In today’s world, data reigns supreme. Data, in all its bits and pieces, provides businesses with valuable information today. In order to make “informed decisions”, data needs to be collected, analyzed, and presented. Visualizing data in business analytics is similar to storytelling in that it needs to be understood and communicated.
90% of all data ever created in history has been created in the last two years. Future growth will only accelerate this trend. Data has always been a valuable resource for businesses. Any business that makes more profit from them is a business. The time has come for businesses to think about big data, analytics, and possible related stories that can be visualized.
What is Data Visualization?
Business today collects a lot of information through data analysis, so it’s important to be able to interpret that data. By providing visual context through maps or graphs, data visualization allows us to understand what the information means. Consequently, the data becomes more natural for the human mind to comprehend, making it easier to identify trends, patterns, and outliers.
Data visualization can be thought of as storytelling. A story becomes more authentic and precise as more data is collected. It should also be able to convey a strong message.
There was a time when finding data was difficult and expensive. Since the advent of digitalization, data has become abundant and cheap, but difficult to process. When using conventional methods such as excel sheets, it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. This is where big data and artificial intelligence come into play.
The amount of credible information became so vast. In order to store, channel, and analyze this vast amount of data, traditional software solutions are insufficient. In order to process these data, data scientists are pushing the limits day by day. Modern business analytics and related software use owe much to the efforts of data analysts, whether in science or management.
When big data analysis must be taken out for understanding, data visualisation comes into play. Data visualisation is the only way for common people to understand big data.
What is the Importance of Data Visualization?
It doesn’t matter what business or career you’re in, data visualization can help you deliver data efficiently. As part of the business intelligence process, data visualization takes raw data, models it, and provides conclusions based on it. Data scientists use machine learning algorithms to compile essential data into easy-to-understand and interpret visualizations in advanced analytics.
Data visualization uses visual data to communicate information in a universal, fast, and effective manner. Using this method, companies can identify which areas need to be improved, which factors affect customer satisfaction, and where to sell specific products (where to sell and to whom). With visualized data, stakeholders, business owners, and decision-makers can better predict future sales volumes.
How Does Data Visualization Benefit You?
An interactive visual representation of data enhances an organization’s decision-making process. Data can now be interpreted in graphical or pictorial form so that businesses can recognize patterns more quickly. An organization can benefit from data visualization in the following ways:
1. Measuring Frequency
The frequency of a trend is closely related to the trend over time. When we analyze how often and when customers purchase, we can get a better idea of how potential new customers might act and react.
2. Market Analysis
Data visualization helps you identify which markets to focus on and which ones to avoid using information from different markets. Through various charts and graphs, we are able to get a better understanding of the opportunities within those markets.
3. Risk and Reward Metrics
The analysis of value and risk metrics requires expertise because, without data visualization, complicated spreadsheets and numbers must be interpreted. Having visualized information, we can pinpoint areas that may or may not need action.
4. Relationship Correlations
Without data visualization, it is difficult to identify correlations between independent variables. We can make better business decisions by understanding those independent variables.
5. Tracking Trends Over Time
While trends may seem like an obvious use of data visualization, it is also one of the most valuable. It is impossible to make predictions without knowing the past and present. We can tell where we were and where we may go by looking at trends over time.
6. Market Reaction
Data on a functional dashboard allows businesses to act and respond to market findings quickly and avoid mistakes by obtaining information quickly and easily.
What are the Best Data Visualization Techniques?
Different methods exist for presenting information in a way that can be visualized. In order to create an easy-to-understand dashboard, a variety of graphs and tables may be used, depending on the data being modeled. Some visualizations are created manually, while others are automated. Regardless, there are many types to choose from.
1. Histograms
Histograms measure frequencies rather than trends over time. Data visualization formulas are used to display a range of values that are easy to interpret using these graphs.
2. Infographics
With infographics, you can visualize an extensive collection of data in a visually appealing format. Using an infographic is a great way to explore complex and highly subjective topics.
3. Fever Chart
A fever chart shows changing data over time. To get an accurate projection of next year, we could take the performance from the previous year and compare it to the prior year. The ability to interpret data from a variety of sources can be helpful to decision-makers.
4. Heatmap Visualization
The heatmap visualization technique uses a graph with numerical data points highlighted in light or warm colors to indicate whether the data is high-value or low-value. Studies have shown that humans interpret colors much better than numbers and letters, so this data visualization method helps them identify the information.
5. Area Chart (Graph)
An area chart (or graph) visualizes the relationship between time-series data. Area charts can be used to visualize the earnings of individual departments on a monthly basis or the popularity of a product since the 1980s.
How are Data Visualizations Used?
Across all industries, data visualization is used to increase sales with existing customers and target new markets and demographics. The World Advertising and Research Center (WARC) predicts that half of all advertising dollars will be spent online in 2020, so web data has become increasingly important for companies everywhere. The visualization of data provides companies with crucial insights into untapped information and messages that would otherwise remain undiscovered. We no longer have to sift through thousands of rows of spreadsheets in order to identify trends and patterns, since now we have a visual summary of data.
Business Intelligence Software for Modern Business Management
You, and your whole organization, must be exceptionally intelligent if you are still using spreadsheets for business management (by the way, they are brilliant tools today).
Otherwise, it’s time to explore new software tools.
Unused terabytes of data in a data center are a burden. To be valuable, it must be put to use.
In the current era, big data is often combined with machine learning. It is called business intelligence (BI) when these technologies are applied to business.
Business Data Visualization Tools
Today, there are several BI tools available. For big data analysis and data visualisation, we can use independent tools. Microsoft Power BI, Analytics, and Tableau are some of the most popular BI tools. Because of their cross-platform support and open-source nature, they are extremely convenient and affordable.
Businesses can integrate their existing CRM or ERP with independent tools. Business intelligence integrations are offered by tech giants who offer these facilities.
Incorporating complex data analytics tools with interactive visualisation tools is what makes these tools stand out.
Conclusion
Data visualization is necessary because the human brain is not capable of processing so much raw, unorganized information. Charts and graphs help us identify patterns and trends so we can gain insight and make better decisions more quickly.
With Power BI, you can visualize data however you like, making business analytics a breeze. Using Microsoft’s Power BI, companies of any size and type can now consolidate and analyze data on their own with ease, efficiency, and accuracy. This is an invaluable tool that can revolutionize business success.
Getting Started with Power BI
Learning how to use Microsoft Power BI can be challenging. It is not enough to spend a few hours on YouTube and consider yourself an expert. While Microsoft Power BI is intuitive, it is still complex. Using the platform effectively requires more than just the fundamentals.
To benefit from Microsoft Power BI sooner rather than later, we recommend investing in some training if you intend to use it for your current or future job.
ClinkIT Academy by 6X Gold Microsoft Partner offers mentor-led self-paced online training programs on Microsoft Power BI and Next Level Power BI Trainings.
Next Level Power BI
Transforming data into stories
Learn the fundamentals of Power BI, best practices in creating reports, how to use Data Analysis Expressions, modeling your data for analysis, Power BI service, and much more. Our full curriculum can be downloaded here.
Join our Next Level Power BI training!
Mon, Feb 27, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT
Tues, Feb 28, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT
Thurs, March 9, 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Fri, March 10, 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Wed, March 15, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT
Thurs, March 16, 9:00AM – 5:00PM PDT
