2016 will be recorded as the year of the “surprise” – a year that illustrated more than any in recent memory our inability to predict the outcome of near-term events, a real failure to move beyond “big data” into clear and precise “insights.” To not just “know the numbers” but to truly understand what data trends and population sentiments are “actually telling us.”

Proof is an elusive thing. As we witness exponential increases in information exposure, our ability to decipher fact from fiction has become exponentially more difficult as well.