Operating models · Business separation · Delivery readiness
How do you assess whether a business can operate after separation?
Trace the work that depends on shared people, services, systems and agreements. Define the replacement or transition for each dependency, then test continuity and standalone operating costs.
Trace essential work across the proposed boundary
Start with the activities the business must continue: serving customers, paying employees, purchasing inputs, collecting payments and supporting its products. For each activity, identify the people, information, systems and external relationships it uses. Include manual handoffs that an application inventory would miss.
Check who actually provides each capability today. A team dedicated to one business may still depend on shared identity, finance, facilities or specialist support. Deloitte’s operational separation guidance examines these interdependencies across people, processes, technology, assets and contracts.
In its merger-remedies context, the CMA considers whether shared assets can practically be separated and whether the resulting business has the capabilities it needs. Use the same operational question for readiness planning: which necessary capabilities remain outside the proposed boundary, and how will they be supplied?
Describe the interim and ongoing operating arrangements
For every unresolved dependency, identify an accountable owner and a proposed way to provide the capability. The approach may involve a transferred resource, a replacement provider, a newly established internal function or temporary support. Record the evidence still needed to establish that the approach is workable.
Where temporary services are proposed, describe the service, users, expected duration, reporting and operational escalation. Deloitte’s transition-services guidance stresses scope, timing, service performance and communication. Give each temporary dependency an exit plan tied to the replacement capability becoming usable.
Have the relevant specialists check the rights and obligations behind the operating plan. Contract transfer, licenses, employee arrangements and data access each require their own review. Track unresolved approvals as dependencies; an entry on a systems map cannot establish permission to continue using a service.
Test continuity and the cost of running independently
Build the ongoing cost view from the resources the separated operation will actually require. Distinguish recurring services from one-time migration, setup and duplicated transition effort. Deloitte’s separation guidance recommends grounding standalone and one-off costs in the planned operating model.
Rehearse important workflows across the proposed boundary with the people who will own them. Confirm that customer requests reach an accountable team, records reconcile and support responsibilities are understood. Document the remaining reliance on temporary arrangements rather than describing the whole business as independent.
Sequence changes around the ability to keep essential work running. A replacement service can be ready before the people, permissions or information needed to use it are ready. Present readiness as a set of evidenced capabilities and unresolved dependencies so operational leaders can decide what still needs attention.