GroupVisual.io

Unlock the insight inherent in data

In today’s business environment, the sheer volume and complexity of data demands new ways to analyze it. But traditional approaches to business intelligence and reporting solutions have focused solely on the technical challenges of accessing and delivering raw data. We, on the other hand, focus on how to deliver that data “the last 18 inches”—the gap from the computer screen into the human mind—bridging the divide between raw data and actionable knowledge.

So where do we start? At the end … the end user, that is.

Understanding human cognition
We take a user-centric approach that enhances human cognition. To do so, we look first at what decisions the user needs to make and what information or data would be useful in those decision processes.  Then we look at what credible data is available. Finally, we take a holistic look at how data is captured, stored and made available for reporting.

Our approach is two pronged—first, let’s develop methods to effectively and usefully visualize data, then let’s make it interactive. Combining visualization with interactivity gives end-users the ability to “work” data while following a train of thought. This heuristic approach lets people analyze by identifying patterns, hypothesizing and then testing ideas about underlying causes and key factors.

Designing analytics is a merging of left and right brain processes, allowing the analytical and the intuitive to come together so that users can apply visual cognition to pattern-identification and problem-solving.  Within the graphical metaphor of a data visualization, color can communicate categorical information or magnitude. Sizes of objects in the visualization can convey magnitude or trends. Spatial organization can reveal correlations and patterns.

Adding the ability to modulate the data—the element of interactivity—enables end users to test hypotheses and assumptions. A single view can deliver instant insights that might take hours to discover through traditional database queries, static reporting, or dashboards. By transforming complex data into interactive pictures, we help everyday users ask and answer the difficult business questions they face every day.

Understanding the technical challenges
To date, traditional approaches to BI analysis have been focused on the technical challenges of getting the data from a bottom-up basis. And as a result, organizations are often left with myriad reports and sources of analytical information scattered throughout the enterprise. But this creates several problems, including:

• Organizations are left with no BI “blueprint.” If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.
• New superfluous silos are created, adding to your BI “sprawl.”
• Solutions built from a technical perspective, as opposed to an end-user’s needs and understanding, usually result in solutions that require technical expertise that is beyond everyday users. And this can create an unnecessary layer between the data and the analysis.

In the end, a company can end up with Business Intelligence that is inherently not that intelligent. In other words, it’s not aligned with corporate strategies and goals.

We take a business-strategy approach to BI—identifying patterns in business questions to align data with business decisions such as:

• Planning market strategy
• Portfolio prioritization
• Evaluating business execution
• Resource allocation
• Budgeting
• Project planning
• Go-nogo decisions
• And more

And as a result, by bringing data and decisions together in context at every level, organizations can deliver the right data in the right form to the right people—facilitating the scope of decision-making from day-to-day process-driven decisions to long-range strategies.

In other words, by taking a holistic “north-south-east-west” approach to how people digest information, we can help align the organization with common views and communal information across departments and functions, allowing users to share insights and allow management to drive strategy through visible activities and metrics up and down the management chain.

We work closely with your IT staff to align technical requirements with your visualization needs. By introducing and accommodating visualization early in the process, we can help you avoid aggregating the wrong data and minimize requests for ad-hoc reports. And that saves you a lot of time, expense, and frustration.

We believe in rich interactive visualization that delivers analytics for everyone.
Ultimately, we think in terms of how the data can give the decision-maker a more meaningful perspective on the decision at hand or the problem being solved. That thinking is embedded in both our methodology and our data visualization software solutions.