EKNOW M&A Tools
Bundled, End-to-End Support
1. Complete Set-Up
First, your EKNOW business analyst will walk you through a requirements discussion. The EKNOW team then completes your entire set-up and personalized configuration on day 1 of your EKNOW term.
Next, EKNOW sets up your dedicated M&A Tools server in your primary geographic location. The system is set up with your default currency, date format, time zone, and other parameters, and with user accounts ready to go for your key user(s).
Next, your M&A Tools modules are quickly configured to your requirements: Showing only the tool modules, options, fields, columns, project stages, reports etc. that your users need. And hiding the ones they don’t.
At this point, your system is ready to use!
See also Ongoing Guidance & Support, below.
2. Migrating Your Data
Simple spreadsheet templates are used to import your existing data. For example, your initial user list, list of functional teams, diligence checklists, integration work plans, playbooks, project pipeline, etc.
As part of your on-boarding support, Senior EKNOW Analysts will walk you or your key users through these templates, where to download them, and how to upload your data.
After this session, you’ll be able to upload or download just about any type of data in M&A Tools. And of course, your EKNOW team is there for additional guidance if needed.
3. Power-User Training
Once your system is configured, your EKNOW team will immediately train your tool administrator(s) or key users.
Following an overall orientation, these key users will learn to create and administer: User accounts, new deals/projects, project teams, actionable data types, and work flows. Note that this training is absolutely unnecessary for non-administrator users.
When you’re ready to try something new with M&A Tools, additional training can be scheduled.
Key-user training will be further supported by the EKnowledgeBase on-line resource (see below).
4. Ongoing Guidance & Support
Over time you will develop new requirements and challenges for your M&A Tools: Your workflows may need to change. You may add team members in new roles. And you will certainly have new ideas and discover new applications for your M&A Tools.
This is why EKNOW includes not just tech support, but ongoing, hands-on support and guidance.
When it matters, your EKNOW Analyst can show your key user(s) how best to leverage the tool for your newest challenge. Or to activate a module or feature that you haven’t tried before. Or to customize your tools — in ways you may not have thought possible — to perfectly fit your process or reporting requirements.
5. Special Partner Benefits
Management consulting partners depend on M&A Tools to multiply their value proposition to their own clients. M&A Tools simply must make the consulting team look good.
That’s why consulting partner teams enjoy outstanding additional support benefits, unique to the EKNOW partner relationship.
These include special, zero-friction business terms, early deployment of anticipated client systems, high-level access to EKNOW operations management, a dedicated support tracking platform, support status dashboards, an expanding new KnowledgeBase for consultant users, and up to twice-weekly status meetings and collaboration sessions.
In these working sessions we jointly review change requests, new system starts, client pitches, and development roadmap priorities. Sessions may also be devoted to training the partner team, workshopping new solutions, tool customization, and more.
Contact EKNOW for full details.
6. Unlimited Technical Support
Unlike the hands-on guidance and support discussed above, Technical Support is in response to client- or user-reported issues, such as system errors, bugs, or outages.
When an issue is reported, your EKNOW team creates a support ticket, tracks it through resolution, and keeps you apprised.
Any critical issues are addressed within strict SLA parameters. Even non-critical user-reported issues are escalated to high priority and typically resolved within one to three business days.
There are is no separate support fee for tech support and no incident caps limits or similar limits.
Contact EKNOW for full details.
7. IT / System Management
M&A Tools is provided as purely web-based, “single-tenant” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Each client’s M&A Tools system is hosted on a separate, dedicated server. All servers are fully managed by EKNOW. Users need only a Web browser — there is no app to download.
In sum, this means that your own IT resources have no direct support burden whatsoever for your M&A Tools.
For the life of your system, EKNOW performs or manages all M&A Tools system support. This includes server set-up, configuration, security & access control, daily back-ups, password policy configuration, maintenance, critical security patches, bug fixes, file scanning, anti-virus updates, 24×7 system monitoring, intrusion monitoring, daily vulnerability testing, outage detection & response, remote site disaster recovery, recovery testing, and more.
Contact EKNOW for additional details.
8. EKnowledgeBase
The new EKnowledge Base is an evolving reference resource for Consulting Partner teams and select power users.
The EKnowledgeBase includes detailed capability overviews, FAQs, short how-to videos, key operating concepts, best practices, and more.
The EKnowledgeBase preview release is available starting in Q3 2021, along with M&A Tools Release 22. The production EknowledgeBase is planned for Release 23.