Data is back on the agenda this month with articles that look at how best to protect and leverage it. First, Certes CTO Simon Pamplin warns that organisations are "preserving the illusion of security" when it comes to protecting their data: "In many boardrooms, data is still treated as something that 'sits' somewhere - in a database, on a server, in the cloud. But modern data doesn't sit still. It moves constantly across networks, between devices, into third-party platforms and backup environments. If protection only applies at the perimeter, it disappears the moment data moves." Read Simon's article for more insights on making our data the primary focus of a successful security strategy.

Establishing data security is essential - but we also must ensure that the data itself can be trusted, as Mari Nilsson Björkman, Global Telecom Industry Lead at SAS, explains in her article on data engineering in the AI era this month. "Without robust data engineering practices, AI systems risk being built on flawed, incomplete, or biased data, leading to a lack of transparency and data lineage, as well as unreliable outcomes that could impact both operational efficiency and customer trust," according to Mari.

With a new report from Confluent finding that 67% of UK IT leaders see disconnected, siloed data as preventing them from fully adopting AI and machine learning, the need for robust data governance, engineering and security practices has never been more pressing.

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