The Data Vault: Top 10 data articles, 31 August - 7 September

Many organizations aspire to become data-driven businesses. When an organization stops making decisions based on the gut feel of its people and starts making data-driven decisions based on hard facts, this can truly transform a business.

Add Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Netflix and others to the list of those who apparently want to see Flash die. The worlds largest tech companies, including Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix, are forming the Alliance For Open Media to create an open-source, royalty-free video format, reports .

Business users tend to be time poor. So to help them get the information they need to make smart, data-driven decisions, there are a few techniques we can use within our dashboards to guide them in the right direction.

Humans have recorded data for thousands of years, but only recently, we have amassed an unimaginable amount of information. We have always sought to collect and pass on knowledge as a community, whether this medium is hieroglyphics, spoken word or a written narrative. In more recent times however, this information has been stored as computer data.

There are countless stories of how big data helps organizations-whether it's a matter of competitive advantage, driving innovations or fueling the bottom line. IT leaders understand its significance. According to the recent CIO Survey, an astounding 72 percent of the respondents within the financial services sector alone believe that big data has a positive impact on their rate of innovation.

Randy Uhrmacher, a grain farmer from Nebraska, and Greg Marlay, a ranch foreman from Missouri, are deep into data collection. Both see data as another tool they can use to make decisions that benefit their bottom line. Uhrmacher began collecting data in 2008 but said he started backward in comparison to most farmers.

This means facility managers are facing increasing pressures to reduce the carbon footprint of their buildings and move to a more sustainable operating model. Throw in an ageing infrastructure, reduced budgets and rising energy prices, and it's clear facility managers are facing challenging times ahead.

In a previous role, I was with my agency team at a new business pitch. Everything seemed to be going very well. Then, the person that was in charge of social media for the brand exclaimed that another vendor could tell her whether the fans/likes on the company Facebook page liked red or white wine.

"The experimental era of Big Data is coming to an end. Organisations are formalising their use of the technology to realise the business value they expect to find," according to Tom Pringle, practice leader at analyst house, Ovum.

Gartner's Nick Heudecker has always been a bit of a party-pooper. The man who has done more to ridicule data lakes (a "fallacy") and chastise the vendor-infested Open Data Platform ("for vendors, by vendors") now has his sights set on big data, generally.