Australians have long enjoyed cheap electricity, but in recent years, costs have shot up – in NSW alone prices have risen by about 85% since 2008 – and consumption has gone through the roof. Why?

Can insurers or reinsurers change our behaviour and help us adapt to climate change? Australia’s obsession with sea changes, waterfront properties and coastal living has a dark side that will make its presence inevitably and abundantly felt in coming years.

It used to be ‘Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are’, now it’s the ads targeted to your demographic, your location and your recent status updates that tell most about you. Big data is the DNA of consumer behaviour. We look behind the hype for what it means to your business.

Every sector has had its own internet-led revolution. In the service industry it’s been ‘remote provision’, with all the flexibility, choice and price comparison that online delivery facilitates. But, says Professor Hean Tat Keh, convenience may be perceived to come at greater risk.

How come this business insight and must-have learning tool arrives on my desk as a 500 page plus printed hardcover? Surely no one is buying textbooks these days.

‘Two-speed economy’ has become a bit of a business catch phrase, some might say cliché. We talk to 20 leaders about what it means to their businesses.

Secure financial transactions are vital in a digital economy, but despite the best efforts of the world’s major credit card issuers to produce a viable standard, fraud is on the rise in Australia.

Celebrities have been walking off the movie set and the sports field to help promote brands for decades. Dr Ravi Pappu of UQ Business School argues that research now shows there are measurable benefits in brand credibility to linking your name to a rising star.

For the next in our series big data we look at how data capture and analysis is starting to transform the management of our most precious resource: water.