General Mills Tries Gluten-Free Sales in the Cloud

There are indications, however, that cloud technology is becoming a higher priority. Kraft, the world's second-largest food company, is among the industry giants that sees ample opportunities in the cloud—and is stepping up its investments accordingly. As a global enterprise with about 126,000 employees worldwide and 220 manufacturing and processing facilities in more than 80 countries, Kraft is a recipe for operational and communication challenges.

That's why the company relied heavily on cloud services, also provided by Microsoft, to integrate its technology systems with Cadbury following its 2010 acquisition of the confectionary company, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported last year.

[See our list of the top-rated consumer goods ETFs.]

"It's just another way to continue to expand what your company is—who you collaborate with," says Mark Dajani, senior vice president and chief information officer for Kraft, in a video testimonial on the importance of cloud computing. "You no longer limit your company by physical or technical boundaries." Kraft also declined to comment for this story.

Going forward, the sky is the limit when it comes to consumer-products companies and cloud computing. "This is still an early journey," says Conroy. "They haven't figured out what all the possibilities are."

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