Research from SINTEF, the largest independent research company in Scandinavia, suggests that more data has been collected over the past two years than in the entire history of the human race. The convergence of several technology trends is accelerating this process, resulting in greater access to data, enhanced data storage, faster data mining and innovative utilisation of data in technologies such as AI. So how are businesses taking advantage of this exponential growth in data, and who do they need to hire to create a successful data and analytics function?