iDeal—defining M&A data analytics

Smarter questions, smarter answers

M&A data analytics is all about asking—and answering—smarter questions throughout the M&A lifecycle. Using iDeal , here are some of the types of questions you could be answering today:

Diligence

• What is the true source of this company’s growth? Specific customer segments? Products? Markets? Something else?
• How successful is this company in retaining its customer base?
• Where are margin trends negatively impacted by specific products, locations, or customers?

Negotiations

• What is the specific net impact of decisions reflected in our purchase agreement?
• Which risks are we likely to encounter in doing this deal? (Operational risks, critical employees, SKUs, product lines, geographies, etc.)
• Which employees and customers should be covered by non-compete agreements?

Post-deal

• Where should we pursue renegotiations with customers or suppliers to quickly achieve cost savings or revenue improvements?
• How are customers responding to the change in ownership? How has our risk profile changed as a result?
• What are the results of changes made to the business after the closing of the deal?

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How we can help

Deloitte M&A is recognized around the world for its leadership in M&A, from strategy, and execution, to integration, and divestiture—a thorough range of experiences, and capabilities. Similarly, Deloitte Analytics has emerged as one of the most important forces in data analytics today, serving global clients across the industry with a range of advanced services and capabilities. So it’s natural that we combined our strengths in these two areas to create a complete approach to M&A deal-related data analytics available today.

iDeal is a combination of tools, processes, and techniques integrated to provide big-picture insights with a microscopic level of detail. We help clients put those capabilities to work through:

• Strategy
• Implementation
• Analysis and decision support
• Integration
• Synergy capture​

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Bottom-line benefits

​​iDeal's capabilities can generate game-changing benefits for companies when it matters most. Here are a few of those most frequently cited benefits by clients.

Get there faster. In M&A, insights are most useful when they are generated in time to affect decision making. With intuitive interfaces, and near real-time insight delivery, iDeal makes it easier to generate, and leverage insights.

Enhance the value of data. Today, many M&A analytics insights are used for highly focused moments or decisions. But the value of the data used in these scenarios, combined with data from elsewhere, can have an equally important impact in other phases of the lifecycle, such as integration, and post-integration.

Go deeper. Too often, surface-level data tells a misleading tale. With the ability to analyze micro-level details and correlate them to macro-level decisions, M&A leaders are better equipped to uncover the real story behind the numbers.​

Accelerate the sales and purchase agreement (SPA) process. The process of nailing down a SPA typically engages a wide range of time-strapped participants in a race to complete the agreement. It’s a process that can be inefficient and time-consuming—when time is of the essence. M&A analytics makes it easier to analyze more data and deploy it in a more intelligent manner. Not only is it faster, it’s smarter.​

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The Wall Street Journal: CFO Journal highlights M&A data analytics

How Advanced Analytics Can Improve M&A Decision-making

Advanced data collection and analytics tools and capabilities are transforming M&A decision-making at every stage of the transaction cycle, enabling deal teams to gain deeper visibility into acquisition targets, negotiate more advantageous terms and improve post-deal integration. M&A Transaction Services leaders Andy Wilson and Brian Bird of Deloitte & Touche LLP share their perspectives on how analytics is quickly becoming a core component of M&A. Read more.
 

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Related reading

Deloitte M&A focus on: Analytics

• The growing role of analytics in M&A
  
• Building versus buying M&A analytics capabilities
• Utilizing data analytics in post-deal integration

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