In the past few years, many of the new technologies that have promised to revolutionise our working lives have focused on delivering information faster, in greater volumes, and wherever we want it. While they have been largely successful in doing this, anyone with a handheld e-mail device can testify that the resultant data overload has done little to make our lives easier. The next generation of technologies, however, promises to filter out much of the unnecessary information and help us use our time more productively. So what are these technologies, and do they work?

One is cloud computing, where data is stored virtually and separated from the physical device being used. While this might sound unimportant, where data is stored can make a huge difference to how people work. To use a real example, this article was produced using cloud computing. It was written using an internet browser before being transferred into the content management system of the Financial Times. At no stage was a copy held on any machine that could be lost or stolen. I worked on it in the office, closed it and picked up where I left off at home and never had to worry about which version I was working on.