Clean technology separation completed 3 months ahead of TSA deadline

The divested division had been deeply integrated into the parent company's technology ecosystem for over 15 years. Shared ERP (SAP), shared Active Directory, integrated supply chain systems, a common data warehouse, and cross-divisional network infrastructure created hundreds of dependencies that needed to be unwound. The TSA was structured for 18 months with escalating costs — every month of early exit represented significant savings for the buyer. The PE acquirer's investment thesis assumed technology independence within 12 months, but preliminary estimates from the parent suggested 24+ months was more realistic.

During pre-close due diligence, we mapped every technology dependency between the division and the parent — 347 distinct integration points across 42 systems. We classified each by complexity (simple, moderate, complex) and business criticality (critical, important, low), which allowed us to build a separation plan sequenced by risk and interdependency.

We designed a target-state architecture using cloud-native services rather than replicating the parent's legacy on-premises infrastructure. This was a deliberate decision to use the separation as a modernization opportunity — building a technology foundation that would serve the business for the next decade rather than perpetuating legacy patterns.

We executed the separation in waves: identity and network first (enabling all subsequent work), then email and collaboration, then business applications, then ERP and data warehouse. Each wave had a detailed cutover plan, rollback procedures, and validation checklists. We ran parallel operations for critical systems during transition and conducted weekend cutovers for systems that required downtime.

We negotiated TSA service level amendments with the parent to maintain quality during the transition, and established governance meetings with clear escalation paths.