Most CFOs have faced that familiar post-acquisition question: “Are we seeing the return we expected from this deal?”
It’s a fair question — and a revealing one. While M&A remains one of the fastest paths to growth, too many deals still underperform against their thesis. To change that, finance leaders are bringing greater discipline, data, and structure to how their organizations execute M&A. Instead of treating inorganic growth as an occasional event, they’re considering it a measurable business function that can scale and improve over time.
No CFO would tolerate a 50% failure rate in a manufacturing line or a product launch process. Yet many organizations accept that level of risk in their deal execution. It’s time to change that.
To make M&A consistently successful — and visibly valuable to investors and boards — leading companies are embracing three critical elements:
- A true end-to-end M&A approach
- Operational efficiency that drives speed and scale
- Visibility and accountability across every phase
1. A true end-to-end M&A approach
M&A success can thrive on uniting what most companies keep apart: target sourcing, due diligence, and post-merger integration.
“This is where M&A efforts fall apart; spreadsheets and email can’t keep up with the complexity of modern deal-making.”
In many organizations, these responsibilities sit with separate teams, and that often means each group uses its own set of tools and maintains different reporting or data systems. This fragmentation can lead to disjointed communication, inconsistent data, and reporting gaps.
SoftwareOne broke that pattern. The global technology provider combined its deal and integration functions into a single, measurable M&A organization. The result? Earlier insight into integration realities, better-informed valuations, and faster synergy realization. (Read more about SoftwareOne’s approach.)
Guardian Fire Protection, a PE-backed company, faced a similar challenge. “One of our biggest issues was giving our integration team a clear line of sight into upcoming deals,” said COO Greg Pappianou. By adopting Midaxo’s end-to-end M&A Intelligence platform, Guardian’s integration leaders gained upstream visibility into the pipeline, identified gaps early, and entered deals prepared — improving the seller experience and allowing leaders to refocus on organic growth sooner.
Key takeaway: By centralizing all deal-related information in a single platform, organizations enable smoother handoffs between teams, improve visibility into integration costs and progress, and unlock valuable learning opportunities that might otherwise be missed.
2. Operational efficiency that drives speed and scale
In today’s competitive environment, winning companies don’t just close the right deals — they close them faster and cleaner.
To do that, finance teams need both the right process and the right tools to bring discipline to the entire lifecycle.
“Just as you wouldn’t run HR without HR software or Finance without financial software, you shouldn’t run M&A without purpose-built M&A software.”
RapidFire Safety & Security discovered how easily deal-critical information could get lost in email threads and siloed folders — creating risk and slowing execution. Using Midaxo as a centralized M&A command center, the company now tracks every document, communication, and workflow in one place.
Founder and CEO Mike McLeod explains: “No more version control issues. No more chasing down emails. Our teams, sellers, and partners all collaborate in one secure, organized system. It’s eliminated friction and accelerated our deal cycles.”
Leap Partners, an HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical services company, took efficiency further — building a repeatable, digital M&A process that scales. “Every opportunity enters a structured pipeline,” said Justin Deese, VP of Business Development. “From emails to notes to files — everything’s organized and accessible in Midaxo. That structure moves deals faster. Repeatability helps us scale.”
3. Visibility and accountability across every phase
Visibility and accountability are where financial discipline meets operational excellence. Together, they mitigate risk, accelerate integration, and enhance both financial and operational outcomes.
Visibility gives leadership a clear view into deal details, potential risks, and real-time progress. Accountability ensures that every task has an owner and every deliverable is tracked — preventing costly gaps and surprises.
Ken Wiesenfeld, CEO of Wise Financial, knows how critical this is: “This is where most M&A efforts fall apart,” he said. “Spreadsheets and email can’t keep up with the complexity of modern deal-making. Inside Midaxo, you can see every update, every unanswered question, every owner — in real time. That changes the game.”
At Allstar Services, a fast-growing residential roofing company, accountability has become a cultural advantage. “Midaxo keeps everyone — internal teams, leadership, and sellers — informed and aligned,” said Alex Whitley, Director of Business Development. “Our CEO can log in, see our pipeline and diligence notes, and make informed decisions instantly. It’s a huge time-saver and confidence builder.”
Delivering the M&A results your investors expect
Ken Wiesenfeld sums it up: “Just as you wouldn’t run HR without HR software or Finance without financial software, you shouldn’t run M&A without purpose-built M&A software.”
For CFOs and financial executives, M&A success today demands more than intuition and spreadsheets. It requires structure, data, and collaboration across every phase — powered by technology designed for the complexity of modern deal-making.
With a purpose-built platform like Midaxo, finance leaders are turning M&A expectations into measurable wins their investors can see — and their boards will applaud.
