After slouching toward a sluggish end of 2022, technology mergers and acquisitions look to be showing new signs of life. That activity coincides with a continued rise in shareholder activism as value-oriented investors take advantage of the paradigm shift in valuations to demand higher profits and cash flow margins.

Amid tightened market conditions and the still-looming potential of an economic recession, balance sheet health is now under a microscope. With that heightened scrutiny, a long-undiagnosed malady has become too obvious to ignore: business drift. Common symptoms include loss of focus, declining productivity, low employee engagement, opaque product strategy and organizational bloat.