What a business professional needs is time and focus! We need to see information clearly and push aside all the extraneous information to get to the important points that will allow us to make critical decisions about products, services, customers, competitors, suppliers, resources, financials and more!
There are two crucial considerations for data presentation and visualization:
- Gathering, compiling, sorting, filtering and displaying information using a good Business Intelligence solution that will allow a user to see the root cause of a problem, identify a trend, accurately forecast and share information with others.
- A business intelligence reporting solution that is flexible and leverages Graphical OLAP, Cube Management and other tools to create and display intuitive reports and accommodate average user skills so that the team does not have to engage the services of an IT or analyst professional.
With this foundation, data display and visualization will be much easier. Once a team member has gathered and analyzed the data, she or he can easily see the patterns and trends and make recommendations and present options.
An additional, important, consideration is how to display the data to effectively address the audience to whom you will be presenting the data. Knowing your audience is critical and you should create reports using the business intelligence you have gathered to address the ‘hot buttons’ and roles of the people in your audience.
While it is always important to have the back-up detail to show, if someone wants to see it, remember to use your business intelligence reporting tool to create colorful, easy-to-read graphs and reports that will simply and intuitively display the data you wish to discuss.
A good business intelligence tool will show you the results in a clear display, so you merely have to decide what types of graphs or reports will best display the pattern, trend, threshold, forecast or pricing strategy impact you wish to discuss or recommend. Create broad, colorful charts to illustrate your points and keep it simple. You can discuss the salient points and details in your talking points if it is appropriate.
The great thing about a simple, practical business intelligence reporting tool is that you can try the various illustrative graphs and charts on for size before you make a final decision. Review and select from a variety of chart types including simple pie charts and bar charts as well as complex radar, bubble and doughnut charts. You can represent data using different hierarchies and axes, and display your data through customizable dynamic graphs and you can dynamically interact with business intelligence data from multiple dimensions. You can design visually striking, professional business intelligence data graphs and presentations without any technical or IT expertise! You can visualize the information with eye-catching, stunning displays, and valuable indicators and gauges, charts, and a variety of graph types from which to choose. A good business intelligence reporting tool is interactive and can provide business users with the ability to easily leverage OLAP mining, so you can create a report and presentation that will address your audience in the way that is easiest and best for them to understand the data you are presenting.
Don’t be the person standing in front of an audience of people who look bored, confused or frustrated! With a little planning and an integrated approach to business intelligence, you can gather, sort, filter, configure and present information that will quickly and easily tell your audience what they need to know and support the recommendations and options you are presenting.
