Services / 03 Technology due diligence
Understand the technology before making the business decision.
Software can be a valuable business asset, but its true condition is not always visible from a product demonstration or management presentation.
I help businesses, investors and acquisition teams understand the technical condition of a software product, identify important risks and estimate the work required to maintain, improve or scale it.
The scope can range from a focused review of a particular system to a broader technical assessment, depending on access, time and the decision being considered.
Situations I am asked to help with.
- 01A company is considering acquiring a software business or technology product.
- 02An investor needs an independent view of the technology behind a business.
- 03A buyer wants to understand how much engineering work may be required after an acquisition.
- 04A software product appears successful but depends on fragile infrastructure or undocumented systems.
- 05A business needs to understand technical debt, third party dependencies or scaling limitations.
- 06Management wants to know whether the current development setup can support future plans.
Architecture and maintainability.
How the system is structured, how difficult it may be to change and where major constraints exist.
Code and engineering practices.
Code quality, testing, documentation, development workflows and the risks associated with maintaining the product.
Infrastructure and operations.
Hosting, deployment, backups, monitoring, resilience and operational dependencies.
Security considerations.
Relevant application and infrastructure risks within the agreed scope. I state clearly when specialist security testing or a formal penetration test is outside the engagement.
Dependencies and ownership.
External services, licensing considerations, vendor dependencies, access and potential points of failure.
Scalability and future cost.
Likely technical constraints, maintenance requirements and areas where further investment may be necessary.
Development capability.
Team structure, delivery practices and whether the current setup is appropriate for the product's needs.
An executive summary, prioritized risk register, technical findings, severity and business impact assessment, recommended remediation steps, and an indication of further investigation or investment required. Where appropriate, a management friendly summary sits alongside the detailed technical findings.
A straightforward way to get started.
We discuss the business, the problem, the current setup and what a useful outcome would look like.
If I can help, we agree on the questions to answer, the work required, access needed, deliverables and timeline.
Depending on the engagement, I review systems, speak with stakeholders, work with the development team, evaluate options or contribute directly to implementation.
You receive clear findings, recommendations or completed work. If further work makes sense, we can discuss it. There is no obligation to turn every assessment into a long term engagement.
Understand the technology before making the business decision.
Tell me about the situation. If I can help, we will define a clear scope together. If I cannot, I will say so.
Discuss a technical assessmentNo elaborate sales process. Just a direct conversation about your business and the problem in front of you.