There's a reason why 'Where's Wally' is so effective and enduringly popular. The human brain is evolved to use colour, shapes and patterns as catalysts for cognitive recognition. These originally enabled us to spot threats in the environment; now they enable us to spot trends and sequences in charts more easily.

Once an organisation has grasped the importance of understanding and identifying their corporate data they must then ensure that they have a process in place to track its journey through the enterprise (its lifecycle flow). After all, the flow of data enables those critical business interactions, making sure that the right information gets to the right people or places, when it is needed, in the best format possible.

Charles Orton-Jones traces the rise of a new breed of City computer geeks who prefer algorithms to champagne and Lamborghinis The Masters of the Univ...

The benefits of opening up access to data are clear. A recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study, sponsored by Tableau, found that organisations which increase the access to data see an improvement in financial performance.

Big data is not just for the board room, it's for the consumer too. Companies are increasingly starting to recognise the value of big data, with one in five large businesses in the UK assigning financial value to their data on the company balance sheet.

Today's rapidly changing pattern of media consumption is a force which editors and publishers are all too aware of. The ability to showcase stories through a vast array of multimedia platforms is now an essential editorial tool which almost every media outlet is taking advantage of to accommodate their readers' expectations.

In a single generation, digital collaboration has completely changed the way we communicate and work. Ubiquitous connectivity and digitized information may be the most significant global change to take place since the transportation revolution.

In advertising, the ability to tell a compelling story that evokes emotions (humour, suspense, fear or compassion), engages audiences, pushes the boundaries of creativity and innovates through the use of technology often distinguishes a successful campaign from a "flop."

I'm not saying you shouldn't let your employees use a mobile device for work. They're great gadgets, which, for a small amount of money, can make your employees feel more positive about working for you, and allow them to work on the go. But it's worth being aware of potential pitfalls.

The Smart City idea attracts hype and scepticism in dynamic balance; but it's a boring kind of balance. As something of a bystander until now and as an architect and citizen, I will attempt here to sieve out the essence of smart.

As we all know, a lot of today's businesses have extensive data on us as consumers. Be it our favourite social network, the local supermarket or the bank. But not a lot of that insight is ever used to its full potential, either for the business, or the consumer.

So what are Google? They are not upstarts or start-ups anymore, having now been around for 15 years. They are not evil (as they keep telling us). What they are is clever - they are a 'Clever Company', a niche category that so many others fail to grasp.

Marketers know infographics can be advantageous. That's the good. But there is also the bad - and unfortunately - the ugly. Let's take a closer look at how this process is unfolding, what strategies to bear in mind, and what the future of infographics holds.

Businesses inevitably have to wake up to new technologies and adopt them to keep abreast with the changing times. we have seen more and more businesses, including restaurants, seek to mine the sea of data available to them both internally as well out in the virtual world.

Retailers need to ensure that any personalisation strategy they do use to target consumers is fair and when they get this right, the result is beneficial for both parties.

If there's one thing that working with data teaches you, it's to expect the unexpected. After all, it's easy to look at data sets and extrapolate the obvious conclusions that stand out from the most glaring statistics. But what if the real value of the data was to be found elsewhere?

As we put an eventful 2012 behind us and head into 2013, it's time to gaze into our crystal ball and predict what we can expect to see in the fast-paced telecoms industry in the coming twelve months.

As 2012 draws to an end, it's fair to say it's been a very busy year for cybercriminals! So what have we learnt from the past year and what do we need to be wary of in 2013 to ensure that both our data and our wallet remain protected?

Voice over internet protocol is the future of calling. Just like landlines and the telegraph machine, one day even SIM cards will demand their own spot at the technology museum.