You’ve probably heard that old stat (or some variation of it) about how the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text and numbers. It’s a point that data visualization has been capitalizing on for years. It’s also something you can use to enable your people to reach fully informed decisions faster based on massive amounts of data.

For example, you could read a report about the shifts in market sentiment over the last week that lays out the numbers in great detail or you could look at this:

The visualization delivers the same information, but faster. Relationships between data points are immediately obvious and outliers, well, stand out. So you can see how visualization has become an integral piece of any organization’s data fabric (that is, the architecture businesses need to wrap their strategies and processes around an ever-growing pool of data) in addition to prep and prediction.

When it comes to processing and acting on data, speed is always the name of the game. But the truth is, even with the best technology in the world, all that processed data is useless without human analysis. It’s the final step of interpretation and action that makes all the difference. And few things accelerate that process more than visualization.

Particularly when communicating millions of data points to the non-data scientists of the world, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Visualization is an integral piece of any data strategy with benefits seen throughout the organization:

Increase Collaboration

Data that can only be accessed and fully understood by a small number of your team members is of limited use to anyone. By translating data into a format that’s understandable for the non-data scientists on your team, you open the door to much more analysis throughout your organization.

Visualization allows for the analysis of data to more easily flow between departments. In our data-driven business world, easy collaboration is a critical element for any data management strategy.

Accelerate Decision Making

As illustrated above, translating enormous amounts of data into a quickly understood visual speeds up analysis. If business users, data scientists, and analysts are spending too much time trying to find, prepare, and integrate data and not enough analyzing it, they are less likely to reap its full benefits.

Build Trust in Your Data

In data science, there’s nothing more terrifying than data that can be easily misunderstood. It's a common problem though and explains why there’s an inherent distrust of data in many organizations. Only 20 percent of personnel feel confident in identifying trusted data sources according to a 2019 TDWI Pulse Report. Visualization gets data in front of more people in ways that foster fast comprehension and trust.

Conquer Any Industry

There are some industries where data visualization immediately come to mind. In capital markets, traders and compliance officers commonly used specialized real-time data visualization tools to monitor streaming market and trading data. This helps them optimize profitability, reduce compliance costs, and limit risk. Today, high-performance data visualization technologies are helping companies in many other industries process and act on data faster than ever before:

• Energy - Visualization allows energy producers and distributors to quickly process, monitor, and analyze the massive amounts of operational data streaming in from sensors and other devices in real time.
• Telecommunications - Data visualization helps networks utilize real-time data streaming in from routers and devices to analyze usage and identify opportunities to improve system performance and profitability.
• IoT - With streaming analytics and the proper data visualization tools, engineers and business analysts can process, manage, monitor, and analyze the incredible volume of real-time information streaming in from connected devices, vehicles, equipment, and sensors in the fast-evolving IoT world.

The point is, no matter your industry, data is driving your business forward. And whether your data fabric is hanging on by a thread or you’re starting from scratch, Altair Knowledge Works can help you develop an effective data strategy from start to finish. Contact us here to get started.