Top 5 Advantages of Data Visualization and How to Leverage Them

Data visualization is a term used to describe the use of visual elements to better express the significance of data. Data visualization can take the form of charts, graphs, tables, or elements, and is an essential aspect of business analytics. Data visualization makes it possible for decision makers, particularly those without a background in statistical analysis or computer science, to quickly and effectively comprehend analytical data. But while data visualization can refer to something as simple as a spreadsheet, there are still a number of problems inherent with this form of visualization, in that it is very time-consuming. In fact,  52% of employees surveyed say they spend too much time updating spreadsheets.

Given the difficulty of locating specific information, the high potential for confusion, and the risk of multiple analyses by different individuals of the same data set leading to vastly diverse outcomes, data visualization may actually cause an organization more harm than good. 

Modern analytics software has improved upon the concept behind data visualization — and taken it much further — through the use of interactive data visualization software. Now companies get to reap the benefits of this great tool and use it to their advantage.

1. Visualized data is processed faster.

Visual content is processed much faster and easier than text. In fact, researchers at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine indicate that the human retina can transmit data at roughly 10 million bits per second. The retina, explained by the news release, is actually a part of the brain that has grown into the eye.

Data visualization taps into this concept of how quickly our brains can recognize images and make sense of them. James Haight of Blue Hill Research explained, “The brain operates with neural networks that allow us to predict patterns based on external stimuli at great speed. And once we learn a pattern, the brain is excellent at recognizing it again. What’s more, one of the greatest inputs into our brain’s pattern-recognizing process is, you guessed it, visual imagery. So, in this sense, data visualization tools play into our biological sweet spot. The human mind may not intuitively understand complex statistical models or things like “R squared” values, but we are quite adept at picking out patterns from visual displays.

In a world where employees are overloaded with information, visuals allow us to quickly process, section out, and act upon the necessary information. 

2. Data visualization dashboards support visual learners.

While 90% of information submitted to the brain is visual, learning styles vary among the population. Some learn kinesthetically, while others are auditory learners. The majority of the population however, 65% to be exact, are visual learners. Data visualization and online data visualization tools help make it possible to quickly comprehend the information presented.

Moving past the spreadsheet era, modern technology has transformed information from generic spreadsheets into appealing and easy-to-read charts and graphs. Online data visualization is a tool to present data visually and gain insights from that data.

Anyone from salespeople to CEOs will greatly benefit from the ability to quickly grasp the pulse of the organization.

3. Data visualization tools show insights, causes, and trends that may be missed in traditional reports.

Getting the entire company in the habit of seeing the dashboard reports and data visualization can help get a better picture of the organization. Corey Crellin, Senior Manager of Product & Operations at Prosper Healthcare Lending, reported in a Dreamforce session that his company adopted loose permissions with its CRM program so all users could create their own reports. “[Senior managers] had good ideas,” said Crellin, “but the people on the front lines had even better ideas … They were finding new metrics and new ratios, and a lot of those ratios that came from that quarter are ratios that are critical to us now.”

Identifying causes and trends becomes an easier task with data visualization. Ninety-three percent of all human communication is visual, and it’s been suggested that the human brain is capable of processing images 60,000 times faster than it does text. As such, it seems like a fairly inefficient use of time to try to share complex data concepts using words on a page. By reviewing data analysis through the use of easily digestible imagery (in whatever form that might take), and manipulating that data to better understand it, leaders can comprehend and act on valuable information much more quickly.

Once your organization identifies the information and key performance indicators (KPIs) they’d like to have visualized, CRM can produce the visualizations. Examples of data visualization reports might include: sales by period, sorted by sales person or product; deals in the pipeline, sorted by individual accounts; call time per customer; or deals closed, sorted by sales rep.

4. Data visualization gives actionable items.

Data visualization may help your organization see where there’s room for improvement or where performance is high. Actionable items can result by identifying successes and areas for improvement.

For example, if your sales team knows that for every X number of calls, Y number of sales will result, creating a visual report based on calls per sales rep and progress to call goal is a visual motivator to meet the call quota. Similarly, a pipeline report showing where each deal falls along the sales pipeline shows sales teams the next steps to be taken.

At the end of the day, data visualization allows you to see relationships between daily tasks and business operations. It can be difficult to fully comprehend how daily business operations affect a company’s bottom line, but interactive data visualization makes it possible. By interacting with the data to put focus on specific metrics, decision makers are able to compare specific throughout definable timeframes, identifying correlation relationships that would otherwise likely be overlooked.

5. Data visualization increases productivity and sales.

Being able to visualize data produces real results. The time saved in creating up-to-date reports means greater efficiency companywide. In an Aberdeen report, organizations that use visual data discovery tools are 28% more likely to find timely information than those who rely solely on managed reporting and dashboards. The study also reports that 48% of business intelligence users at companies with visual data discovery are able to find information they need without the help of IT staff all or most of the time.

Organizations that embrace data visualization see rewards to their bottom line. In a study of global businesses, only 26% of the respondents’ organizations used data visualization. Most of those companies, however, lead in revenue growth and planned to invest even more in data visualization in the next year.

Now that we’ve established the benefits of data visualization, we move on to the essentials of a good piece. Since data visualization is communicating the right message to the target audience, it can’t be done successfully without the following criteria:

1. It speaks to a specific audience. 

Before you even start working on the piece, you’ll need to establish who it’s for. This narrows down a lot of factors such as the kind of visual and language to be used. In most cases, having persona(s) proves to be helpful as the process can offer insight into their daily lives, interests, and even the challenges they face. 

2. It serves a purpose vital to your audience.

A good data visualization piece answers highly relevant questions, provides actionable insights, and is beneficial to your target audience. More often than not, the question of purpose is answerable by the type of action you want the audience to take after seeing the visual. 

3. It uses the right visual.

Knowing the audience and purpose of your piece, you’re now able to choose the best visual to suit them. It can be a table, chart, heat map, scatter plots, and many more. It all boils down to the type of data you need to communicate and how your audience can best understand it visually. 

 4.  The design is simple yet engaging.  

You want to keep the audience engaged, but not overwhelmed by your data. A good data visualization piece shares easily digestible information. This can be done by using visual cues such as text (different fonts and sizes), arrows, and colors to convey a message. 

To keep it engaging for all types of learners — visual, auditory, kinesthetic — an interactive data piece can often do the trick for the right audience. This helps them understand the data better because they can make sense of it in the best way that they can and know how. More importantly, interactivity allows your target audience to go at their own pace through the data — empowering them to educate themselves.

Great examples of data visualization exist outside of the workplace. Here’s an evaluation of some favorites incorporating the factors listed above. 

1. The Beat on Recorded Music Revenue

This is a great example of an interactive data visualization piece on the yearly recorded revenue of the music industry. The target audience is clear from the start — people in the music industry and music enthusiasts. It uses minimal text to support the visual, color to highlight important details, and interactivity to drive engagement. Last but not least, the visual used is highly relevant to the niche it’s about and the audience it speaks to. 

2. Languages in the World

Yet another interactive piece, this project seeks to educate its audience on the languages of the world. It uses a mix of charts, graphs, maps, and scatter plots to make huge chunks of information digestible for readers. Color and text also play an important role in making distinctions among the languages to avoid confusion. 

3.  A New Chart of History

A trip back in history, this chart was created by the late Joseph Priestley in 1769 — way before data visualization was even a coined term. Despite being a static image, there is a good play of color, shapes, and text that immediately communicates the domination of empires and the span of their reign across different locations. This effectively shows the audience a snapshot of their impact in the historical timeline of events. That’s the kind of clarity a good data visualization piece should have — one that can speak for itself.

Compiling and comprehending data can be a difficult prospect, with 53% of surveyed employees claiming that gathering data takes actual, manual effort. However, with the right business analytics tool, and an effective data visualization program, that effort doesn’t have to be wasted. Data visualization empowers users with the ability to get real value from their captured data, and given how much data is available, this is an advantage no business should pass up. After all, all the data in the world won’t do your business any good sitting untouched in a silo, and even data that has been mined and analyzed may ultimately fail to provide any benefit, unless you are able to quickly and easily comprehend its significance. Simply put, the real value of data lies in your ability to understand it, and for that, data visualization is an absolute must.