TECHNOLOGY: Jargon equals sensory overload

Bemused by computer industry buzzwords? Don't worry - the people who work in the industry do even worse, according to a survey of both computer professionals and non-experts.

Only 24 per cent of computer specialists could correctly identify what "data warehousing" meant, compared to 29 per cent of non-experts, in a survey carried out for software companies Cognos and VMark. Four hundred of the Times Top 1,000 companies took part - although 300 declined due to "total lack of knowledge about the subject".

Greg Bohlen, of Benchmark Research which carried out the survey, said: "The findings are consistent with the experiences of those who do not work in the IT industry." He added: "information technology specialists are often even more ignorant than those they are supposed to be helping."