Nearly All Companies Are Fumbling the M&A Ball — And It’s Costing Them

If you're a chief data officer watching your company pursue mergers and acquisitions while your systems resemble a Jenga tower, you’re not alone. A new survey ‘Ready for the deal: Transaction readiness in turbulent times’ from the Diligent Institute, in partnership with Wilson Sonsini, Oracle NetSuite, CFO Alliance, and the CFO Leadership Council, reveals what many CDOs already suspect: virtually no one is actually ready for the data demands of major transactions.

Of more than 200 global executives and governance professionals surveyed, 97% reported major challenges with transaction readiness — the ability to navigate complex deals such as M&A and capital-efficient raises. Perhaps more alarming for data leaders: only 4% said their governance, risk, compliance, and financial systems are fully integrated and ready for major transactions.

This gap between ambition and capability creates a particular headache for CDOs. Nearly half of surveyed organizations (49%) are prioritizing M&A or strategic partnerships as part of their growth strategy, even amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty. But when deal time comes, data leaders find themselves scrambling to answer basic questions about data quality, system compatibility, and regulatory compliance—often under impossible timelines.

“Organizations that fail to address their glaring transaction readiness gaps risk falling behind in the deal-making landscape,” said Dottie Schindlinger, executive director of the Diligent Institute. “Our research points to a clear need for prioritization at the board level, defining roles and processes, and enhancing data quality. The transaction readiness gap is real and yet entirely addressable.”

The survey identified several obstacles that will sound familiar to any CDO who’s lived through due diligence. Limited resources topped the list at 56%, followed by economic uncertainty (35%), insufficient board alignment around transactions (31%), and lack of experienced personnel (28%). For data organizations already stretched thin by AI initiatives, cloud migrations, and mounting compliance requirements, transaction readiness often gets pushed to the back burner until a deal materializes and suddenly everyone needs yesterday’s answers.

In response to these challenges, 49% of respondents have delayed deals, 40% have enhanced due diligence processes, and 46% have adjusted financial modeling. Each delay represents not just missed opportunities but also sunk costs in preliminary work and strategic planning.

“The volatile economic landscape and rapid market shifts require not only operational efficiency but also strategic legal planning and risk management,” said Rich Mullen, partner in Wilson Sonsini’s M&A Practice. “Now is the critical moment for leaders to understand how top-performing organizations are preparing for major deals, enabling them to transition from episodic preparation to an ‘always on’ business discipline.”

That shift from “episodic” to “always on” represents a fundamental change in how CDOs must approach their role. Rather than treating transaction readiness as a fire drill when deals emerge, forward-thinking data leaders are building continuous capabilities: maintaining clean, accessible data inventories; ensuring system integration and API readiness; establishing clear data governance protocols; and creating repeatable due diligence playbooks.

There’s one glimmer of technological hope: Only 5% of respondents currently use AI-powered evaluations or data collection in transaction processes. However, interest is growing as organizations explore AI tools for strategic analysis, compliance monitoring, and due diligence. These are areas where CDOs can demonstrate clear value.

Bottom line

For CDOs, transaction readiness isn’t just a finance problem or a legal problem. It’s fundamentally a data problem. The organizations that build robust data infrastructure, governance frameworks, and integration capabilities today will be the ones that can move quickly when opportunity knocks while their competitors are still playing Jenga, with spreadsheets and prayer.

Image credit: iStockphoto/SectoR_2010