From June 2009 BusinessWeek

Coca-Cola use to operate like ants in a colony when it came to stocking product in their 12,000 merchant stores. Each morning the drivers would come to the warehouse to receive their instructions and would then do their rounds to the store and at the end of the day return to the warehouse to check in with the boss. The drivers were on their own for the day and one of the problems associated with this model is that they could not adjust during the day to changing needs.

Solution

They now use smart phones and cloud computing to stay in constant contact with the boss and the warehouse. At the end of each stop they complete and online survey that gives the company a complete picture of sales trends and relationships with the store manager in real time. This allows Coca-Cola to react in real time to changeing condition.

Coca-Cola may be large but you will see small business jumping on this trend in the near future as small business is more open to change, are more flexible, and last but not least, are looking for a way to be competitive with the big companies.