A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but order 12 dozen using the wrong product number, and the results are going to stink. In fact, they're going to stink to the tune of $2.1 billion over the next five years, according to AMR Research, which predicts that U.S. corporations will waste that much money through faulty product data exchange. One big problem is that buyers and suppliers, usually through coding mistakes or erroneous transcriptions, often have different identifiers for the same item.

One solution is to synchronize that data using a standard format and central clearinghouse such as the Uniform Code Council's GS1 Global Registry, to make sure buyers and suppliers all use the same names for the same items. It requires a lot of standardization and a lot of money, but if it helps you get the rose you ordered, not a dozen skunk blossoms, maybe it's worth it.