When a large IT company begins looking for smaller mid-market firms to buy (under $30M in transaction value), five key factors usually influence their decision. These factors are crucial as the larger company works to maintain its market advantage and grow its business. If you are a small, emerging growth IT company and can answer "yes" to the following questions, then you may be a desirable acquisition target for a larger firm. The questions may seem obvious – perhaps easy. But effective, compelling answers are not.

Technological disruptions are driving our current era of rapid business transformation and raising questions about what the future of work might be, the implications for organizations, and how to navigate successfully to the "next horizon." How small businesses respond to the challenges and exploit the benefits of smart technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key determinant of their success going forward. Artificial intelligence is the rapidly growing field of computer science focused on creating intelligent software tools able to replicate critical human mental faculties. Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most disruptive technology fueling the radical transformation of business; it is truly altering the nature, scope, and scale of today's organizations. With a level of focused attention on the now, the next, and the future of AI, small business leaders will be able to prepare for a range of possible outcomes and increase their organizations' resilience in the face of future uncertainty.

Will artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning carve up the tech industry into "haves" and "have nots"? That's the thesis presented by a recent article in The New York Times, which suggests that, while ultra-monetized companies such as Google and Facebook can fund as much A.I. research as they need, academic institutions and smaller firms are being left behind. "The huge computing resources these companies have pose a threat--the universities cannot compete," Craig Knoblock, executive director of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, told the newspaper. The Times points to OpenAI, which launched as a nonprofit designed to prevent A.I. from being used in terrible and unethical ways, as an example of this trend. OpenAI has since evolved into a "capped" for-profit company, and reportedly plans to use any revenues to fund its computing infrastructure.

There's no denying that Japan, amid a severe labor crunch and a shrinking population, will need to rely more on foreign workers in the coming years, and that's especially true for small and midsize companies. Because of language issues and cultural differences, smaller firms often struggle to integrate foreign workers. But once they overcome those hurdles, many find that the addition of foreign perspectives can lead to new opportunities. Sakae Casting Co., a small aluminum cast manufacturer in Hachioji in western Tokyo, learned this the hard way. But its experience may be an example of what other firms will have to go through in the coming years.

Based on this report's findings, it seems that the smaller firms have a slower rate of awareness and adoption than their colleagues at the bigger firms. Yet, arguably, smaller firms have as much if not more to gain from the rise of legal technology. Recent research from Thomson Reuters suggests that in a solo or smaller firm, up to 31% of their time is swallowed by administrative tasks with a resultant impact on their billable hours. The practice of trademark law tends to lend itself to repetitive, time consuming tasks. While the study didn't look specifically at different areas of law, it may well be that lawyers involved in trademark law carry a heavier administrative burden than some of their colleagues working in other fields.