© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LIMITED 2014 WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29 2014 When WolverineWorldwide, the Michigan-based shoe and clothing group, acquired four brands in October 2012, its turnover doubled to $2.6bn. The acquisition could have been a huge administrative headache, says Dee Slater, chief information officer and vice- president of supply chain. A cloud service made the process so simple that the transition was seamless, although it had to handle twice as many transactions overnight. Wolverine sources more than 100m pairs of shoes a year from 110 factories in 20 countries. Its products, which include Keds and Hush Puppies, are sold via websites and retailers throughout the world. “Acquiring a business worth more than $1bn involved thousands of active purchase orders, masses of goods in shipmen

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