Over the last few months I have been working with several new clients and I have noticed an interesting correlation. The tighter the company's restrictions for access to the Internet, the more poorly managed the company. (Note:companies that do not allow any network access to outsiders do not come under this finding.)
With almost every client I use their on premise network, which is usually a security enabled wireless network. The longer it takes for me to re-configure my computer to work on the network is the first indication that management is not paying attention to IT. The number of people that have to be consulted for me to get access to the network is another leading indicator of management issues (3 is my all time high number). The third key piece of data comes when you see what sites are blocked by the client. When you can not access your email account you know there are management issues. When you see LinkedIn or Facebook blocked you have further proof of management issues.
I had all of this happen with one client recently. When I asked a senior executive at the company who made all these restrictive decisions he told me he did not know who was responsible for IT. True story. I think it proves my point.
So, if you have to do due diligence on a company, just try to log on to their network and see what you can access. If access takes 30 minutes to be arranged or is highly restrictive, and the company is not Wal-Mart or an NSA sub-contractor, you know that you have a company with senior management that does not pay attention to IT. If senior management does not pay attention to IT, you have learned a valuable piece of information--probably senior management does not understand IT and therefore can not properly supervise IT subordinates or senior management does not care about IT.
One might argue, in this day and age, that you have just finished your due diligence with the discovery that there is no senior management of IT. Another partner, acquisition, licensee or merger candidate should probably be your recommendation.