Cloud computing.  Social media.  Smartphone apps.  By now, these will all be recognisable terms.  Part of the fabric of every day life.  Yet go back 15 years – perhaps even just half that time – and, for the majority of people, such phrases would mean very little.  Probably nothing at all.

In a relatively short period, these technologies – and many like them – have not only become familiar, they have become industries in their own right.  For example, a…