We've heard it before: manufacturing is leaving China and coming back to the West. But the reality isn't that simple.

Is China guilty, as charged by U.S. traders, of keeping its currency artificially weak?

China has become by far Africa's biggest trading partner, exchanging about $160bn worth of goods a year; more than a million Chinese, most of them labourers and traders, have moved to the continent in the past decade. The mutual adoration between governments continues, with ever more African roads and mines built by Chinese firms. But the talk of Africa becoming Chinese - or "China’s second continent", as the title of one American book puts it - is overdone.

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have jointly launched an initiative to help retailers manage omnichannel customer engagements.

Across my career, I've participated in scores of software implementations for companies ranging from SMBs to industry giants. Some have gone exceptionally well, while others have encountered delays. Each effort has served as a learning experience, offering insights and lessons learned about the characteristics "smooth" projects share – and the pitfalls to avoid.