3 things you must consider for a successful IT divestiture strategy

IT teams now play an essential role in driving business strategy, propelling innovation, and improving digital dexterity and productivity across teams. During business restructurings, including divestitures, it is critical that organizations focus on building an IT environment that fits the new business’ specific needs. In 2022, 40% of business leaders reported moderate disruption to core business caused by a divestiture. To minimize disruption to business operations and ensure success post-transaction, it’s key to prioritize a smooth, agile and cost-effective tech separation to kickstart future growth. With this, I have outlined strategic IT considerations for divestiture that support continued advancement and transformation long after a transaction is complete.

Prioritize Data Migration Strategy 

Reorganizing data and applications during divestiture can be extremely complex – as organizations often store information and files across several different cloud applications and collaboration tools. Unlike a merger or acquisition, divestiture transactions involve the intricate process of separating stored data, which is oftentimes entangled and siloed across many different locations. Ensuring efficient data migration is key to success, to prevent sensitive data from being misplaced or deleted during the divestiture process.

Finance and IT leaders must first gain an understanding of where data is stored across your organization’s systems and where potential risk lies. This approach provides the organization an opportunity to align data strategy with business goals creating a robust well-governed business environment. IT should start with auditing cloud workspaces, to determine which data and files will create value post-transaction, and which should be archived or deleted, removing expired credentials or redundant workspaces. From here, you can begin to establish a new IT environment and organize access to secure systems and data–minimizing the risk of breach or data loss from the very beginning of the divestiture process. 

Choose Legacy Technologies Wisely 

For the separated business, certain legacy technologies may not be necessary after divestiture has occurred. To eliminate increased operating costs, IT leaders should decide early in the process which technologies will be necessary after the transaction, and which will lead to unnecessary costs. Planning this technology separation early on helps establish a clear runway for continued growth during and after divestiture – and helps to prevent system redundancies and cloud sprawl.

When it Comes to Cybersecurity, Be Proactive 

Undergoing divestiture and reconfiguring your organization’s IT systems may increase cyber risks. With the average data breach costing an organization around $4.35 Million, pinpointing vulnerabilities and increasing cybersecurity measures at the very beginning of divestiture helps your organization avoid risk and the costly consequences of a potential breach. Plus, increasing cybersecurity measures before and during this transaction prepares your organization to tackle future cybersecurity risks, as a separate entity as well. It is critical to start by building a comprehensive plan that covers all doors to threat–including privilege escalation, vulnerability exploitation, or phishing. IT and security leaders should ensure they have thoroughly audited your current systems – running comprehensive vulnerability assessments to locate any entry points into your systems that bad actors could potentially exploit. As cybercriminals and hackers become more intelligent every day, building a secure IT landscape leading up to divestiture is essential to safeguard your most sensitive data.

When undergoing the divestiture process, many business leaders may overlook IT strategy – only beginning this process once the transaction is complete. Mapping out a comprehensive IT plan should be at the top of any organization’s list during divestiture – beginning the tech separation process on day one. To ensure long-term growth and success as a new business entity, it is crucial to start by building an IT strategy that prioritizes cost-efficiency and security, while empowering collaboration and kickstarting growth.