Evaluation of Your Target Business With a Digital Due Diligence
Having pioneered the concept of digital due diligence 12 years ago, OMMAX developed a thorough methodology for investors planning to buy or sell a company. We assess the target company’s digital presence and digital revenue and analyze the potential to drive digital sales and EBITDA. With 300+ deals, >€20B deal value, and 2,000+ value creation projects for leading private equity clients, we are the leading global digital transaction advisory performing digital due diligence.
Digital due diligence by OMMAX will uncover many findings that would not have been picked up by traditional commercial due diligence projects. You will unlock key insights about the target company's digital organization, the extent of digital demand within the market, the online penetration of the products/services, as well as the digital visibility of the target company benchmarked with core competitors. We also analyze the paid/non-paid marketing performance, digital sales performance, digital customer journey, and other important aspects that provide our clients with best-in-class digital insights.
What are the questions typically addressed by a digital due diligence?
- What is the digital market size today and in five to ten years?
- How mature is digital competition and what is the opportunity to increase market share?
- How do the company’s brand, pricing and USPs perform digitally?
- How effective is company’s digital go-to-market approach?
- Are the necessary digital capabilities, resources, TOM and structures in place to fulfil business plan?
- How feasible is the business plan and what short-mid-long term digital value creation potential exists?
Why perform a Digital Due Diligence?
Digital companies have fundamentally reshaped markets. Key global drivers include high-speed internet, the increasing digital sophistication of businesses, rising internet usage, and the widespread availability of electronic devices. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online markets, pushing e-commerce penetration rates for many product categories beyond what was anticipated five years ago.
As a result, online channels have become crucial for customer acquisition and revenue generation, particularly for B2B companies. Brand reputation is now largely built online, enabling new business models like startups that grow through online communities and social media platforms. Companies utilize influencers to reach their target audiences. Both digital startups and established SMEs and corporations with digital strategies are attractive targets for firms looking to enhance their digital capabilities through mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
However, many businesses find digitalization challenging. Digital companies are notably different from traditional ones. For example, IT infrastructure is a core component of the product itself, and companies leveraging top-tier technologies can triple their productivity. Therefore, a digital due diligence requires specific criteria to evaluate business value, scalability, and potential improvements for future growth.
Additionally, digital businesses typically generate vast amounts of data, enabling swift and accurate responses to market changes. This data supports real-time assessments of key performance indicators (KPIs) and detailed analyses and predictions using intelligent algorithms.
In conclusion, a digital due diligence is a strategy to assess and analyze a company's competitive standing, the sustainability of its digital operations, potential risks, and growth prospects in the digital landscape. More about the power of digital due diligence.
Our holistic approach to digital due diligence covers up to 10 key modules:
- Business plan and digital value creation
- Market growth and opportunities
- Digital brand strength
- Digital pricing
- Digital products and services
- Digital marketing and sales performance
- Digital customer experience
- Customer conversion and retention
- Digital organizational capabilities
- Process automation and AI adoption
DIGITAL DUE DILIGENCE HAS BECOME A CORE TOPIC IN THE M&A PROCESS:
OMMAX is the #1 provider of digital due diligence, having performed >300 digital due diligence projects across various sectors and geographies
- OMMAX has delivered >€18bn in deal value, developing the digital due diligence growth
- Consumer & retail, business services, software, and healthcare are the top industries for digital due diligence, with >50% of deals including digital due diligence
With an OMMAX Digital Due Diligence You Will Receive
Analysis of direct online searches (branded) in target geographical markets for the target company relative to core competitors over the last three years
Evaluation of the company's paid digital marketing strategy, including potential dependencies on single channels
Assessment of digital competition according to search market shares based on search engine rankings for a specific set of branded keywords for the last three years
Analysis of the company's digital reputation (online reviews) and assessment of social channels
Overview of the company’s engagement rates and mentions on social media platforms
Analysis of the company's management and employees (digital) knowledge to support and accelerate growth
Analysis of digital market demand (customer search volume development for non-branded keywords) in total and by product categories for the last three years
Identification of determining factors for online penetration along the customer journey (e.g. product, price, brand trust, UX) to determine the long-term online penetration plateau
Analysis of the company's digital visibility (organic Google visibility index) and core competitors (incl. impact of Google algorithm changes)
Analysis of the company's website customer journey against key assessment metrics in comparison with main competitors
Assessment of the company’s historical digital performance (traffic, conversion rates, AOVs, revenue) across geographic markets, channels and devices
Identification and analysis of various value creation initiatives in relation to the digital channel optimization and customer retention along the customer journey (e.g., brand marketing, performance marketing, website performance, sales excellence and retention marketing)
End-to-end customer journey orchestration through the identification of improvement potential
OMMAX's comprehensive work on assessing the digital maturity of the business was highly valuable in identifying value creation potential and forming an informed investment decision. We appreciate the professional collaboration with the OMMAX team along the process.