Businesses worldwide collect billions of pieces of data about their customers, services, and internal operations. But what do you do with all that data? How do you use the data you’ve collected and turn it into valuable information you can use to make strategic decisions?

Most of us need information presented in a visually appealing way. Raw data, lengthy reports, and massive spreadsheets aren’t the most efficient way to glean insights from the data your organization has worked so hard to collect. Visualizing data can be the key to harnessing the power of the vast amounts of data available so you can achieve your goals.

Visualizing Business Intelligence: Using Dashboards

One of the most common and effective ways to visualize business data is with a dashboard. If you drive a car, you’re familiar with this concept: The most important data about your vehicle, like speed, fuel level, and oil temperature, are displayed in one place, with condition-based indicators like the check engine light or fuel light illuminating when the engine or fuel tank needs attention.

Business intelligence dashboards serve a similar purpose: displaying multiple metrics, performance indicators, and other key information all in one place to help contextualize and understand large amounts of data. There are many different dashboard tools available, allowing each organization to customize their dashboard to be most relevant to their needs and goals.

Momentum has experience working with clients using dashboards to create a holistic view of processes and metrics both within individual organizations and across multiple agencies. Let’s talk about three benefits to visualizing business intelligence data.

1. Reveal Patterns and Compare Data

One of the most valuable benefits of understanding the data your business produces is revealing hidden patterns at a glance. A large spreadsheet with columns of numbers doesn’t have much impact on its own, but graphically depicting those numbers in an appropriate way tells a story about the data. For example, a company might plot the number of website sessions per day to discover what times their site is most frequently visited and plan their content accordingly.

Data visualization also helps compare data from multiple sources, answering even more detailed questions about the relationships between data. We often make assumptions about how effective processes are, and sometimes the data doesn’t match those assumptions. Visually comparing multiple data sources helps understand the sometimes hidden relationships between them, allowing for more informed decisions.

2. Find Errors and Resolve Discrepancies

Data collection isn’t always a perfect process, and there will always be outliers, discrepancies, or errors that throw off results. Seeing the data all at once helps those outliers stand out. You might even discover valuable insight from outliers.

Data visualization tools also allow data sharing across teams without moving all the underlying data, which is especially helpful when working together to resolve problems or adjust strategy. The marketing team can work from the same data as the IT team to plan their content and make adjustments to their website. A client can see how their content is performing without having to be on-site.

3. Analyze Data in Real-Time

Although data analysis still takes time and skill, real-time integration between the dashboard and data collection tools can help you act quickly. Credit card companies use real-time data analysis to detect fraud or make credit decisions. Marketing agencies use it to conduct A/B testing. Most businesses want to act quickly, if not instantly, in response to changing data. Making data easily digestible can increase the speed at which adjustments are made.

Finding the right business intelligence solution doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Contact Momentum today to learn how our experience across multiple industries can help you achieve success.