Retailers are in the midst of a data land grab. They are trying to collect all of the consumer data they can possibly get their hands on. Why? Because they're hoping that some of it will prove to be valuable.

Dow Chemical is investing $6bn to enlarge its manufacturing facilities in the United States by 40 percent, based on a wager that low natural gas prices here will persist into the middle of the next decade, a Dow executive said recently.

In the world of supply chains, signing on a new partner or trading partner has typically marked the beginning of a marathon. Whether by electronic data interchange, EDIFACT, cXML, ebXML, value added networks, portals or the rest of the alphabet soup of connectivity approaches, a great deal of time and effort is required to get trading partners’ systems aligned - even if trading hubs are involved. Every company has a different system, and different processes for getting things done. For a company with thousands of trading partners, imagine how much in resources it gobbles up just to manage and keep every partnership aligned. Of course, cloud changes all that right?

Think hybrids that go 60 miles on a gallon are efficient? Trains can go eight times as far with 2,000 pounds in their backseat. And they're only getting smarter.