DealRoom Customer Onboarding: Optimize Your M&A Lifecycle from Pipeline Through Integration

M&A is a powerful driver of inorganic growth for companies looking to rapidly scale, diversify their offerings, expand their market share, and more. The success of these transactions heavily relies on the seamless integration of the acquired entities, a process often riddled with challenges.

Managing M&A's tricky, time-intensive activities is prone to error as it may involve countless third-party stakeholders, extensive due diligence tasks, detailed financial analyses, and sensitive negotiations. A business might look to an M&A software to improve its operational efficiency and navigate these complexities. Still, to achieve their overall growth objectives, the true potential of any tool or technology can only be realized through a well-executed customer onboarding process.

This blog will explore the importance of DealRoom’s robust onboarding strategy for our M&A Platform. We will outline the steps from initial setup to ongoing support and highlight best practices to ensure a smooth and optimal transition. Through total DealRoom system adoption, businesses can maximize their deal lifecycle management to execute their growth objectives and deliver more successful outcomes.

The DealRoom M&A Platform

A powerful toolset that addresses the unique challenges of your M&A activities can make all the difference. DealRoom M&A Platform streamlines the entire M&A process, centralizing data, facilitating real-time collaboration, and providing actionable insights. Our suite of products strengthens transaction lifecycle management from start to finish to meet all deal-making demands.

DealRoom Pipeline

DealRoom Pipeline accelerates deal velocity. By consolidating critical elements for improved cross-team alignment, task management, and reporting, teams can more efficiently advance synergy realization across key targets. Our pipeline management tool ensures the deal avoids bottlenecks, maintains momentum, and keeps all stakeholders informed and engaged throughout the process.

DealRoom Diligence

The due diligence phase is often the most time-consuming and data-intensive part of a transaction. DealRoom Diligence revolutionizes this process by leveraging AI-powered capabilities to track all data, requests, and documents, providing a transparent and organized approach to your M&A activities. The result is a faster, more accurate, and less stressful due diligence stage, laying the groundwork for successful deal outcomes.

DealRoom Integration

Many deals fail during post-merger integration, but when done correctly, this is where the actual acquisition value is realized. DealRoom Integration maximizes synergy capture, eliminating post-merger misalignment. Combining the insights learned in due diligence with value-focused integration planning allows for a seamless and strategic integration process to accomplish the initial objectives of the merger or acquisition.

TLDR: Adopting the entire M&A Platform provides a cohesive and integrated approach to M&A operations.

• Enhanced Efficiency: Effortless transitions between deal phases reduce downtime and streamline workflows.
• Improved Collaboration: Centralized data and communication channels foster better teamwork and stakeholder alignment.
• Increased Accuracy: Integrated tools reduce the risk of errors and data omissions, ensuring that decisions are based on the most accurate and up-to-date information.
• Maximized Value: Comprehensive integration planning ensures that synergies are identified and captured, maximizing the deal's value.

While you can purchase each product as a standalone tool, you'll miss the added benefits and capabilities of our entire M&A Platform, which targets all aspects of the M&A process rather than its specific phases. When used as a singular tool, the platform provides a comprehensive solution that transforms deal execution.

Step 1: Client Creation

This first step is crucial to our customer onboarding process, establishing what will be a productive relationship. Our clients will receive the necessary resources and guidance to maximize their platform investment.

The Customer Success Team

Upon becoming a client, DealRoom assigns your team an Account Manager and Customer Success Manager (CSM). The two professionals play distinct yet complementary roles and are dedicated to your business's success.

The Account Manager's Role:

• Your go-to resource for pricing, contracts, and commercial terms questions throughout your partnership with DealRoom.
• As your needs evolve, they'll recommend and acquire additional DealRoom products and services.
• The Account Manager manages the renewal process, confirming alignment with your business goals.

The Customer Success Manager's Role:

• The CSM leads the onboarding process, providing training, demos, use cases, etc., for full platform adoption.
• They will inform you about new features and gather your feedback for future product developments.
• For any technical or support-related queries, the CSM is your primary contact.
• The CSM sets up your onboarding room and provides a detailed task checklist to organize the onboarding process.

Step 2: Kickoff Call

Clear communication is paramount to the kickoff phase. This step encourages alignment between DealRoom and the client, outlining their journey regarding their goals, expectations, and next steps.

1. DealRoom creates a customer login to provide access to the platform.
2. The Customer Success Team will review the “Partnership Commercials,” clarifying the financial and contractual terms of the partnership and defining the plan offerings. This includes the number of rooms, total data allowance (in GB), user limits (unlimited), number of BI editors and BI users, SSO integration, and any add-costs for additional, relevant features.
3. We will discuss the “Current State & Goals” to understand the customer’s M&A strategy, current stage, pain points, reasons for choosing DealRoom, and desired outcomes. The team will also capture new goals that were not shared during the sales process.
4. The Customer Success Team will then align on “Key Milestones.” Here, we will determine specific objectives, prioritize projects, and establish desired timelines, outcomes, or initial use cases, such as pipeline setup or room creation.
5. DealRoom and the client will identify stakeholders and provide a list of relevant contacts, including DealRoom team members and key roles within the client’s company (onboarding leads, full access admins, etc.)
6. Finally, DealRoom will begin familiarizing the client with the platform’s features and functionalities, ensuring they are comfortably and effectively navigating the system.

Step 3: Process Discovery & Data Requirements

Next, DealRoom will address the customers’ unique workflows and data needs, tailoring support to their specific M&A activities.

1. The Customer Support Team will facilitate comprehensive training for admin users so they have the skills and knowledge to manage the platform efficiently.
2. They’ll determine the data needs required to build the pipeline and template room. This includes understanding the types of data the client will be working with and how it should be structured within the platform.
3. The team will analyze the client’s existing workflow to identify areas where DealRoom can enhance its effectiveness, mapping out current processes and pinpointing potential improvements.
4. Finally, DealRoom will provide clients with best practice guides and other resources for platform optimization. These resources offer valuable insights and tips for leveraging DealRoom’s features to their fullest potential.

Step 4: Reporting Requirements Review

Reaching alignment on the platform’s report-generation capabilities is an essential component of DealRoom's onboarding process. This step allows the client to establish the KPIs they want to track so they can extract insights and make informed decisions throughout their M&A operations.

1. The success team will deliver an overview of the standard reports available within DealRoom and demonstrate how they can be used for regular monitoring and analysis.
2. DealRoom will collect the client's precise reporting metrics, including the types of data required for effective decision-making.
3. DealRoom will review and introduce options for custom reports that are personalized to the customer's objectives and unique needs.

Step 5: Rollout & Training

This step focuses on training and support to enable a smooth transition during the platform implementation process, as DealRoom equips the client with the knowledge and tools to utilize the platform effectively.

1. DealRoom will coordinate with the client to schedule comprehensive training sessions personalized to the organization's various roles and needs.
2. In-depth meetings can be arranged for the core admin users responsible for managing DealRoom's advanced features, administrative functions, and system maintenance best practices. Sessions focusing on particular capabilities for individual team member tasks can also be included.
3. If applicable, we'll organize training for third-party partners or stakeholders who must interact with the platform.

Step 6: Closing & Next Steps

The final step finalizes DealRoom's onboarding process, setting the stage for the client's ongoing success. The support team will confirm that all initial requirements are met, specify a framework for continued support, and gather feedback to refine the process.

1. DealRoom will resolve any outstanding issues or questions, ensuring the client is fully prepared to use the platform effectively.
2. The Customer Success team may establish a regular meeting cadence, scheduling regular check-ins to maintain open communication and provide ongoing support.
3. They'll provide details about available supplemental support options, including how to access assistance and additional resources for continued learning and optimization.
4. DealRoom will conduct a retrospective of the onboarding process to review what went well and identify areas for improvement. The company will also collect feedback from the client to confirm that their needs and expectations were met.

Getting Started

TLDR: Completing the following “Action Items” is paramount to your success when getting started on the M&A Platform.

1. Log in to the System and Set Your Password
   • Confirm access to your DealRoom account by logging in and setting a strong, unique password.
2. Import M&A Materials
   • Import any M&A materials you want templatized within your DealRoom onboarding room. This helps in creating a custom and efficient workspace personalized to your needs.
3. Review Best Practices and Help Resources
   • Familiarize yourself with best practices and available help resources.
   • Review sample M&A pipeline, due diligence, and integration playbooks to guide you in using DealRoom effectively.
4. Set Up a Recurring Cadence with Your CSM
   • Onboarding requires time and commitment. Schedule regular meetings with your CSM to receive guidance and support. A set check-in cadence with your CSM will help ensure seamless platform integration.

Completing these action items will establish a strong foundation for leveraging DealRoom’s platform capabilities in your M&A processes.

Final Thoughts

DealRoom's customer onboarding process is designed to set clients up for success, enabling them to unlock new levels of deal efficiency and synergy realization. The M&A Platform streamlines your process by optimizing workflows and aligning stakeholders, delivering an all-in-one solution that simplifies pipeline management, due diligence, reporting, and integration.

DealRoom's continuous support throughout onboarding means clients can fully leverage the platform's features, resulting in more effective and efficient M&A activities. Follow our lead for a more structured and thorough process as DealRoom ensures its customers are well-prepared to accomplish successful transaction outcomes.