When the global economy nearly collapsed in late 2008, some multinational companies reacted by quickly cutting their head counts and technology budgets. As cash flow dried up, some pundits warned that providers of on-demand global trade and logistics technology would face hard times retaining old customers and winning over new ones. It hasn't turned out that way. A growing number of manufacturers and retailers have decided, instead, to streamline their worldwide supply chains for the long haul by signing up for pay-as-you-go logistics services available through the Internet "cloud." These services reduce supply-chain costs by making it faster and easier to share information about shipments with suppliers, transportation providers and end users, and then processing that information with the latest, most powerful software tools.
Supply-chain Management: Growing Global Complexity Drives Companies into the 'Cloud' - Knowledge@Wharton
