There are many recent examples
of corporate officers denying that they approved or even
remember critical documents. The E-manda platform has
been used to provide key evidence in such cases, improving
accountability. Pre-approved documents also enable quick
responses to unexpected opportunities. If an acquirer
is offering stock as compensation for assets or equity,
the due diligence process needs to extend in both directions
further complicating communications.
The cultural fit between buyers and
sellers is very difficult to assess but important to guage.
Excite@home lost over $20B in market capitalization largely
as a result of a clash between hardware and software engineers.
AOL had a difficult time within Time Warner. HP had a
trouble assimilating Compaq. Many suggest that culture
cannot be measured and cultural clashes cannot be predicted.
We seek to expose this fallacy through software. Culture
can be measured and due diligence teams need to know where
problems could occur and what can be done to minimize
conflicts.
The stock option valuation tool is another
example of a unique offering for proactive managers. For
employees involved in a potential deal, nothing is more
important and more uncertain than the future. Internal
conflicts often divert attention from external markets.
Morale suffers and market share is lost to competitors.
The stock option valuation tool allows employees to confidentially
assess a severance package versus the value of vested
and unvested stock options in the privacy of their own
home on their own time with their spouse or trusted partner.
‘What if’ scenarios can be tested and employees
can assess what is in their best interests. The tool increases
the visibility of options (an important benefit that allows
greater board overview of the timing of options) and empowers
employees.
Features and Benefits
• All disclosures are documented
and electronically recorded for the protection of all
parties involved;
• Disclosures are protected so only one version
of a critical document is passed on to an acquirer.
• All approvals are recorded (with the time, date,
workstation, and meta-data surrounding the object)
• All concerns and issues regarding due diligence
items are stored in the repository as objects.
• Deals can be shopped quickly to maximize shareholder
value.
• The Board of Directors can record their efforts
on behalf of shareholders.
• Management can determine exactly what has been
submitted for approval and when. (This is important
when there are many iterations of an object.)
• Management can determine exactly what steps
are present in an approval process and where the each
deliverable is in the process.
• Efficiencies are gained by reducing the time
employees spend looking for information (estimated in
one study as 10-35% of project time)
• Improved focus on external markets (customers,
vendors, partners) versus internal concerns (layoffs,
stock options, severance).
• Enables informed business decisions (data are
readily accessible and indexed to permit informed ‘GO
/ no GO’ decisions).
• Improved service (the administrator has the
ability to print any document or document metadata from
the repository.)
• Improved quality of information (information,
regardless of the source, can be packaged in a variety
of different ways.)
• Reduced costs of handling, storing and duplicating
paper documentation (as required).
• Reduced storage requirements (based on the peer-to-peer
design). Source objects are accessed only as needed
and deleted as soon as processing is complete.
• Improved security due to the timely back-up
of all mission critical corporate documentation, material
contracts, etc.
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