Visual communication of information using some schematic approach is the result of Data Visualization.
The following section of this article will widely discuss about why data visualization is essential for the organizations today; how the term has evolved and what changes it has been going through since its inception and what would be its future.
Data can be anything from simple figures to collected information. But, the way it can be integrated, implemented to something or used to derive some significant result that too, in the visual formats of charts, bars and graphics is all about the visualization process.
The process is accomplished using a variety of commercial, semi-commercial, free-trial-based, totally free, open source, premium, freemium software solutions available in the market.
Now, it depends upon the requirements of the users what kind of software solution suits best to them. This article widely discusses the importance of data visualization in this era and how the term free and open source data visualization software programs can meet his business needs along with providing an economical solution.
Visual communication of information using some schematic approach is the result of Data Visualization.
The following section of this article will widely discuss about why data visualization is essential for the organizations today; how the term has evolved and what changes it has been going through since its inception and what would be its future.
Data can be anything from simple figures to collected information. But, the way it can be integrated, implemented to something or used to derive some significant result that too, in the visual formats of charts, bars and graphics is all about the visualization process.
The process is accomplished using a variety of commercial, semi-commercial, free-trial-based, totally free, open source, premium, freemium software solutions available in the market.
Now, it depends upon the requirements of the users what kind of software solution suits best to them. This article widely discusses the importance of data visualization in this era and how the term free and open source data visualization software programs can meet his business needs along with providing an economical solution.
Data Visualization
You cannot ignore the term Data Visualization while talking about Business Analytics, as it enables the executives having the better understanding of their reports that have been extracted from a massive amount of data and processed using visual contents.
Days are realizing now when the words have transformed into system-based presentations, graphs & visuals and the job of sharing and speaking to the world is undertaken by technology.
Data Analytics tell you within a quick span of minutes only if things are working for your business or not, whether it is progressing or downgrading or if, your Business Intelligence is improving.
You get some actionable insights for decision making using smart data visualizationtechniques that sometimes seem hard to derive from the tabular raw data.
Smart Data Visualization
Smart Data Visualization techniques help in streamlining the work process of your business and improve accuracy in planning & forecasting. The ultimate goal behind the entire game remains to ensure better, timely and more accurate business decisions.
Don’t forget; data is only as good as it is presented!
Businesses and organizations spend ample of their valuable time and resources to get a massive amount of timely, correct, accurate, and relevant data. However, it, itself is not sufficient for interpretation, if not presented correctly.
In some instances, measurable and incremental results are achievable. But, using the right visualization tools help in virtually eliminating the risks of errors and guarantee the proper context to consume data for the further evaluation process.
In other cases, reports revealed some breakthrough results.
For instance, fraud detection is an alarming issue as the fraudsters these days have become sophisticated and can anticipate easily, how organizations report their data. Therefore, their actions can be under the cover until it is too late.
Advanced data tools for visualization help the businesses to become capable of preventing frauds and revealing suspicious activities.
Benefits of Data Visualization
Data Visualization has reached the ‘de facto state’ for modern Business Intelligence (BI). A list of benefits for the businesses using Data Visualization technique is presented below.
Evolution of Data Visualization
Every day we see the end number of charts and graphs on our computer for many reasons. For professional reasons, they have become imperatives, specifically to deal with the reports and journals.
Have we ever thought from where the concept of ‘data’ actually evolved? How the term ‘visualization’ came into existence? How old these practices are, and from what changes, they have gone through?
The concept of data started from last half of century where the unstructured data (raw figures and information) and flat files turned to spreadsheets to DBMS to Relational Databases and then came the first version of Analytical Data Structures like In-Memory and Columnar Databases and Multidimensional Cubes etc.
The advanced technology including high-quality data structures, faster and new-aged CPUs and GPUs, cheap RAM, multi-MegaPixel and multi-screen displays significantly contributed towards creating an interactive visualization of different data types. Here, Data Visualization can refer to as DV in short.
Check out the simple table that is given below to make you understand the evolution of Data Visualization.
Data Visualization Software
Using schematic systems for visualizing data is essential to democratize data and analytics and make data-driven insights available to the organizations. Hence, commercial or free and open source Data Visualization Software solutions came into existence that is typically handy and easier to operate in comparison to the traditional software used for statistical analysis or former versions of BI software.
Majority of businesses use data visualization software for tracking their initiatives. For example, the marketing team in an organization continually monitors the performance of their online marketing campaigns and track metrics like click-through rate, open rate and, conversion rate.
Data Visualization is an art of visualizing raw data skilfully, and it plays a vital role in data analysis. Whether it is in the graphical form or pictures, the data presented should add effectiveness and purpose to its existence and uses. Visuals certainly have their own merits. People understand well and communicate better when the visuals are exposed to them, instead of the plain content.
In short, online data visualization gives a sorted way of analysis to the sea of meaningless numbers.
Free and Open Source Data Visualization Software Solutions
In today’s business intelligence market, Fortune 500 companies realize the ‘open source’ sector as a highly sophisticated laboratory environment. These companies invest hugely in projects related to big data analytics.
Hence, it is clear that the word ‘open source’ here does not denotes for something ‘easy,’ ‘free’ or ‘DIY.’
Instead, data analytics and visualization platforms have evolved with the term ‘open source’ in response to satisfy the need for greater ease of use. Many companies have cornered the market of business intelligence by helping end users accessing analytics easily without demanding much technical knowledge, rather than the traditional BI solutions as formerly used by the IT departments.
As per the industry experts, the way of handling business intelligence was a bit different earlier. That time, you should have to know how to script in SQL to go with BI. Or else, you had to rely upon someone, i.e. the IT Engineer to run those SQL queries for you. The waiting time started then continues until you had a new set of questionnaire.
The discovery of graphical user interface (GUI) feature with the free and open source data visualization software eliminates this job for the user as it facilitates in translating the dragging and dropping activities into SQL queries on the back-end.
It reflects that the capability of such kind of software goes beyond the data visualization. In the territory of visual analytics, they involve something more than just churning out the compelling charts and graphs at the back end. They also interact with the data and query it utilizing a visual interface in the front end.
