This week’s Computer Weekly asks what chancellor George Osborne's Budget means for the UK IT community and if he can deliver his goal to make Britain "the technology centre of Europe". Also you'll find the final part of our private cloud Buyer's Guide and we examine the options for choosing the right WAN optimisation strategy. 

This week’s Computer Weekly examines research that suggests CEOs want to invest in IT more than ever, but still see CIOs as technical experts and not business people. We review SQL Server 2012 and ask if Microsoft's database software is catching its competitors as well as concluding our Buyer's Guide to data security. 

Does your business rely on spreadsheets for performance management? Spreadsheets require labor-intensive manual processes and are highly error-prone. Learn how you can replace or augment your spreadsheets with planning applications that integrate easily with spreadsheets, leveraging the best of your existing investment. 

Read this paper to uncover a system designed to reduce the time it takes to perform the year-end close process, help verify the proper tax liability, accurately convey the value of the fixed assets to be insured, and assist in the audit process. 

As the number and complexity of compliance mandates continue to grow, organizations struggle to keep up, only meeting requirements in silos using a “checklist” approach. But this reactive approach only leads to more costs, inefficiencies and risk. Read now to uncover a proactive strategy that will help you get ahead of the compliance curve. 

Learn what recovery challenges are still plaguing IT pros today, and learn how you can achieve 100% recovery confidence through continuous and ongoing testing. Also learn about the challenges associated with traditional backup and recovery technologies in today's data-intensive environments and discover how to overcome these pitfalls. 

Limited space, power, and cooling capacity have led many organizations to recognize that capital and operating expenses for datacenters have become an increasing part of their budgets. Read this paper to learn about the range of technologies that can help you drive more efficiency in your datacenter. 

Big businesses are planning to grow their mainframe computer capacity despite the downturn  this survey of 1,347 large mainframe users worldwide by BMC Software reveals. 

<p>Uncover the benefits of an MPLS-based network and why one must be an integral part of your cloud strategy. Learn why this technology can help you prepare for future demands and get the most out of your cloud venture.</p> 

Enterprise resource leader, SAP founded in 1972, is facing the slow death of traditional on-premise ERP. Customers with shrinking IT budgets are opting to outsource more of their core business systems. 

<p>Automatically enroll and find out everything you need to know about the 2012 Hitachi Virtual Information Forum – happening LIVE from your desktop on Wednesday, June 6 at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET.</p> 

The Solvency II Directive was rolled out to protect consumers by promising that insurance companies maintain sufficient funds to meet all claims. Complying with the risk management portion of the initiative can be difficult for insurance companies. This paper details how Unum implemented an operational risk management solution to address this. 

In this week’s Computer Weekly, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude talks about releasing government datasets to the public and why open data will drive the next industrial revolution. We also review the latest test version of Windows 8 and see how it shapes up for tablet computers and business users and much more.