Data strategy insights for PE-backed companies. Practical guides on data diligence, exit readiness, and portfolio data operations.https://crawfordmcmillan.com/en-ushttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-carve-out-services-cost-ownership/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-carve-out-services-cost-ownership/Data carve-out services priced honestly. What separation scope really includes, realistic cost ranges, build versus buy, who should own it, and what to ask a provider.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/initiative-looked-like-it-worked-success-from-noise/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/initiative-looked-like-it-worked-success-from-noise/Measuring value creation initiatives takes a baseline, one agreed metric definition, and the ability to decompose growth. Without them, success is a story, and the next bet gets funded on it.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/two-years-in-growth-stalled-diagnose-value-creation-plan/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/two-years-in-growth-stalled-diagnose-value-creation-plan/You are two years into the hold and the value creation plan is behind. Before you reorganize or replace the team, find the real constraint. A practitioner framework for diagnosing why portfolio growth stalls and what actually unblocks it.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/structure-follows-clarity-organizational-failure-pe/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/structure-follows-clarity-organizational-failure-pe/The credit games, the hidden data, the permanent pilots, the unused dashboards, the pointless reorgs. All symptoms of the same gap. The organization does not have a shared, trusted version of its own numbers.Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/mid-market-pe-2026-numbers-that-matter/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/mid-market-pe-2026-numbers-that-matter/The comprehensive mid-year reference. Bain's deal math shift, GF Data's quality premium compression, the exit backlog, LP pressure, AI adoption, and the add-on surge. Every data point that shapes portfolio operations in 2026.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/stop-hiring-cdo-before-the-decision/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/stop-hiring-cdo-before-the-decision/The board hires a CDO to fix the data without agreement on what fixed means. Without budget authority. Without executive alignment. You have not hired a leader. You have hired a shield.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/diligence-red-flags-kill-more-deals-than-pricing/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/diligence-red-flags-kill-more-deals-than-pricing/Bain's GP survey puts diligence red flags as the #2 deal obstacle. Inflated expectations are #1. Both come down to the same thing: can the numbers survive scrutiny?Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-data-team-gets-blamed/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-data-team-gets-blamed/The data team did not create the three ERPs that do not agree. Nobody funded the infrastructure. Nobody gave them authority. They inherited the org chart's dysfunction and got handed a deadline.Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/ai-powered-due-diligence-raising-bar/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/ai-powered-due-diligence-raising-bar/Buyers are screening deals in 2 days instead of 2 weeks. AI surfaces inconsistencies faster than any human team. Your data problems will be found. The question is whether you find them first.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/reorg-fixes-nothing-infrastructure-problems/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/reorg-fixes-nothing-infrastructure-problems/Results stall. First move: redraw the org chart. Six months later the same problems report to different people. The reorg moved the boxes. The boxes were never the problem.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/lp-pressure-reshaping-pe-portfolio-operations/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/lp-pressure-reshaping-pe-portfolio-operations/Fundraising is down 16% and over half of LPs report more leverage than a year ago. Here is what limited partners now demand from GPs in 2026: faster distributions, real-time portfolio reporting, and operational value creation.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/dashboard-nobody-opens-reporting-theater/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/dashboard-nobody-opens-reporting-theater/Six figures on reporting. 47 dashboards. Beautiful visualizations. Nobody opens it. Not because the tool is bad. Because the numbers would start a conversation nobody wants to have.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/add-on-surge-data-integration-crisis/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/add-on-surge-data-integration-crisis/Add-on acquisitions surged through 2024-2025, mostly sub-$50M, financed off existing credit facilities. Each bolt-on brings its own ERP. Nobody budgeted for data integration. The downstream cost shows up at exit.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pilot-that-never-ships-poc-stall-tactic/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pilot-that-never-ships-poc-stall-tactic/A POC without a decision framework is not an experiment. It is a stall. Fourteen months of 'promising results' on a five-year hold is 23% of the runway spent not deciding.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/quality-premium-compressing-gf-data-2026/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/quality-premium-compressing-gf-data-2026/GF Data's quality premium dropped to 3%. Fewer companies qualify as above average. The premium is compressing from the top, not the bottom. Even good companies need sharper differentiation in diligence.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/you-priced-honesty-too-high-portfolio-companies/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/you-priced-honesty-too-high-portfolio-companies/When surfacing a data problem gets you scrutinized instead of supported, people stop surfacing problems. The downstream cost appears in diligence, years after it was still fixable.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pe-exit-backlog-32000-companies/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pe-exit-backlog-32000-companies/The unrealized PE portfolio has hit $3.8 trillion across 32,000 companies, and average holds have stretched to seven years. Every extra year erodes the return. Why data readiness in year one is what protects your exit.Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/credit-accountability-gap-pe-operating-model/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/credit-accountability-gap-pe-operating-model/PE firms that advise from a distance and claim credit selectively are running out of runway. The math demands shared accountability between sponsors and management teams.Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/12-is-the-new-5-financial-engineering-dead/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/12-is-the-new-5-financial-engineering-dead/Required EBITDA growth doubled in a decade while leverage dropped and rates rose. The math now demands operational value creation, and data infrastructure is how you deliver it.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/two-integrity-gaps-portfolio-value/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/two-integrity-gaps-portfolio-value/Data integrity and leadership integrity are twin blind spots that erode PE portfolio company value long before diligence. Why they travel together, and how to diagnose and fix both in 90 days.Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/carve-out-data-separation-playbook/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/carve-out-data-separation-playbook/Data separation is the hardest technical problem in any carve-out. The five phases from inventory to standalone infrastructure, the traps that turn a $2M six-month scope into $5M and fourteen months, and how to scope it right.Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/dpi-pressure-and-the-data-gap/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/dpi-pressure-and-the-data-gap/DPI has become the most scrutinized LP metric, creating exit urgency that flows directly to portfolio companies. Clean data operations are now the difference between transacting and waiting.Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/the-hidden-half-turn-how-data-errors-leak-value/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/the-hidden-half-turn-how-data-errors-leak-value/Most data-and-valuation conversations focus on pre-close diligence. But data errors continue to destroy value after the close through revenue leakage, procurement waste, and delayed value creation.Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/portfolio-data-operations-repeatable-playbook/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/portfolio-data-operations-repeatable-playbook/Operating partners managing multiple portfolio companies need a repeatable data playbook, not bespoke strategies for each acquisition. This guide covers what to standardize, what to leave alone, and how to deploy in 90 days.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/rollover-equity-and-data-risk/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/rollover-equity-and-data-risk/Rollover equity has risen from 14% to nearly 17% of TEV. When sellers keep skin in the game post-close, data quality matters beyond the close date.Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-governance-that-raises-valuation/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-governance-that-raises-valuation/In a PE-backed company, data governance is EBITDA protection disguised as policy. The four-layer framework, the five controls buyers check in diligence, and a 90-day plan to put it in place.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/cfo-guide-to-data-driven-exit-preparation/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/cfo-guide-to-data-driven-exit-preparation/Five things every CFO at a PE-backed company should have locked down six months before exit. Revenue reconciliation, flash reports, retention metrics, and more.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/how-to-build-business-case-for-data-quality/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/how-to-build-business-case-for-data-quality/A practical framework for operating partners to justify data quality investments to investment committees. Three value drivers, one-page template, and the cost-of-inaction math.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-your-portfolio-company-ai-initiative-is-stalling/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-your-portfolio-company-ai-initiative-is-stalling/Most PE portfolio company AI initiatives stall not because of the technology, but because of the data underneath. Five root causes and what to do about each one.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-integration-after-add-on-acquisition/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-integration-after-add-on-acquisition/A 90-day framework for integrating data after an add-on acquisition. Covers customer master deduplication, chart of accounts harmonization, KPI alignment, and reporting consolidation.Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/the-bifurcation-why-some-companies-exit-at-premium/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/the-bifurcation-why-some-companies-exit-at-premium/PE deal volume fell to a 2017 low last year. A-assets still close fast at premium multiples. Five characteristics that separate the companies that sell from the ones that stall in diligence.Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/reverse-due-diligence-audit-your-data/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/reverse-due-diligence-audit-your-data/Five areas to self-audit before a buyer gets into your data room. A practical framework for running reverse due diligence on your own data, with specific questions and 2-week fixes.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/what-operating-partners-get-wrong-about-data-governance/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/what-operating-partners-get-wrong-about-data-governance/65% of PE firms struggle to reflect value creation in exit EBITDA. Three governance mistakes explain most of the gap, and all three are fixable.Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/ai-readiness-starts-with-data-readiness/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/ai-readiness-starts-with-data-readiness/80% of PE firms deployed AI by 2025. Only 20% got operational value. The five-prerequisite data framework for portfolio companies that actually produces measurable AI returns.Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/one-page-data-value-creation-plan/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/one-page-data-value-creation-plan/Most value creation plans have a vague line for data. Here is a concrete one-page framework that turns the data component into a real operating plan.Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-record-multiples-make-data-your-edge/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/why-record-multiples-make-data-your-edge/EBITDA multiples hit 11.8x. Financial engineering alone cannot deliver returns at these prices. Data is the operational lever that separates winners from the rest.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/post-acquisition-data-playbook/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/post-acquisition-data-playbook/What to do with data in the first 100 days after acquiring a company. A phased playbook for operating partners and portfolio company leaders.Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-diligence-diy-vs-help/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-diligence-diy-vs-help/When to handle data diligence preparation yourself and when to bring in outside help. An honest comparison of cost, timeline, and outcomes.Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/qoe-data-problems/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/qoe-data-problems/QoE reports expose data infrastructure failures most teams never see coming. Why the numbers break, what triggers earnings adjustments, and how to fix the root causes before diligence instead of during it.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/fix-data-before-diligence-timeline/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/fix-data-before-diligence-timeline/Realistic timelines for fixing data before diligence. The 12-month ideal, 6-month sprint, and 3-month emergency paths with specific deliverables at each phase.Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-problems-cost-half-turn/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/data-problems-cost-half-turn/An anonymized case study showing how data issues led to QoE adjustments, buyer repricing, and a $20M valuation haircut on a mid-market PE exit.Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pe-exit-data-checklist/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/pe-exit-data-checklist/The data readiness checklist PE-backed teams miss before an exit. Covers financial, operational, and customer data with timelines and real benchmarks.Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/48-hour-diligence-test/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/48-hour-diligence-test/Ten questions your team should answer in 48 hours or less. A practical readiness test for PE-backed companies approaching an exit.Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/7-data-red-flags-kill-deals/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/7-data-red-flags-kill-deals/Seven specific data problems that make buyers walk away or reprice. What each red flag signals, why it matters, and how to fix it before diligence starts.Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/complete-data-diligence-guide/https://crawfordmcmillan.com/blog/complete-data-diligence-guide/What buyers actually look for in data diligence. 15 questions, what good answers look like, common red flags, and how to prepare before the clock starts.Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT