If given the choice of only being able to move one application to the cloud, most respondents would choose storage (25%), followed by enterprise resource planning applications to manage HR, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and project management systems (20%).

FORBES: Some Pain, But Plenty to Gain, from Cloud Deployments: Survey

Chief Executive Pedro Pablo Cuevas has introduced performance-based pay to motivate employees, as well as new technology for the chain's data management systems.

FORBES: Streetwalker: An optimist on the sidelines

These so-called legacy applications constitute a seamless supply chain, a sophisticated customer experience, order management systems, accounts receivable systems, and so on.

FORBES: When the past should be seamlessly woven into the future

Demand is booming for services to get businesses up and running on the Web, linking their sites to other systems such as customer service and supply-chain management.

FORBES: The service mob

For instance, a recent article in the McKinsey Quarterly points out that technology budgets are a favourite place to make cuts, but indiscriminate chopping will be more damaging than ever before because IT systems are now so tightly interwoven with everything from supply chain management to the determination of pricing strategies.

ECONOMIST: Managing in the downturn