This week’s Computer Weekly kicks off our Buyer's Guide to data security by looking at the changing role of the IT security chief. We also examine why flexible working is proving so slow to roll out and we talk to the UK's air traffic control operator about its ambitious desktop virtualisation project. 

Master data management (MDM) tools are on the rise as more companies look toward ways to solve all their data needs through one system. This expert e-guide from our editorial team features two articles with exceptional insight on what vendors and trends are prevailing in the current MDM market. 

As a consequence of tightening budgets and increasing uncertainties, government organizations are looking at how to leverage cloud computing as a model to ensure greater flexibility, lower costs, more-rapid provisioning and greater focus on areas that are more domain-specific. 

As today’s databases continue to grow in size, complexity and importance, organizations struggle to find the most appropriate strategy to keep them secure. In this Gartner report, uncover the essential controls and best practices for adequately protecting data bases and enterprise data. 

<p>Businesses need to keep a close eye on the evolution of cloud based services to avoid wasting money and missing out on business opportunities.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> 

Gartner research director, Valdis Filks, offers tips to help businesses get to grips with escalating storage costs. 

This article from Gartner offers advice to public sector organisations thinking of deploying cloud computing and assess the progress made by governments in their use of the cloud. 

Improving the overall quality of your company’s decision-making process results also improves the overall effectiveness of your business. This paper explains how reporting will help your organization make better decisions, and how on-demand reporting allows you to accomplish this task in a fast, cost-effective, and easy-to use manner. 

Tim Zimmerman, Gartner research director offers some practical advice to organisations wanted to use iPads on their corporate wireless networks. 

The demand for greater ecommerce capabilities is growing leading CIOs and IT professionals concerned with choosing the perfect vendor. Through this in-depth vendor analysis by Gartner, uncover the top 6 questions you should ask and the strengths and weaknesses of the top 20 e-commerce vendors. 

Decision-making is buoyed by strong business intelligence (BI). For small to midsize businesses (SMBs), formulating an approach to BI can be a challenge. Incremental steps are pivotal for SMBs, according to this paper featuring insight from Gartner. Read this and learn why starting with the basic before evolving deeper is the proven path. 

Learn how Gartner's criteria for next generation IPS helps organizations achieve effective threat prevention despite changes in network communications, new applications, and changes in the threat landscape. Featuring Greg Young, research vice president at Gartner. 

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.