Every company needs and uses software, and some is a significant driver of business success. But as small companies grow to midsize, software performance gaps can emerge. Finding new software solutions can fix problems and inefficiencies and help teams develop innovative products and services.

Digital trade is crucial for almost every company, but it also introduces new complications. When products or services that contain a computer or can be connected to the internet — which nearly every product or service does — cross borders, cybersecurity risks emerge.

I’m sure I won’t surprise you if I write that smart use of technology is an integral part of success in business today. We live in the digital era—using mobile devices to create, cloud computing to collaborate, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence to improve operations, and data analysis to extract key insights. And that’s just scratching the surface.

2019 was a year of robust activity in the tech sector, and another record year for Lincoln International’s TMT team. Several notable Lincoln deals include the acquisition of Livermore Software Technology Corporation and the cross-border sale of CoreMedia AG in Germany to OpenGate Capital in the U.S.

As we enter 2020, investors are curious as to where M&A activity will head in the first year of the new decade. Their curiosity is fueled by several factors including global political uncertainties, from Brexit to a U.S. presidential election, a potential economic slowdown and record levels of dry powder.