Technology Through the Lens of the Deal

The Interim CIO in Private Equity

The Investment Lens

Over the past decade, I’ve worked with private equity investors at different stages of the

deal cycle — sometimes during due diligence on a £70m–£100m acquisition, sometimes

stepping into a portfolio business immediately after completion, and occasionally being

asked to steady a programme that had already drifted off course.

What has become clear is that technology leadership in private equity is less about systems

and more about alignment.

In a corporate setting, you can think in terms of gradual capability building. In private

equity, every technology decision is framed by the investment case. Growth assumptions,

margin expectations, capital discipline and exit timing all shape what matters — and what

doesn’t.

The question is rarely “What should good IT look like?”

It is usually “What does this investment need from technology for the thesis to hold?”

That shift changes the nature of the CIO role.

Due Diligence: Testing the Thesis

When supporting due diligence — as with a Food & beverage chain, Healthcare or food manufacturer, Call & contact centre company, building portfolio or construction acquisition — the objective is not to catalogue infrastructure. It is to understand whether the current technology landscape genuinely supports the commercial narrative behind the deal.

If expansion is central, will the systems scale without disproportionate reinvestment?

If margin improvement is key, where are the duplicated platforms or manual workarounds?

If the exit value depends on reliable reporting, is the data consolidated and trusted?

Investors are not looking for technical commentary. They want clarity on exposure, timing

and capital requirements. Fragile integration may delay rollout. A supplier lock-in may

reduce flexibility at a critical moment. Technology risk must be translated into commercial

consequences.

That translation is often what allows an Investment Committee to move forward with

confidence.

The First Hundred Days

After completion, the lens does not change — it sharpens.

There is often a pressure to accelerate transformation immediately. In practice, meaningful

progress tends to follow once stability and control are re-established.

In one Gulf retail organisation, I stepped into a $20m ERP programme that had lost

alignment with operational priorities and board confidence. The task was not simply to

drive harder. It was to reconnect the programme to commercial objectives, reset

governance and sequence the work more deliberately.

At a PE purchase and merger of two Healthcare products and services businesses,

establishing a Board-level IT Steering Committee and structuring a three-year roadmap

ensured that technology investment remained visibly tied to the value-creation plan. The

purpose was not structure for its own sake, but accountability.

Separation and Integration in Practice

That same discipline becomes especially important when a deal involves separation or

consolidation. Transaction documents may imply that carve-outs are procedural. In reality,

systems and supplier arrangements have usually evolved across shared structures for

years, and reporting lines are rarely as clean as organisational charts suggest.

At restaurant and coffee roasting business in East Africa, reshaping the IT function and

recruiting leadership were necessary because the business needed capabilities that

matched its growth ambitions under new ownership. In the healthcare sales and services

acquisitions consolidating ERP and CRM platforms was driven by cost reductions and the

need for consistent reporting and operational visibility across the group.

In each situation, the underlying question remained consistent: does the technology

environment strengthen the investment case, or quietly constrain it?

The MDIS Approach

Private equity investors expect clarity quickly. They expect a realistic view of where the

business stands, pragmatic prioritisation, and decisions that are commercially grounded.

Board conversations are rarely about architectural elegance; they are about risk exposure,

scalability, margin resilience and exit readiness.

That is also why the MDIS approach works well in this environment.

When I step into an assignment through MDIS, I am not arriving with a pre-packaged

methodology or a team of analysts. I am embedded alongside the leadership team, operating at board level where required, and focusing on the few things that materially affect value.

The model allows experienced, C-suite calibre leadership to be applied precisely where the

investment thesis is most exposed — without the delay of a permanent appointment or the

distance of a traditional consultancy layer.

In a private equity-backed business, technology is not an abstract capability-building

exercise. It is part of the investment proposition. Viewing it consistently through the lens of

the deal has shaped how I approach every assignment — and, in my experience, it is what

allows technology to become a lever for value rather than a source of uncertainty.

About the Author

Victor Kemeny is an MDIS Associate and former Group CIO with extensive international

experience across retail, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing and outsourced services. He

has supported private equity investors on technology due diligence, post-acquisition value

creation, ERP recovery, carve-outs and integration programmes across the UK, Europe, the

Middle East and Africa. Victor operates at board level, aligning technology strategy with

commercial outcomes in high-pressure investment environments.