IBM on Wednesday acquired privately held AptSoft, a Burlington, Mass.-based developer of software used to identify and alert businesses to emerging trends and events, which are culled from real-time queries of data stored on all their disparate software applications.

Along with identifying a pattern or potential problem -- say a black boot is dramatically outselling other colors of the same model and there's not enough black boots for distributors and retailers to meet demand -- the software initiates a trigger to warn employees of the impending shortage.

Manufacturing, sales and marketing staffs can then adjust their inventories, ramp production and tailor their sales and marketing campaigns accordingly.