There is a staggering amount of data with which modern businesses are expected to cope to remain viable in their chosen market. It is estimated that the world’s population creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily. A quintillion is a 1 followed by 18 zeros. It’s a pretty big number. Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) have introduced information streams that can quickly turn into raging rivers threatening to overwhelm the ability of an enterprise to understand the assets they possess. To paraphrase a widely-used lyric from the world of rap music: “more data, more problems”.
It isn’t that the data itself is a problem. It’s also not that it doesn’t have intrinsic value to the enterprise. In the vast majority of cases, the opposite is true. The information gathered and stored in a company’s databases forms a large part of its business currency. Used correctly, it can help open new revenue streams and spur corporate growth. Inability to derive value from data assets can doom a business to failure. A company can quickly find itself left in the dust by competitors who are discovering valuable ways to turn their data into tangible benefits.
Data visualization is one of the techniques through which large and complex quantities of data can be more easily understood. It uses graphical charts and displays to present data to an audience in a format that can be comprehended by individuals of widely-varying expertise regarding the underlying information. Properly constructed data visualizations can provide insight into complex data to all of an organization’s stakeholders.
Advantages of Data Visualization
There are multiple benefits that a business can reap through the use of visual data.
- Data visualization enables groups and individuals to act more rapidly when making decisions based on the information it conveys. Complex statistics that can be presented as a series of numerical spreadsheets are more quickly assimilated graphically and visually. The ability to take fast and informed decisions is crucial to remaining competitive in today’s business landscape.
- Creative use of visual data can gain the attention of busy executives that may not have the time to pore over extensive spreadsheets or reports. Visualization tools allow data owners to create compelling presentations that highlight the most important aspects of their information. Robust tools allow them to tailor their visualizations to appeal to different groups within the organization.
- Identifying emerging trends is something all competitive enterprises strive to accomplish. Correctly addressing new consumer demands or desires can result in innovative offerings that business rivals have not even considered. You might be singing “more data more money”!
- Presenting data that can be easily understood by multiple levels of an organization fosters communication between groups that may not always interact as much as they should. Cross-pollination of ideas among different departments is an excellent method of fostering creative resolutions to long-standing issues. Putting new eyes on a problem is always a good way to encourage theories and solutions.
Creating Impactful Visual Data
Once you decide that your organization will benefit by using visual data to understand its internal and customer data, the next step is to obtain the means to put the concept into action. Aqua Data Studio is an excellent choice if you plan on using any of a wide range of databases as the source for your visualizations. It supports all popular databases including SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, Snowflake, and many others. It is equally effective creating visualizations from on-premises or cloud-hosted databases.
Aqua Data Studio’s visual analytic capabilities are extensive and will enable you to use your data more effectively across the organization. Use worksheets to design pivot tables and visualizations that can be easily modified to emphasize different aspects of your data. Create custom dashboards that can view multiple worksheets simultaneously. Aqua Data Studio provides a platform for data visualization and analytics that will help your enterprise find the value hidden in its data.