noun /tek dɪ-lə-jəns az ə sər-vəs/
A structured, end-to-end advisory process that connects pre-close technology diligence to quantified EBITDA opportunity and carries that opportunity through post-close execution until savings are realized on the P&L.
Technology due diligence has a clear and well-established purpose: help a buyer understand what they are acquiring. It answers the defensive question — what technology risks are we inheriting? — and in most cases, it stops there. The economic question is left largely unanswered.
A traditional assessment finds redundant vendors, legacy architecture, unfavorable contracts, and technical debt. It rarely converts those findings into a defensible EBITDA opportunity. Identification without quantification is a risk register, not a value-creation tool.
A generalist can tell you a contract looks expensive. That is a different thing from knowing what the market is actually contracting at today — with confidence ranges, supplier-by-supplier, across 350+ active vendors. One is an observation. The other is an executable number.
The report gets delivered. The deal closes. Responsibility moves to an operating team already buried in Day-1 priorities. Findings become recommendations. Recommendations become intentions. And the savings opportunity identified during diligence quietly disappears.
If traditional tech diligence answers "what are we buying and what risks does it carry," it consistently fails to answer the more important question for a value-creation-oriented investor:
What is this technology environment actually worth to us as an economic opportunity — and how do we capture it?
Tech Diligence as a Service™ (TDaaS™) is a continuous advisory process that begins during pre-close diligence and stays engaged through post-close execution until technology savings are confirmed on the portfolio company’s P&L. It was developed to close the gap between what traditional technology due diligence produces — a risk-oriented assessment — and what private equity value-creation requires: a quantified, executable, and realized economic outcome.
TDaaS is not a software product, a benchmarking tool, or a consulting report. It is a managed advisory engagement that spans the full transaction lifecycle: from the pre-close environment, through deal model alignment, into 100-day execution planning, and across post-close implementation until savings are recorded.
TDaaS™ connects diligence to EBITDA by identifying the opportunity, validating what it’s worth against the live market, and executing until the savings hit the P&L. Risk identification is not the problem. Stopping there is.
FORGE Technology Advisors — Originators of TDaaS™TDaaS doesn’t just find expensive contracts — it converts those findings into a defensible savings range, validated against live supplier pricing, that can be incorporated directly into a deal model or investment thesis.
Findings are tested against what 350+ suppliers are actually quoting and contracting today — not theoretical benchmarks or industry survey data. The result is the difference between a hypothesis and an executable number.
The same team that found the opportunity executes it. There is no handoff from diligence personnel to implementation personnel. The context, the assumptions, the supplier relationships — all carry forward intact.
TDaaS engagements are not closed when recommendations are delivered. They are closed when savings are confirmed on the P&L. The standard of success is an operating result, not a finding.
TDaaS serves two distinct audiences with different needs at different stages — and two separate entry points into the engagement model.
The PE deal team, operating partner, or value-creation team brings FORGE in alongside traditional diligence. The questions being answered: What technology risks are we inheriting? What savings can we underwrite? What does that mean to EBITDA and enterprise value? TDaaS converts those questions into deal-model-ready numbers before close.
At close, TDaaS delivers a Day-1 execution plan so the diligence findings don’t disappear into a report as portfolio leadership takes ownership.
An operating partner identifies an existing portfolio company where technology cost structure is unclear, underperforming, or approaching a key event (refinancing, add-on, exit prep). FORGE enters downstream of pre-close diligence and begins with a current-state technology economic assessment.
The process is the same. The starting point is different. The outcome is the same: savings realized on the P&L, with full PE sponsor visibility throughout.
Individual advisory firms can benchmark pricing, build 100-day plans, or support implementation. The TDaaS distinction is that FORGE connects all of those capabilities into one continuous commercial process from diligence through realized P&L impact — with economics aligned to execution rather than reporting.
FORGE isn’t comparing the target against an industry survey that says "companies your size typically spend X% on IT." We are taking actual contracts, services, and pricing and testing them against what 350+ suppliers are quoting and contracting in the market today. That allows us to distinguish between a theoretical savings opportunity and something commercially achievable. The output is not a range derived from a database. It is a range derived from active supplier engagement.
This is the step most technology advisors skip. FORGE can take a finding — "network infrastructure appears 25% above market" — into the supplier ecosystem and determine whether that saving is actually deliverable at the required architecture and service levels. That turns an assumption into something much closer to an executable number. The difference matters when you’re underwriting a savings thesis.
There is no handoff from diligence personnel to implementation personnel. The team that found the opportunity understands why it exists, what assumptions went into it, which contracts matter, which suppliers were benchmarked and at what price, and precisely how the savings are supposed to be achieved. The diligence-to-execution handoff is a recognized weakness in traditional PE technology work. Findings get lost or diluted as ownership transitions. TDaaS eliminates that gap by design.
FORGE is a provider-agnostic advisory firm compensated by selected suppliers, not by the portfolio company. Where work falls within our supplier-supported model, the portfolio company receives senior advisory, sourcing, negotiation, implementation management, and ongoing Overwatch without adding a multimillion-dollar consulting SOW to the transformation. The economics make it easier to stay through execution — which is exactly when the value is actually captured.
The FORGE differentiation is not just the benchmark data. It is the feedback loop. FORGE sees what customers are currently paying, what suppliers are currently quoting, what gets negotiated, what gets contracted, what gets implemented, and what savings are ultimately realized. That continuously informs the next diligence engagement.
Live Market Intelligence + Commercial Validation + Execution Continuity + Aligned Economics. We don’t measure success by savings identified. We measure it by savings realized.
TDaaS follows a disciplined four-phase process regardless of whether entry is pre-close (Deal Motion) or into an existing portfolio company (Portfolio Motion). The sequence is the same. The starting point differs.
Full contract and spend review across network, cloud, UCaaS, security, and managed services. Vendor risk, lock-in exposure, and live market benchmarking. Findings converted to a defensible EBITDA savings range.
Savings validated against live supplier data. Every finding mapped directly to EBITDA impact with upside and downside scenarios. Technology cost assumptions incorporated into the deal model with confidence.
Renegotiate, replace, or consolidate — sequenced for maximum savings in minimum time. Defined owners, clear actions, no ambiguity about who does what. Delivered at close, ready for Day 1.
FORGE owns execution through completion — vendor management, renegotiation, contract execution, implementation management, and savings tracking to P&L confirmation. Identified savings become realized savings.
20–30% savings range, risk profile, integration complexity score, vendor lock-in map
Adjusted cost baseline, upside/downside scenarios, deal model integration, confidence ranges
Day 1 to Day 100 roadmap, defined owners, sequenced actions, supplier shortlist
Realized savings confirmation, P&L reconciliation, ongoing vendor management, PE sponsor reporting
The TDaaS economic model is one of its most important structural differentiators. FORGE is a provider-agnostic advisory firm compensated by selected suppliers, not by the portfolio company. That alignment changes the incentive structure of the entire engagement.
The portfolio company receives senior technology advisory, live market benchmarking, supplier sourcing, contract negotiation, implementation management, and ongoing Overwatch — without adding a consulting fee to the cost of the transformation. FORGE is compensated by the suppliers ultimately selected, only when the engagement results in a contracted outcome.
When an advisor is paid to deliver a report, the incentive ends at the report. When an advisor is compensated through executed outcomes, the incentive extends through implementation. FORGE cannot realize value unless the portfolio company does. That is not a coincidence of design. It is the point of the model.
Whether you are evaluating an acquisition or looking for EBITDA improvement across an existing portfolio company, the TDaaS conversation starts with a single question: what is the technology environment actually worth to you?
TDaaS™ and Tech Diligence as a Service™ are trademarks of FORGE Technology Advisors • forgeadvisors.io