Data Visualization in Decision Making Tools

Research shows that we can only retain 10% of what we hear, and merely 20% of what we read.
In addition, we can retain up to 80% of the data which we see. When data is concerned to be utilized in
decision-making insights, that is why, data visualization is considered the best approach. It helps in
demonstrating the data. By default, human beings are visual creatures. Visual content can ignite our
cognitive processes in a more vigorous way as compared to plain text and audio notes. Furthermore,
studies also reveal that almost 90% of the data being perceived by human brain is visual in its nature.

On the other hand, decision making is the most essential responsibility of business leaders. They
come across multiple occasions on daily basis to decide from the available options. Their decisions
create an irreversible impact on the outcomes of the organization. Most luckily, in this age of big data,
decision making capabilities of business leaders are driven by insightful data. It helps them to make
better choices. Otherwise, some of their decisions may have massive implications if not driven by real
time data. That is how, big data is driving the decision-making tools of big corporates and businesses. It
allows organizations to influence the huge amount of information. Although, we are producing a lot of
data on daily basis. We produce almost 2.5 quintillion bytes of data only in a single day. However, the
whole of the bulk data is useless if we cannot extract useful information from it. Furthermore, if we are
able to extract useful information from the raw data. It is still useless if we are unable to turn this
information into actionable insights to assist our decision-making tools.

In above context, for decision making purposes, it is highly recommended to present data in
visuals. Because it gives useful insights and in return, more effective results. Data visualization can serve
the purpose of extracting higher number of insights from bulk data in an instant. By extracting
actionable insights from the bulk of data, we can employ them to refine our decision-making tools. That
is the reason, to perform better informed choices, businesses are adopting data visualization tools and
techniques. It makes them capable of doing error prone decision making.

How an average person makes decisions?

Research have shown that, an average person makes almost 35000 choices/decisions in a single
day. Decision making capability of humans is way older than the emergence of the science of big data.
Decision making is solely an activity of the human mind. However, it is the mental process based on
reasons, memories, emotions, and inclined by biasness. Pre-formed opinions drive our actions during
the decision-making process. Although, we try our best to formulate rational and logical conclusions to
make good decisions. But several factors involved in our cognitive processes may limit our abilities to
drive us towards the right decision making.

How Data Visualization improves Decision making:

Here, we are going to analyze the ways data visualization can help us improve our decision-
making abilities.

Improved Speed:
 This is the age of globalization, where information travels in the form of signals and at the speed
of light. In a highly globalized business environment, managers and stakeholders are often expected to
take critical decisions within no time. Getting late may cause a loss of an opportunity, which businesses
can not afford. Even small problems arose due to delayed decision making may turn into exponentially
growing devastations overnight. In such emergency scenarios, data visualization can help you extract
actionable insights from the data. It can serve the purpose of making quick decisions within no time.
Decisions and choices driven by real time data also minimizes the risks of losses. Even a simple tool of
data visualization whether a line graph or a bar graph can serve the purpose. It can give useful insights
for actionable turns within few seconds.

High Accuracy:

Business leaders who are expected to be quick in their decision makings. Also required not to
trade-off with accuracy when it comes to adopt speed. Accuracy and speed are the factors sometimes
become difficult to drive parallel. A speedy decision is highly probable to lose accuracy. In case of
missing information, we often adopt Heuristics to fill the gaps quickly through our mental shortcuts.
These shortcuts are, no doubt, biased by our cognition. Such a practice has potential to contaminate our
quick decision-making process. Here comes visualization of big data for relieve. It provides all the
information in an error prone way. Data distributed over spreadsheets can be time consuming to extract
any insights from it. It can also create confusions and make our decisions makings vague. However,
visualized data solve both the problems of speed and accuracy because of its efficient display of
actionable insights.

Simplified Communication:

A decision-making process is not just a mere combination of words or actions. Once a decision is
taken, it also required to be communicated with the lower hierarchy for its proper implementation.
Communicating a decision is also an important practice which carry your thoughts to your workforce for
subsequent steps being followed. Visualization of data, along with simplifying your data analytics, also
simplifies and streamlines the communication process in an objectified way. A message that is
communicated in wordy format may cause confusions, or it may associate with it some unanswered
questions. It may also give rise to biased opinions in the workforce. However, if it is referenced with any
format of data visualization tools. No matters, in the form of graphical representation of facts or bar
charts, it can serve the purpose very efficiently. It will also provide answers to all those questions which
may not be communicated clearly, otherwise. In fact, it is useless to urge the workers to take effective
actions when the message is not delivered clearly.

Improved Collaboration:

Good managers always give importance to the perspective of other members while taking
decisions. Giving heed to other’s perspectives also improves your decision-making abilities. Research
shows that if a decision-making practice is caried out by taking into consideration multiple perspectives.
It helps in formulating the better-informed selections. Data visualization gives rise to useful forms of
data. It can universally be adopted even by an ordinary user of the information system. Data
democratization into a universally consumable shape, can empower the people to formulate insightful
opinions and better-informed perspectives. Such a collaborative practice of democratization of data can
make them capable to contribute into the decision-making process. Provoking diversity into an
organization’s decision-making environment is the attribute of leadership. It gives rise to high impact
decisions having ability to introduce positive change. Great decision making is a highly required attribute
of business managers and leaders.

Conclusion:
Visualization of big data, if managed to be visualized in an effective pattern, can put your
business ahead of all the times. Utilizing big data for timely production of accurate decisions, and
simplification of communication gives an overwhelming edge over the competitors. It can also be helpful
for enhancing collaboration between the team members for increased productivity. Hence, data
visualization empowers your decision-making tools by fueling them with speedy conjectures, improved
accuracy, simplified communication, and enhanced collaboration.