--- title: "Growth By Acquisition Can Be Smart, but Watch Out for IT Traps - Blogs on IT Support and Cybersecurity for Small Business" description: "Buying a small business? An unseen IT issue can be a financial nightmare. Learn the key steps of technology due diligence before you close the deal." url: "https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/growth-by-acquisition-can-be-smart-but-watch-out-for-it-traps" date: "2026-06-07T07:13:11+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- ## Blogs on IT Support and Cybersecurity for Small Business Insights on cybersecurity, AI, and IT strategy to help business leaders reduce risk, improve performance, and make better technology decisions. [ Categories ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories "Categories") [ Tags ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags "Tags") [ Categories: All Categories ](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0); "Categories") Search...Suggested keywords [ x ](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0);) # Growth By Acquisition Can Be Smart, but Watch Out for IT Traps [Coleman Technologies Blog](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/blog) [Business](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/categories/business) [Coleman Technologies Admin](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman) Monday, 25 August 2025 [ ![Growth By Acquisition Can Be Smart, but Watch Out for IT Traps](//colemantechnologies.com/images/easyblog_shared/August_2025/08-25-25/b2ap3_large_Acquisition_597660861_400.jpg) ](//colemantechnologies.com/images/easyblog_shared/August_2025/08-25-25/Acquisition_597660861_400.jpg "Growth By Acquisition Can Be Smart, but Watch Out for IT Traps") Acquiring a competitor can be a rewarding and profitable move, but it's crucial to inspect their technology to avoid any unwelcome surprises. A thorough IT audit helps you understand what you're getting and prevents a valuable investment from becoming a money pit. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to assess before agreeing to take on growth through an acquisition. ## Key Areas to Evaluate First, assess the acquired company’s IT infrastructure. Check the age and condition of servers, workstations, and networking equipment. Make sure all hardware is up-to-date or, if necessary, identify what needs to be replaced. Next, focus on software and licensing. Take inventory of all applications and subscriptions to confirm they are properly licensed. This helps you identify and cancel any redundant or unused services and integrate the rest into your existing costs. Crucially, you must evaluate their cybersecurity posture. Investigate any past breaches, if any. This will help you to understand what happened and how the issues were addressed. Review their current security tools, and assess whether the new employees are trained on security best practices. ## Your IT Review Checklist To ensure a comprehensive review, you need to cover these line items and ask these questions: ### Hardware What hardware does the company own, what condition is it in, and are any items under warranty or lease? ### Software and Licensing Is all software licensed, and can the licenses be transferred? What are the costs and renewal dates for all cloud subscriptions? ### Security What firewalls are in place, is there a centrally managed antivirus system, and is multi-factor authentication used? ### Data Redundancy What data is being backed up, how often, and where are the backups stored? ### Breach History Have there been any security incidents in the last three years, and what was their impact and resolution? ### Vendor Contracts What ongoing contracts does the company have with IT vendors, and what are the terms of those agreements? A thorough IT review protects your investment and ensures your newly expanded business has the technology it needs to operate securely and efficiently. We can assist you in this evaluation, fulfilling any needs you discover. Give us a call at PHONENUMBER to learn more. [ ](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0);) [ ](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0);) Tags: [Best Practices](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/best-practices) [Technology](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/technology) [Workplace Strategy](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/tags/workplace-strategy) [×](https://colemantechnologies.com/javascript:void(0);) Stay Informed When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them. Your Name E-mail Address [ Coleman Technologies Named MSP of the Year for Del... ](https://colemantechnologies.com/news-a-events/coleman-technologies-named-msp-of-the-year-for-delivering-secure-scalable-it-that-fuels-business-growth) [ How to Build a Workplace That Fights Back Against ... ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/how-to-build-a-workplace-that-fights-back-against-burnout) About the author [ ![Coleman Technologies Admin](https://colemantechnologies.com/media/com_easyblog/images/avatars/author.png) ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman) [Coleman Technologies Admin](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman) [ ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman) Author's recent posts [More posts from author](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman) [ Tuesday, 05 May 2026 Darren Coleman Featured in Boss Today on AI Literacy and Human Judgment ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/darren-coleman-bosstoday-ai-literacy) [ Monday, 06 April 2026 How Cloud IT Services Are Transforming Business Continuity ](https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/how-cloud-it-services-are-transforming-business-continuity) [ Monday, 06 April 2026 Darren Coleman Featured in USAWire on Why Businesses Need an AI Strategy ](https://colemantechnologies.com/news-a-events/darren-coleman-usawire-ai-strategy) ## Schema ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://colemantechnologies.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Blog", "item": "https://colemantechnologies.com/blog" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Coleman Technologies Admin", "item": "https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/blogger/darren-coleman" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Growth By Acquisition Can Be Smart, but Watch Out for IT Traps", "item": "https://colemantechnologies.com/blog/growth-by-acquisition-can-be-smart-but-watch-out-for-it-traps" } ] } ```