Private Equity (PE) firms and Venture Capital (VC) investors are seeing a clear advantage in partnering with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) with robust offerings including CIO-level strategy and cybersecurity expertise to complement the nimbleness needed to acquire, grow, and potentially sell companies in their portfolio.
Deals and development are likely to get clunky if there are differing IT and security philosophies that often employ different tools and configurations. And clunky mean a loss of time, money, and productivity that seeps precious dollars away from the goal of maximizing shareholder equity while strengthening each entity in the portfolio.
Let us start with the macro drivers on why outsourcing IT and cybersecurity makes so much sense for PE/VC investors:
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EBITDA Optimization – The cost efficiency of having the same philosophy, roadmap, tools, and service model has proven to be the better way to optimize the value of each entity and the overall value of the portfolio.
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Portfolio Investment Assessments – Having trusted, CIO-level experts that ensure that due diligence is completed properly and that all pre- and post-deal assessments and reporting are done properly and consistently saves time. It also eliminates the headaches that come when “shoes drop” after an acquisition because of things that can be missed during an assessment done with inconsistent criteria.
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Integration – Just like every M&A professional knows, merging human capital is one of if not the greatest challenge to a successful integration. Likewise, helping to strategically combine acquisition assets and realize synergies in technology and security make the critical difference between success and failure. An integration is a true race against the clock to maximize the profit potential of an asset.
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Risk Management – Implementing or converting to a proven process in mitigating risk in technology and security that is consistent throughout the portfolio ensures closing security gaps, building Disaster Recovery Plans, and adding 24×7 global coverage.
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Digital Transformation – Modernizing the IT Infrastructure & improving business processes.
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Sale Transition – Assisting with transition plans and helping achieve maximum ROIs.
With those key elements in place, here are some specifics on how River Run assists PE/VC clients as their trusted partner.
It starts with 24/7/365 monitoring of each company’s network, critical applications, and services. Our around-the-clock help desk and technical services team ensure that clients are up and running with reliable performance day after day.
By using virtual and cloud services instead of their own capital and resource-intensive IT infrastructure, PE firms can lower their total cost of ownership and make technology an operational and financial advantage over other firms.
And in partnering with River Run for these resources, private equity companies’ ability to comply with regulations and meet standards improves greatly due to the simplification of IT operations and built-in reporting solutions.
Here are some specifics on how we do this:
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A more proactive and strategic approach to IT given that management of IT resources is non-core to most businesses.
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Maximizing “uptime” to mitigate the risk of disruption from technology malfunction.
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Enhanced risk management and compliance support in light of regulatory requirements that can put an outsized burden on SMBs.
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Cost savings and better forecasting – MSPs often provide for reduced and more predictable costs (via fixed monthly fees) relative to in-house resources.
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Access to newer technologies to keep pace with change and cybersecurity needs.
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A templatized framework and best practice defined on rolling out new business ventures.
Cloud Solutions
River Run offers Cloud solutions that provide PE companies with greater levels of security, performance, and efficiency across their IT operations.
By running more and more of their business applications in the Cloud, private equity firms can better handle changing business requirements such as remote workforces, scarcity of IT resources, and changes to physical office space.
Cyber Security
The cybersecurity threat landscape is ever-evolving, making it nearly impossible for companies to stay secure on their own. The right tools, monitoring, and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution deliver advanced threat protection around the clock.
Critical security issues pose a 24/7 risk to enterprise technology systems. The data that powers your company passes through a complex network of IT infrastructure, internal resources, and end-user applications.
You need a comprehensive Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) solution, but one that scales with budgets, can flexibly meet changing demands, and provides clear, actionable information. That is why River Run has developed an entire R-Security “umbrella” of tools, services, training, and planning to meet modern security needs.
The allows PE firms the ability to reduce CAPEX spend, meet stringent compliance thresholds, and gain the benefits of advanced security threat detection without the need for specialized security staff or costly dedicated hardware.
With River Run’s R-Security umbrella of coverage, PE firms have non-stop monitoring of business services, peerless threat detection, and customizable reporting that deliver peace of mind about your critical IT infrastructure.
There is no time for disruption for private equity companies and their employees. By proactively addressing vulnerabilities and preventing exploits and breaches, River Run’s R-Security services keep operations on track.
River Run’s Security Operations Center (SOC) with live analysts connected to the National Security Council and other SOCs throughout the world is online 24/7/365 to help identify gaps, mitigate threats, and keep internal teams informed and empowered.
Nimble and Consistent when “Stuff Happens”
Despite best efforts, there will be scenarios where a system goes down. From infrastructure failures to human error to natural disasters, when the unexpected happens, it’s vital to be prepared with managed disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.
River Run delivers real-time replication of data, rapid recovery of servers and systems, and post-event testing to ensure everything is back online with minimal disruption.
And because there is one, proven process, there is no time wasted “recreating the wheel” with differing opinions or solutions to restore as quickly as possible. The response from River Run is a simple one: “We Got This!”
A Trusted Relationship
Relationships are key for private equity companies that have to raise funds, source and close deals, and negotiate exits. That’s why River Run delivers solutions using leading-edge Microsoft services including Office 365, SharePoint, Teams, and Azure, as well as AWS and Google solutions. Having expertise in all of these areas allows us to recommend the best, strategic integration road mapping and timelines.
By ensuring clear communication and seamless information sharing, River Run streamlines daily operations to boost efficiency and productivity for better business results.
In summary, this is a reason why more and more PE/VC firms are partnering with providers like River Run: it makes good business sense. To find out more about how River Run helps multiple-entity organizations achieve more meaningful results, contact Jessie Smith at jsmith@river-run.com.
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