Transforming Data into Knowledge: the Main Advantages of Data Visualization

Raw files with large amounts of information often contain disorganized, unintelligible data that is difficult to read and makes it difficult to detect patterns easily and intuitively. Many organizations are unaware that there are ways and software solutions that help to select, process, filter, organize and visualize all the data they have at their disposal in dashboards, graphs, reports and infographics. Data visualization can help transform data and numbers into an engaging story, emerging as a critical asset that has the power to transform the way data is accessed, presented, and used.

In this post, we aim to explain the main advantages of using data visualization solutions:

1 more Understandable Information

Thanks to graphical representations, we can interpret large amounts of data clearly and coherently, which in turn allows us to understand the data and draw conclusions and see perspectives in a visual and intuitive way.

Through data visualization, decision-makers can quickly consume the most important management metrics and indicators. If any of these metrics or indicators have anomalies, for example, the OEE has decreased significantly in one of our plants, decision-makers will be able to easily delve into the data to discover under what operating circumstances the anomalies have occurred or what decisions need to be made to correct the anomalous factors found.

2 Identification of Patterns and Trends

Data visualization allows us to recognize data patterns, groupings, emerging trends, and respond quickly based on what we see. Such patterns make more sense when represented graphically because images and diagrams make it easier for us to identify strongly correlated parameters.

Certain relationships are obvious, but others need to be detected and visualized to help us focus on the particular point that may be most relevant.

3 Accelerate the Decision-Making Process

Human beings are visual by nature. Our brain processes images up to 60,000 times faster than texts. Therefore, seeing a graph, table or other graphical representation of the data is more comfortable for our brain to process than reading and understanding text and then converting it into a mental visualization of data (which probably will not be entirely accurate). We retain 80% of what we see, compared to 20% of what we read.

These tools help organize information to highlight the most relevant. The visual presentation makes it possible to present the information in a “chewed” way so that different types of recipients can understand it. If we have more organized information, we will spend less time trying to understand it and extract relevant data, so we will improve the decision-making process.

4 Use Data to Tell Good Stories

Figures are nothing without stories, but stories are nothing without figures either. With visualization tools, you can create graphical representations of data and, by adding a narrative, turn them into stories. The reason why these tools are so successful is because storytelling is a model that allows us to easily create a story through graphs and diagrams through which, with the help of visual analysis, we can discover new knowledge and transmit it to our recipients. Transmitting the message in a story is much more attractive and easier for your target audience to understand.

5 It’s not just a Simple Bar Graph!

Today, we can use more than just a bar graph or a pie chart, although they are still very useful. With the current data visualization capabilities, users also have much more advanced graphic resources. For example, a simple way to visualize any random data is to configure it in a bubble chart or a heat map, but there is a wide range of possibilities such as arc diagrams, area charts, flow diagrams, choropleth maps, spider charts, etc.

These more advanced visualizations show that, for any type of data set, there is a good way to transform it into an easy-to-understand image.

Conclusion

Data visualization allows users to easily detect patterns in large volumes of disorganized data. Through the use of visual data discovery tools, organizations can effectively track the performance of teams and organizational assets.