How to Use Data Visualization in Business Intelligence to Transform Dry Reports

Summary

This video script by Mike Plugger of Viz.me emphasizes the importance of data visualization in capturing and maintaining the attention of a visually-oriented audience. It showcases how incorporating visual elements in business reports can help employees, clients, and partners quickly understand complex data, identify trends, and make informed decisions. The script provides practical examples from various departments, illustrating how data visualization can transform standard reports into insightful, easy-to-digest formats that drive messages home and enhance decision-making.

Takeaways

• 😀 The average human attention span is eight seconds, highlighting the importance of quickly capturing attention with data visualization.
• 📈 Data visualization is crucial for processing information quickly and easily, especially since 65% of the population are visual learners.
• 📊 Creating data charts should be purposeful, aiming to decipher complex data, identify trends, and deliver strong messages.
• 🧐 Numbers in data visualizations must be accurate and scaled appropriately, avoiding overwhelming the viewer with too many variables or data points.
• 💼 Accounting departments can benefit from visualizing monthly expenses, comparing usage to budgets, and identifying areas for improvement.
• 📊 A financial dashboard can help employees understand the company's direction, even if they are not comfortable with analytics.
• 📈 Marketing departments can use line charts to show the correlation between marketing costs and revenue, making it easier to understand the impact of marketing efforts.
• 🌐 Data visualizations from sources like Google Analytics can break down web traffic and reveal indicators like registrations and conversion rates.
• 🔍 Mapping charts can help identify roadblocks or conversion points in lead generation processes, informing strategy going forward.
• 🏆 Data visualizations can help identify individual performance, rewarding top performers and identifying those who may need improvement.
• 📈 For training new hires, data visualizations can make information from learning management systems more digestible and useful.
• 🔑 When hiring, visualizing data from different departments can reveal effective recruiting tactics and sources of new hires.
• 🔧 IT departments can use data visualization to track and predict recurring issues with equipment, improving problem resolution.
• 💼 Business leaders can use data visualization to quickly strategize and present information to investors or clients in an easy-to-read format.
• 📊 Interactive dashboards can save time for Boards of Advisors, allowing them to check real-time company performance and strategize accordingly.

Q & A

What is the significance of the 'eight seconds' mentioned in the script?

The 'eight seconds' is used as a metaphor to highlight the importance of capturing attention quickly, as it is the average human attention span and also the time it takes for Bill Gates to make $2,000 or for Usain Bolt to run a hundred meters.

Why is data visualization important in business reports?

Data visualization is crucial because it helps the majority of the population, who are visual learners, to process information more quickly and easily, thus enhancing understanding and decision-making.

What is the first consideration when incorporating data visualizations into business reports?

The first consideration is to understand why the chart is necessary in the first place. It should be a visual tool that helps decipher complex data, discover patterns, identify trends, and deliver a strong message.

How can an accounting department benefit from data visualization?

An accounting department can benefit by visualizing expense reports, categorizing each expense, and comparing usage to the allowed budget. This can help identify patterns and areas in need of improvement, making it easier to present data and implement spending limits.

What is a financial dashboard and how does it help employees?

A financial dashboard is a tool that presents revenue, profit, or expense data in an easy-to-understand visual format. It helps employees, regardless of their comfort level with analytics, to see the direction of a company and understand the company's performance.

How can data visualization assist marketers in understanding the effectiveness of their marketing efforts?

Data visualization can show the correlation between marketing costs and revenue over time. By using line charts, marketers can easily compare the money spent on ads, email engagements, or website views with the resulting profitability.

What is the role of data visualization in lead generation and conversion rate analysis?

Data visualization can help map the lead generation process, identify roadblocks, and assess where leads are most likely to convert. It can also reveal the most common passive purchases, which can inform strategy and create customer journeys and personas.

How can data visualization assist in human resource management?

Data visualization can help identify individual performance, compare employees to one another, and determine top performers and those who may be underperforming. It can also assist in training new hires by making data from learning management systems more digestible.

What insights can be gained from visualizing data related to hiring practices?

Visualizing hiring data can reveal where new hires are sourced from, such as job boards or referrals, which can help minimize wasted recruiting tactics and focus on more effective hiring strategies.

How can IT departments benefit from using data visualization to track issues?

By using data visualization, IT departments can notice patterns in recurring issues, predict when incidents might happen again, and move from a reactive to a proactive approach to problem-solving.

Why is data visualization beneficial for business leaders when presenting to investors or clients?

Data visualization allows business leaders to present information in an easy-to-read format that doesn't require guidance. This makes it easier for investors or clients to understand the most important points quickly and strategize accordingly.

Outlines

00:00

📈 The Power of Data Visualization in Business Reports

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of data visualization in business reporting. It starts with a comparison of the average human attention span to the time it takes to tie a shoe or for Bill Gates to make $2000, highlighting the need for immediate attention in today's fast-paced world. The speaker, Mike Plugger, introduces Viz Me as a tool to enhance business reports through visual data representation. He explains that data visualization is crucial for employees, clients, and partners to understand not just the 'what' but the 'why' behind business metrics. The paragraph further delves into examples from various departments, such as accounting, where expense reports can be transformed into visual charts to identify spending patterns and areas for improvement. The use of line charts and financial dashboards is advocated for clarity and ease of understanding, making complex data more digestible for all stakeholders.

05:01

👥 Data Visualization for Employee Performance and Recruitment

The second paragraph focuses on the application of data visualization in human resources management. It discusses how visual representations can help in comparing employee performance, identifying top performers, and pinpointing areas where employees may be underperforming. The paragraph also touches on the utility of data visualization in training new hires, where complex data from learning management systems can be simplified for better comprehension. Additionally, it explores the use of data visualization in recruitment, suggesting that visualizing hiring sources can inform future recruitment strategies and reduce inefficiencies. The paragraph concludes with an example of how data visualization can be used to track IT issues, potentially predicting recurring problems and preventing them, thereby shifting from reactive to proactive management. The speaker concludes by reinforcing the value of data visualization in business leadership and decision-making, suggesting that it can streamline the process of presenting information to investors and clients.

Keywords

💡Data Visualization

Data visualization refers to the graphical representation of information and data. It is a key concept in the video, as it emphasizes the importance of using visual elements to make complex data more digestible and understandable. The video script mentions using data visualizations to help employees, clients, and partners quickly grasp what is happening within a business and why it is happening, with examples including expense reports, financial dashboards, and marketing analytics.

💡Attention Span

Attention span is the length of time a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. The video script highlights that the average human attention span is eight seconds, which underscores the need for data visualization to quickly capture and hold the viewer's interest. The script uses this concept to argue for the efficiency of visual data presentation over traditional text-based reports.

💡Visual Learners

Visual learners are individuals who better understand and retain information when it is presented visually, as opposed to text-based formats. The video script points out that 65% of the population are visual learners, making data visualization a crucial tool for effectively communicating information in business reports and presentations.

💡Complex Data

Complex data refers to information that is intricate and may be difficult to understand or interpret without the aid of visual aids. The video script discusses how data visualization can help decipher complex data, discover patterns, and identify trends, which is essential for making informed business decisions.

💡Business Reports

Business reports are documents that provide information on a company's operations, performance, and strategy. The video script stresses the importance of incorporating data visualizations into business reports to enhance understanding and engagement, making the reports more accessible and impactful for various stakeholders.

💡Marketing Costs

Marketing costs are the expenses incurred by a company in promoting its products or services. The video script uses the example of PostcardMania to illustrate how data visualization can show the relationship between marketing costs and revenue, helping to understand the return on investment from marketing efforts.

💡Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key Performance Indicators are quantifiable measures used to evaluate a company's performance against its objectives. The video script mentions KPIs such as turnover rate, revenue, and new customers, and how data visualization can effectively communicate these metrics to stakeholders.

💡CRM Software

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a system used to manage a company's interactions with current and potential customers. The video script discusses how visualizing data from CRM software can help identify common purchasing behaviors and inform marketing strategies.

💡Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a product or service. The video script explains how data visualization can assist in mapping the lead generation process, identifying roadblocks, and assessing where leads are most likely to convert.

💡Interactive Dashboards

Interactive dashboards are digital tools that present data in an interactive and user-friendly format, allowing users to explore and analyze information. The video script highlights the use of interactive dashboards for employees and advisors to access real-time company performance data, promoting transparency and strategic decision-making.

💡Ticketing System

A ticketing system is a tool used to track, manage, and resolve issues or requests within an organization. The video script suggests that data visualization can enhance the use of a ticketing system by providing insights into recurring issues and predicting potential problems, thus improving IT support efficiency.

Highlights

Eight seconds is the average human attention span, emphasizing the importance of capturing attention quickly in business reports.

65% of the population are visual learners, highlighting the need for data visualization in business reporting.

Data visualization aids in processing information more quickly and easily.

Understanding the necessity of a data chart is crucial before creating one.

Data visualizations help decipher complex data, discover patterns, identify trends, and deliver strong messages.

Numbers in data visualizations must always add up and be scaled appropriately.

Accounting departments can redesign standard reports using visual data to discover patterns and areas for improvement.

A line chart can show differences in expenses over time, helping to understand financial trends.

Financial dashboards can help employees understand the direction of a company, even if they are not comfortable with analytics.

Data visualizations can make it easier to understand key performance indicators like turnover, revenue, and new customers.

Marketing departments can use line charts to compare revenue versus marketing costs, showing a correlation between spending and profitability.

Google Analytics data can be visualized to break down web traffic and reveal indicators like registrations and conversion rates.

Data visualizations can help identify roadblocks in lead generation processes and assess where leads are most likely to convert.

Data visualizations can help identify individual performance, rewarding top performers and identifying those who are slacking.

Data visualizations from learning management systems can help train new hires more effectively.

Creating a data visualization for each department can provide insights into effective hiring strategies.

Data visualizations can help IT teams track issues and predict when incidents might occur again, preventing rather than just reacting to problems.

Business leaders can use data visualizations to quickly strategize without slogging through detailed reports.

Interactive dashboards can save time for Boards of Advisors by providing real-time information for strategic planning.

Viz.me offers tools to create perfect graphics for various departments, making information beautiful and accessible.

Transcripts

[Music]

eight seconds that's how long it takes

to tie a shoe it's about how long it

takes Bill Gates to make $2,000 and it's

just under the amount of time it takes

Usain Bolt to run a hundred meters it's

also the length of the average human

attention span and when it comes to

playing dry business reports it's likely

even shorter today with 65% of the

population being visual learners it's

more important than ever before to grab

someone's attention right away

data visualization can be a major key to

help that majority process information

quicker and easier hello world my name

is Mike plugger and I'm here with viz me

and we want to help you take your

reports to the next level

you see it's crucial for employees

clients and partners to not only

understand what's happening but why it's

happening incorporating data

visualizations into your business

reports is step number one in order to

accomplish this shall we

first you don't want to create a data

chart just because you must understand

why the chart is necessary in the first

place it's a visual tool that can help

decipher complex data discover patterns

identify trends and most importantly it

can drive a point home and deliver a

strong message now it's important that

your numbers always add up and it must

be scaled appropriately with just the

right amount of variables and data

points

let's stop into a few examples from

various departments to help you

visualize what your next report could

look like

if you work in an accounting department

there's a couple ways to redesign

standard reports let's start with that

always joyful expense report well I put

a monthly expense report into words that

could easily be overlooked when you can

visualize the data to discover patterns

and areas in need of improvement you can

categorize each expense comparing usage

to the allowed budget a line chart can

clearly show the differences over time

and pictures can help organize that data

take a look at this chart this chart can

be presented to an accounting department

head to help them immediately understand

where expenses are rising you see the

overall spike between July and September

and even the recent shipping expense of

sixty seven hundred dollars by

organizing these numbers in a

visualization will be much less likely

to receive pushback when you want to

implement spending limits when

presenting revenue profit or expense

data as a whole a financial dashboard

can be a great guy not all employees

understand big data so they'll just be

lost looking at a document of nothing

but words and numbers but with the data

visualization anyone can understand the

direction of a company no matter how

comfortable they are with the analytics

with charts and graphs employees can see

the differences over time

yeah sure numbers are down from last

month but profits from a year ago are

much higher and with companies moving

towards more transparency it's common to

see these interactive dashboards for

employees to log in to at any time the

information can be updated constantly

making the company's performance

available to be viewed whenever and when

it comes to your turn rate revenue new

customers or any other key performance

indicator visuals just like this one can

work perfectly

how much money are you spending on

marketing and as a result how much

profitability have you gained this is a

familiar question that marketers face on

a monthly basis here postcard mania

examined the differences in revenue

versus marketing costs over a 13 year

period by using a line chart it's easy

to understand the differences between

the two lines the money spent on ads

email engagements or website views

proves a positive correlation in respect

to revenue in other words your boss is

super happy not only because of the

productivity but because you made their

life easier by submitting and

easy-to-read data visualization another

example comes to us from information

gathered from Google Analytics this

visual here is communicating web traffic

but not just total traffic coming into

the site this breaks down the incoming

traffic from the original source and

reveals indicators that reflect the

bottom line such as registrations and

conversion rates the generation can be a

pretty tricky process it's difficult to

measure engagement and conversion rates

but data visualizations can help mapping

charts of your lead generation process

can help discover roadblocks or on the

other hand help assess where leads are

most likely to convert as you continue

to visualize data from your CRM software

the most common passive purchase will

emerge use that info to create journeys

and personas that will inform your

strategy going forward

[Music]

if you're looking to promote an employee

or maybe on the other hand maybe lay one

off data visualizations can help you

identify individual performance as well

after all the most important asset of

any company is the people and it's

easier now than ever before to compare

them to one another while Jane's sales

pitches here are exceptional seen in the

purple and the Left diagram her company

presentation is substandard with the

data visualization like this top

performers can be rewarded where those

who are slacking can be identified data

visualizations are also great with

training new hires again as so much data

from learning management systems can go

to waste if the viewer can't decipher it

speaking of new hires nowadays there's a

number of ways someone can be brought

onto a staff could be a job or it could

be applying directly or maybe it's a

referral if you create a data

visualization for each department you

can get a better idea of where to look

when it comes time to hire again

for example maybe those in your IT

department are hired from job boards

while those in your marketing department

come by referral this will minimize

wasted recruiting tactics that result in

unqualified applicants clogging up that

application four chances are you're

using a ticketing system to report

issues to your IT team and then you have

to track that problem until it's

resolved sure you can note the number of

tickets and time it took to reach a

resolution but there's even more that

could be done is there a certain piece

of equipment that falls consistently how

is that issue resolved we don't know but

we could if we tracked it more

thoroughly by using a data visualization

we can easily notice when an incident is

occurring and perhaps even predict when

it could happen again rather than

fighting fires you're now preventing

them

business leaders are go-go-go

they might not have time to read through

crowded reports before addressing

investors or clients that's where we

bring in a data visualization given how

easy it is to digest info through the

use of visuals business leaders can

strategize appropriately without

sludging through a report or if you

present to an investor data can showcase

what's the most important in an

easy-to-read format that doesn't require

guidance going back to those interactive

dashboards they can save a Board of

Advisors from checking numbers for the

first time in quarterly meetings as they

can check that information in real time

and strategize accordingly okay

that's all the examples I have for you

today trust me by using a data

visualization you'll grab and keep your

viewers attention much easier than with

raw data alone and in a world where we

check our phones 80 times a day it's

more important now than ever before

Hey look no further than where to begin

then with viz me we have endless tools

to help you create the perfect graphic

whether you're in the accounting

department tech support marketing you

name it

viz me can help you just head to viz me

calm right now to sign up and get

started right away also don't forget to

subscribe to our Channel whatever design

questions you may have we likely have

the answers until next time I'm Mike

plugger with viz me helping you make

information beautiful

[Music]