4 Steps to Strengthen Operational Foresight: Step 2

Written by: Tammy Salvo

Congratulations! You can access your Big Data! However, can you make sense of what it’s telling you? There is so much focus on the ability to access expansive data landscapes, but the lingering question is: “Then what?”  With a tremendous influx of solutions to help organizations tame the Big Data monster, there are very few that enable data visualization and dynamic, interactive reporting to illuminate the “story” behind the data.

In its simplest form, data visualization is the process of associating meaning across corresponding elements and interpreting the results in a graphical format. Think of it this way. Imagine you are at a restaurant. You are bouncing between two menu items. Both sound delicious, but you still cannot decide. However, one of the items has a picture. The photograph provides a graphical interpretation of how the associated ingredients come together to create this culinary masterpiece. You clearly see the outcome and are more prepared to make your selection. For me, this type of data visualization does not become more important than while at a sushi restaurant!

Now that we are all hungry, let’s dive a little deeper into the benefits of data visualization. We clearly understand the importance of the data we’ve collected and the valuable intelligence it holds for our future. With 20/20 hindsight, data visualization provides the correction we need to gain 20/20 foresight. It allows you to know now, what you’ll need to know in the future.

There are six methods to data visualization: data, information, concept, strategy, metaphor, and compound. How data is represented within these schemes, creates a story, a picture book per se, from which the “reader” can quickly assess the overarching storyline as well as understand the impact the varying elements play on the outcome.

Now that we can see the data, let’s talk about the partner of visualization – dynamic reporting. Firms need the power of dynamic reporting placed directly in the hands of the business user. Partners, attorneys, and associates need the ability to instantaneously create, interpret, manipulate, and react to information in real time. Dynamic reporting does just that!

Historically, advanced reporting has been confined to static reports. Static reports generate at the point of request and are then saved (data and all) in a data warehouse or repository. When that report is recalled, it is generated with the same information (data) as the original report. These reports have the incapacity to change/update if new information is presented as the data represented is embedded in the report at the point of origination.

Dynamic reporting allows the report to update as the data elements change. These reports are saved in data warehouses by their structure without saving the data associated with them. The big data warehouse architecture can handle the ingestion, processing, and analysis of data that is too complex for traditional database systems. Therefore, each time a dynamic report generates, the report pulls the most current data set associated with the request. In other words, dynamic reporting provides real-time, up-to-date, instantaneous information to the business user.

Think about the possibilities of seeing your data in easily understandable formats and in real time. By looking at business performance as its happening, firms can   improve performance levels, see emerging “Red Flag” conditions, identify disruptive drivers, and engage the power of “Intelligence on Demand” across the organization.  With data visualization and dynamic reporting, you have the capacity to change the direction of a storyline to produce the best possible outcome.

Helm360 takes the guess work out of business analytics while significantly reducing costs and processing times of advanced reporting initiatives. Leveraging the most state-of-the-art technological advancements, Helm360 allows businesses to view data in real time.  Our team of highly innovative, passionate, and intelligent people that thrive on ingenuity are committed to delivering exceptional solutions and services that exceed expectations.