A question on operational systems, post-close vs. pre-sale

May 20, 2026

by a professional from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in Brazil

I'm running on an assumption I'd like to pressure-test: that a lot of newly-acquired businesses run on spreadsheets, disconnected tools, and one person's memory and that there's a real gap between what the business does and what its systems can actually show or run. How much does that gap actually matter to the people living it? For those who've bought or sold: - Was closing that gap a real pain, or more of a nice-to-have? - Does it matter more post-close (new owner modernizing) or pre-sale (seller raising the multiple)? - For those who tackled it — what finally made it worth doing?

Reply by a searcher
from The University of Chicago in Nashville, TN, USA

It's definitely a pain, I'm almost a year in and still have a long way to go. I would highly recommend you spend the first###-###-#### days listening and seeing how everyone works with the system before you come in with new solutions. I would also much rather not have the Seller do it ahead of time. Their team won't be used to it, it may make it harder to understand the data about the business in the short term and it may be a very different vision than what I have. Even once you list out what you want to change, you need to prioritize them and do it ratably. While many of these solutions will make life better eventually, the first weeks or months can be worse than the current broken processes.

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in New York, NY, USA

Closing the gap is a real pain. To be clear, it is your job though. The biggest issue is buy-in with the team. You will come in and can probably implement 80% of what you need in 90 days. Getting your employees to rely on it, that is an entirely different matter altogether.

+1 more reply.

Join the discussion