There was a bit of good economic news last week, with the announcement that U.S. retail sales rose 0.8 percent in July. That was the biggest gain since February, and well above the 0.3 percent that economists had predicted. So is the economy finally recovering?

Few phrases are generating more buzz in the business world today than cloud computing. This concept has been rapidly embraced by companies in every industry because of the obvious opportunities to save money and other valuable resources. In fact, Forrester Research projects that the global cloud computing industry will grow from $40.7bn in 2010 to more than $241bn by 2020.

The company's sales of high-value chemicals, laboratory supplies and equipment were constrained by an inefficient order-entry and processing system. It needed a new sourcing solution for its upstream supply chain.

Recently dubbed the world's second-largest maker of personal computers, Lenovo has adopted a new B2B sourcing solution from IBM for streamlining communications with logistics-management providers and contract manufacturers.

The big name in cereal and snacks seeks to improve forecast accuracy through the adoption of a new tool that supplements traditional supply-chain planning processes with a broader range of information about actual customer demand.