direct impact of SEO on your business.
Traffic quality: Monitor organic visibility, organic sessions, branded vs non-branded traffic and bounce rate. This helps ensure you’re getting high-quality traffic. Google Analytics 4 is a great way to do so.
Keyword performance: Track your keyword rankings, keyword difficulty and keyword opportunity. See how you can improve your rankings and find new keywords to target.
Link profile: Evaluate your backlinks, referring domains, domain authority and link velocity. Build high-quality links to boost your rankings.
These KPIs provide actionable insights into your SEO progress and help guide your strategy. Track them regularly to maximize your search visibility and drive more traffic and conversions.
Interview Questions for an SEO Candidate
Interview questions help evaluate if a candidate has the necessary skills and experience for an SEO role. They reveal how well they understand SEO concepts, strategies and best practices.
Here are some sample questions you can use:
General questions:
What is your approach to SEO and how do you stay up-to-date with trends?
What are your top priorities for SEO and how do you determine key performance indicators (KPIs)?
How would you integrate SEO with our overall digital marketing strategy?
Technical questions:
How would you evaluate our website’s technical SEO health? What issues should we fix?
How can we improve site speed and mobile-friendliness? What tools would you use?
Here are some of the things you would want to see from a candidate’s past work. While no one will have expertise in all these areas, having at least some of them is essential.
SEO Projects:
Types of projects, such as technical audits, content optimization, link building.
Scope and complexity of projects, including the number of web pages, amount of content, types of keywords.
The candidate’s level of responsibility and involvement e.g. executing tasks, managing projects, leading SEO teams.
SEO Results:
Improvements in search rankings, organic traffic, conversions.
Growth in key metrics like impressions, clicks, dwell time.
Awards, case studies or other recognition of their results and impact
SEO Tools:
SEO software, analytics platforms, rank tracking tools, etc. that the candidate has expertise in using.
Technical skills with HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript. Even if the candidate isn’t a “coder” or programmer, they should have knowledge of some of these languages.
SEO Skills:
Strong research, analysis, problem-solving and critical thinking.
The ability to optimize content for both search engines and users.
Proficiency in link building, outreach, content promotion and other SEO strategies.
Excellent communication skills for educating clients and coworkers about SEO.
Keep Up with SEO Trends and Best Practices
There are many great resources these days to keep up with the latest SEO trends and best practices. Sometimes, though, it can be hard to tell which are legitimate. Here are a few recommendations both for your benefit, as well as what you might like to hear from how a candidate stays informed:
Blogs: Follow reputable SEO blogs like Moz, Ahrefs, Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Journal. They frequently publish articles on the latest trends, updates from search engines and expert opinions.
Podcasts: Listen to SEO podcasts such as Search Off the Record (Google’s official show) and Search Engine Journal Show. Experts are often interviewed to discuss trending topics, share their insights and debate controversial issues.
Webinars: Attend webinars from platforms like Ahrefs, Clearscope and BrightEdge. They frequently host live sessions with SEO professionals talking about trending strategies, new opportunities and ways to overcome challenges. The Q&A portions of these webinars also provide useful discussions on recent changes in search rankings and algorithms.
Online courses: Take online courses on SEO and related topics from Udemy, Thinkific, Kajabi and LinkedIn Learning. These courses teach the latest techniques and best practices from industry experts. While some cover SEO fundamentals, many focus on trending areas like technical SEO, content optimization, link building and keyword research. Though often paid, the courses help gain a deeper understanding of current SEO methods.
Conferences: Join online or in-person SEO conferences to hear from industry leaders, learn from case studies and network with other professionals. Major conferences like SearchLove, Friends of Search Fest, Brighton SEO, MozCon and Mn Search Summit feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, and presentations on the newest trends, innovations, and issues in SEO. Attending these conferences is a great way to stay ahead of competitors and meet like-minded SEO practitioners.
MozCon is one of the more popular and well-known search-based conferences.
Do you need a digital content maven to give your website(s) a deep audit? Or perhaps this is something you never considered and don’t know where to start. A proven SEO expert is just what you want.
The BluWave network of highly vetted service providers has search engine optimization resources on standby, no matter your organization, website size or industry.
When you get on a scoping call with our research and operations team, they’ll perform a quick but detailed evaluation of your situation and provide two to three best-fit SEO resources within a single business day.
With so much opportunity in organic search, you don’t want to waste another day with a website that isn’t optimized for growing your business. Contact us today to get started.
A data warehouse is an essential tool for businesses that need to manage large amounts of data. With the advent of big data, data warehouses have become even more critical for making the right data-driven decisions.
But with so many different types of out there, it can be tough to figure out which one is the best fit. Having an expert service provider help with the process can save you a lot of time.
Let’s discuss the different types of data warehouses: enterprise data warehouses, data marts, virtual data warehouses, operational data stores and cloud-based data warehouses.
We’ll also explore the pros and cons of each type and give you some tips on how to choose the right one.
An enterprise data warehouse is a centralized repository that stores all the data for an entire organization. It’s designed to handle large volumes from multiple sources and provides a single source of “truth.”
One of the benefits of an enterprise data warehouse is that it can integrate data from multiple sources and provide a comprehensive view.
This makes it an excellent choice for companies that need to analyze large amounts of information from different sources.
Three examples of companies that might use an enterprise data warehouse are:
A large retailer that needs to analyze sales data from multiple locations and sales channels.
A healthcare provider that needs to consolidate patient data from different locations and systems.
A financial institution that needs to integrate data from different divisions, such as banking and investment services.
A data mart is a subset of an enterprise data warehouse that is designed to serve a specific department or business unit within an organization. Data marts are typically smaller than enterprise data warehouses and are used to address specific needs.
The upside of a data mart is that it can be designed to meet the needs of a particular business unit or department. Organizations that need to analyze data at a more granular level would be well-suited for this option.
Three examples of companies that might use a data mart are:
A sales team that needs to analyze data related to customer orders and purchase history.
A marketing department that needs to analyze data related to customer demographics and purchasing behavior.
An HR department that needs to analyze data related to employee performance and retention.
A virtual data warehouse is a logical view that is created by combining data from multiple sources. The idea is to provide a unified view without physically consolidating the data.
That’s one of the primary benefits of going this route – the ability to keep the data separate physically.
If you need to analyze various disparate sources of information in one place, consider a virtual data warehouse.
Three examples of companies that might use a virtual data warehouse are:
A company that has multiple databases with different types of data and wants to create a unified view without physically consolidating the data.
A business that wants to create a data warehouse without investing in physical hardware.
A company that wants to test a data warehouse concept before investing in a physical data warehouse.
An operational data store provides real-time data for operational reporting and analysis. It’s optimized for write-intensive applications, such as transaction processing systems, inventory management systems and order management systems.
If you need a real-time look at your data, this is an apt choice.
An operational data store provides real-time data for operational reporting and analysis. It’s optimized for write-intensive applications, such as transaction processing systems, inventory management systems and order management systems.
Examples of companies that might use an operational data store include:
A retail company that needs to track inventory levels in real time and ensure that orders are processed efficiently.
A financial institution that needs to process transactions quickly and accurately.
A healthcare provider that needs to track patient data and ensure that medical records are up to date.
A cloud-based data warehouse is a type of data warehouse that is hosted in the cloud. This type of data warehouse is designed to be highly scalable and can be used to store and analyze large amounts of data.
They are great choices to accommodate growing businesses.
Three examples of companies that might use a cloud-based data warehouse include:
A startup that needs to store large amounts of data but doesn’t have the resources to build and maintain an on-premise data warehouse.
A global corporation that needs to store and analyze data from multiple locations around the world.
A company that experiences fluctuations in data storage needs and requires a flexible and scalable solution.
Choosing the right type of data warehouse depends on a number of factors, including your business needs, the size of your organization and your budget.
A small company might tend to use a cloud-based data warehouse, as it is a more cost-effective option for storing and analyzing data without investing in physical hardware.
A medium-sized company might use a data mart to analyze data at a more granular level, while a large company might use an enterprise data warehouse to analyze large amounts of data from different sources and provide a comprehensive view of all their data.
The cost of a data warehouse can vary greatly depending on the type of data warehouse, the size of the organization and the amount of data that needs to be stored.
An enterprise data warehouse can cost millions of dollars to set up and maintain, while a cloud-based data warehouse can cost a few thousand dollars per month.
A medium-sized company might expect to pay anywhere up to $500,000 per year for a data warehouse solution.
Choosing the right data warehouse is essential to ensuring that your business can make data-driven decisions. If you need help evaluating options for your organization, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our research and operations team can connect you with a PE-grade data warehouse resource to help you make the right decision for your business.
If you’re ready to take your data analysis to the next level, schedule a scoping call with the BluWave research and operations team today. We’ll work with you to understand your business needs and connect you with best-fit resources within one business day.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are not simply financial transactions. They involve complex changes in organizational structure, culture, systems and processes.
The post-merger integration (PMI) process is a critical component of any M&A deal. PMI refers to the process of integrating two or more organizations after a merger or acquisition.
Preparing for the integration process involves creating a PMI plan and timeline, as well as developing strategies for effective communication and stakeholder engagement. These are essential for ensuring buy-in and support from employees, customers and suppliers.
Here are some things that might be part of that plan and timeline:
Identifying key stakeholders
Creating a PMI team
Conducting due diligence
Developing a communication plan
Creating a detailed integration plan with clear target dates
Assigning responsibilities and roles
Establishing a process for issue resolution and decision-making
Developing a change management plan
Creating a risk management plan
Defining success metrics and benchmarks
Establishing a timeline for monitoring progress and making adjustments as needed.
The execution of PMI involves several critical steps, including identifying and addressing cultural differences, harmonizing systems and processes, ensuring regulatory compliance and addressing talent management issues. Failure to address these issues can lead to a lack of alignment, lower employee morale and decreased performance.
One of the most significant challenges during the PMI process is identifying and addressing cultural differences. That’s because failure to address cultural differences can lead to significant issues down the road. An experienced interim CHRO can be a great resource for these situations.
Harmonizing systems and processes is another critical step in PMI. This involves aligning IT systems, financial reporting and other key processes. Harmonization ensures that the new organization operates efficiently and effectively, and that there are no redundancies or duplications.
It’s also essential to identify and address any regulatory requirements and ensure that the new organization is compliant with all relevant laws.
Finally, addressing talent management issues is critical for ensuring that the new organization has the right people in place to reach its goals. By identifying key talent, developing retention strategies and creating a plan for integrating employees from both organizations, you’re much more likely to have a smooth transition.
Working together to establish objectives and key results (OKRs) before joining the two organizations is essential. This is how you’ll know whether everything is going to plan and objectives are being reached.
Focus on the metrics that are most important to your business, when they need to be achieved by and how you plan to report them to key stakeholders.
Success metrics may include financial metrics such as revenue growth, profitability and return on investment (ROI). It could also mean employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and market share.
Whatever key performance indicators (KPIs) you choose, they should be directly tied to your bottom line.
Post-merger integration is a complex and challenging process, but with the right framework in place, businesses can ensure a smooth transition.
If your business is considering a merger or acquisition, it’s essential to have a comprehensive PMI framework in place. The right one will help your business mitigate risks, harmonize systems and processes and address cultural differences, regulatory compliance and talent management issues.
The PE-grade resources in the BluWave network can help you create that framework and get the maximum value out of your new business relationship. Contact our research and operations team to set up a scoping call and get connected with a best-fit service provider in less than one business day.
As businesses become more data-driven, the need for a robust business intelligence (BI) infrastructure becomes increasingly crucial. With the right infrastructure in place, organizations can unlock insights that inform their decision-making and give them a competitive edge.
Let’s explore the key components of a BI infrastructure and why they matter.
Data Storage and Management
Businesses must ensure they have the right data management systems in place to efficiently store, process and manage their data.
This means utilizing databases, data warehouses and data lakes, depending on the nature and volume of the data. Without a solid foundation for data storage and management, any BI initiative will fail.
With data stored in various systems and applications, data integration is crucial to ensure that data is collected from all relevant sources.
Data must be integrated from internal systems like CRMs and ERPs as well as external sources. These could include social media, market research or other third-party platforms that are central to your business.
Consolidating all this information means having access to a comprehensive view of operations and customers behavior and characteristics.
One of the key goals of a BI infrastructure is to help users make sense of data through visualizations and reports.
By using tools like dashboards and charts, leaders can present the numbers in a way that is easy for the entire team to understand and interpret.
This practice will also help users identify trends that might not be immediately apparent in raw data, or to the naked eye.
Real-time reports are particularly important in today’s fast-paced business environment. Without them, you can quickly fall behind your competition and lose touch of who your users are.
Data analysis and modeling are essential components of any BI infrastructure. Businesses need to be able to build models that can predict future outcomes.
Skilled analysts are key here, but they also need the right technology to support data modeling, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Leveraging these technologies will give organizational leaders a deeper understanding into their operations and customer base.
Whether you’re a PE firm, a portco, or an independent or public company, investing in a robust BI infrastructure should be a top priority.
BluWave has top BI, analytics and AI resources on standby to address your specific needs, whatever sector your company serves.
Set up a scoping call with our research and operations team to get connected with two or three best-fit service providers that are experienced with your exact business intelligence infrastructure need.
Mergers and acquisitions are complex processes that require due diligence in multiple areas. Information technology (IT) due diligence – a thorough evaluation of the target company’s IT assets, systems and processes – is one important aspect.
The goal is to identify any potential risks or opportunities related to the target company’s technology and make informed decisions about the transaction.
“It’s important to understand how well a company is using technology or how much of a risk or liability it’s become to a company,” BluWave Head of Technology Houston Slatton says.
One example of something companies look out for in IT due diligence is “technical debt.”
We’re going to get into more detail, though. Let’s talk about the importance and process of IT due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, especially as it relates to private equity.
IT due diligence in M&As typically involve the following steps:
Preparation
The acquiring firm or company must define the scope of the process, identify key stakeholders and set expectations.
An IT DD team should have relevant skills and experience, set clear goals and expectations and determine the right timing for it to happen.
This lays the foundation for an efficient and transparent process from start to finish.
“To a certain degree, every company is a software company now,” Slatton says. “Technology is now critical to the functioning of every business, whether it is selling software or building widgets.”
Collecting data on the target company’s IT systems, assets and processes is the next step.
This entails conducting a comprehensive review of the target company’s systems, processes and infrastructure, as well as its software and application inventory.
All of this will be crucial to helping you make informed decisions about how the assets may impact the M&A transaction.
Asset Evaluation
Now it’s time to assess the value and functionality of the IT assets.
This includes both custom-built and commercial software and applications, as well as hardware, infrastructure and data management systems.
When evaluating these, consider their functionality, reliability, scalability and compatibility with your own systems and processes. Do they add something completely new? Is there a lot of overlap?
Look at how they may impact your organization post-acquisition, too. Both in terms of cost and integration into your existing IT environment.
Identifying any potential risks or opportunities related to the target company’s IT systems, assets and processes comes next.
You might start by assessing the impact of the assets on your own organization, as well as considering any risks or opportunities associated with the transaction as a whole.
Recommendations
Last but not least, you will present the findings of the IT due diligence process to make the most informed decisions possible.
This may include how best to integrate the target company’s assets into your own organization. Or measures that should be taken to address any identified risks or opportunities.
This final step helps ensure that the transaction goes as smooth as possible, and everyone is on the same page once papers are signed.
The BluWave network is full of expertly vetted service providers who have helped hundreds of PE firms with IT due diligence.
“The better service providers will look at how well a company uses a tools they have and how well they have enhanced them to meet the needs of the business,” Slatton says.
Contact us to set up a scoping call, and our research and operations team will provide two or three tailor-made resources within a single business day.
Every quarter our team analyzes the projects we work on with our 500+ PE firm clients to get a birdseye view of the market. We recently compiled our Q4 findings, as well as annual 2022 findings, into our Q4 2022 BluWave Insights Report. Request your copy.
Key findings from 2022 include:
Annual value creation activity increased ~14% YoY.
Human capital remains PE’s primary area of focus at 50% of all 2022 value creation activity.
Strategy resource usage in 2022 diligence activity increased from 43% in 2021 to 46% in 2022.
Learn more about the insights we gleaned from Q4 and 2022:
BluWave serves a trusted role with hundreds of the world’s leading private equity firms and thousands of proactive businesses by connecting them with the best-in-class third parties to help build value with speed and certainty. With the conclusion of 2022 and the inception of the new year, we’ve gathered insights from our unique vantage in the private equity landscape. From our proprietary data, we are able to glean insights into how and why the best business builders in the world are assessing opportunities and building value in their portfolio companies. Here are some of the top takeaways from the BluWave Activity Index from Q1-Q4 2022.
The common theme throughout the entirety of 2022 is that business builders were focused on creating value in their companies. In the BluWave Value Creation Index, activity related to value creation was up to 72% by year-end – a more than 14% increase from 2021. Furthermore, Human Capital is surging to historically high numbers. The BluWave Activity Index shows that 50% of all value creation activity was invested in human capital for the year, and 54% in Q4.
On the due diligence side, deal flow was down in 2022. The BluWave Value Creation Index shows private equity activity related to diligence was down to 28% for the year. Within the diligence activity that we did see, we saw firms focus heavily on strategy initiatives – accounting for 46% of all diligence activity, up from 43% in 2021. In 2022, PE firms perceived the cost of misreading the market to be high in an uncertain economy, so they brought in strategic resources to help.
BluWave is pleased to work with some of the best business builders in the world every year. We hope the insights from our 2022 BluWave Insights Report will help you close deals with certainty, create differential value in your companies, and prepare for a confident exit. If you’d like to learn more and get the full report, please contact any member of the BluWave team or follow the link below.
When a company faces a financial crisis, an interim chief financial officer can make all the difference in a successful turnaround.
Whether going through a restructuring, facing bankruptcy or other challenging financial situations, an experienced financial leader is essential.
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Situations for an Interim CFO
A financial crisis can be due to something within a company, external economic forces, or both.
Poorly responding to a distressing financial situation can destroy a business. A capable interim CFO, however, will know how to navigate the following scenarios.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, though, means a company is still viable but needs help relieving some of its debt.
While an interim CFO would seldom take on a chapter 7 bankruptcy, it’s common for them to step in and help a company try to avoid chapter 11 bankruptcy. If it’s not avoidable, a temporary chief financial officer can also help navigate the situation.
“A very good interim CFO can be a lot of help because they come in and they look at, ‘What are the things between gross profit and net earnings that are negatively impacting the business?’” BluWave controller Justin Scott says.
Cost-saving measures could include lowering headcount, cutting advertising costs or negotiating with creditors, which we’ll discuss more below.
Restructuring
While most restructuring situations are tied to bankruptcies, there are exceptions. Here are some of the more common ones.
Carveouts
An interim CFO who can adeptly perform carve-out tasks is key for organizations looking to sell off part of their company. That can mean getting their hands dirty setting up general ledger architecture or determining which employees to include in the sale.
“Let’s say 25 percent of the existing team is going with the carve-out, then I’ve got to decide ‘What’s the 25%? How are those processes going to work?’” Scott says. “Where you typically see the carve-out CFO come in is because they don’t want all of those activities to take away from the core business that the existing CFO is already managing.”
An acquisition, of course, is the opposite situation. The finance executive must determine how to integrate multiple teams in the same company.
“You likely have multiple sets of books. You have multiple systems. None of them talk to each other,” Scott says. “Essentially, you’re running parallel systems or parallel processes for everything. And then you have to manually consolidate everything and that’s just no fun.”
Ginessa Ross, who is often the first point of contact for interim CFOs BluWave works with, says lots of clients have been emphasizing M&A skills recently.
“All sides of it, whether it be due diligence, post-merger integration or prep for sale – having M&A experience, especially in private equity, is key,” she says.
Cost Savings
A turnaround CFO may be sought when accounts payable get out of control.
If the internal team has become bloated, they’re likely to partner with someone in human resources to reorganize the company more efficiently.
“It’s not typically just finance here. It’s typically that a new technology has been implemented that’s changed the field and headcount needs to be reduced,” Scott says. “How do we eliminate or mitigate the overhead expense of the SG&A of what’s happening today?”
They may also cut marketing costs or improve operations to find savings. This can be done by spending less on advertising, implementing automation tools or canceling automated subscriptions, for example.
Hostile Takeover
Although unusual, there are times when a temporary finance executive is brought in for a hostile takeover.
“It is possible to go to an interim CFO as a stopgap,” Scott says. “But it’s not a likely scenario.”
More often, the company executing the takeover will already have a CFO in place.
What skills does an interim CFO need in a time of crisis? Accounting and finance, of course, are fundamental.
“You have to know the full revenue cycle cradle to grave,” Scott says, adding that strong management is also a key trait.
There are other things, though, that are particularly important for a chief financial officer in financially distressed situations.
Internal Communication
When managing a company’s finance team, the interim CFO must be able to communicate their plan of action. Since they’re typically in the role for around six months, they don’t have as much time to win trust and build unity.
Focusing the early days on getting to know the team helps with buy-in for the duration of the project. One component of this is alleviating fears of the unknown.
“The first day, I think, is talking to as many people as possible in the company, on the finance team, and reassuring them that things are going to get better,” says one long-time interim CFO from our network of experts.
A temporary finance executive must also be able to communicate with his or her peers and superiors. Not only do they sit in the C-suite, but they may be a direct line to a private equity firm that has a lot at stake.
“They have to be able to build credibility going both directions quickly if they’re going to get anything done,” Scott says.
Beyond providing clarity for coworkers, a chief financial officer must also be skilled at working with clients, creditors, vendors and other outside entities.
If a company is in danger of filing for bankruptcy, the interim CFO will likely negotiate with creditors to lower their debts.
They may also ask clients to move up their timeline for accounts receivable so the organization can have more cash sooner.
In either case, being able to work well with others is paramount.
“The situations where financial executives most often fail to reach an agreement are when they don’t have any people skills, or they don’t truly want a result,” Scott says. “You have to be able to bend and give a little bit on some of these things just like in any negotiation.”
Before taking a company’s financial reins in the midst of a crisis, an interim CFO should understand if the firm is planning an exit, and if so, what the strategy is. That allows the company to get the maximum benefit out of its new executive resource.
“Bringing in somebody from the outside allows you to access a broader set of skills and brings a fresh perspective,” BluWave managing director Houston Slatton says.
Here are some differences between prepping to sell the entire company vs. just a few assets.
Sell the Entity
If someone is brought on to prep for the sale of an entire company, their job is to get it in the best shape possible for the buyer.
Not only will this make it a more attractive purchase, but the seller will extract more value, too. This process should be planned for months, if not years in advance, when possible.
The interim chief finance officer brought on in this situation should have experience improving operations, cutting costs, increasing accountability and more. They should also be well-versed in evaluating and working with potential buyers and closing the transaction.
Even when parts of a company are being sold, as opposed to the entire organization, many of the same skills apply.
In this scenario, though, the company remains intact, and employees are not typically part of the package.
The right executive will help an organization receive a large return for those assets, boosting cash flow.
Each interim CFO in the BluWave network has been vetted and reference-checked before we ever put them on our roster.
That way, when companies in financial distress reach out, we can provide two or three exact-fit solutions in less than one business day. Whether your company is in the nation’s capital, Atlanta, our hometown of Music City, or any other major city, we have the resources you need.
This attention to detail and our private-equity speed turnaround give organizations a greater chance of getting back on track financially.
Firm had immediate need for interim finance recruiting firm with SaaS experience
A PE partner came to us with a vital need for a recruiting firm to place an interim controller in their software portco. The recent departure of their previous controller and senior accountant left the PE firm in urgent need of an interim controller who could come in, take the reins, and assess the function while the PE firm searched for a fulltime hire. With the task beyond the internal recruiter’s reach, the firm was seeking a recruiting service that could identify interim candidates who had controller experience in other PE-backed portcos, familiarity with the company’s systems, relevant industry experience, the ability to quickly ramp up in the role, and the potential to be a rent to own hire.
BluWave identified top recruiting firms from pre-vetted network
Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity and our experience working on thousands of projects with 500+ PE firms, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade recruiting needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of recruiters that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted recruiters from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.
Client quickly sourced the needed controller thanks to the recruiter BluWave provided
The day after the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to a PE-grade recruiting firm that specialized in finance and accounting with experience recruiting for SaaS businesses. The PE firm engaged the provider and was able to quickly source a controller with relevant experience for the SaaS portco.
