It was quick to set up a new application that allowed a bank to crunch financial information, say, but IT staff still had to manually configure networks so the data could be shared securely.

WSJ: An Upgrade Race for Data Centers

Given the amount of data to crunch through, it takes about two to four months from the time a customer signs up with Castlight to when the employee search tool is finally ready for use.

FORBES: Technology

Urging the World Bank to take fresh action to clean up the logging industry, Greenpeace senior forest campaigner Belinda Fletcher said it was "crunch time" for the DRC's rainforest.

CNN: Logging decimates African rainforest

But if there's an unofficial rule about crunch time in English soccer, it's this: As a season's worth of knocks begin to pile up, it sometimes pays to call in the cavalry.

WSJ: Premier League Cavalry