UPDATED 14:46 EDT / SEPTEMBER 11 2014

Right data required: Realizing the potential of Tableau’s visualization tools | #data14

DecisionViz tablet data visualization analyticsCompanies are still trying to figure out the best ways to use the data they collect, said Lee Feinberg, President of DecisionViz, a product of e-thusiasm, Inc. On theCUBE at Tableau Software, Inc.’s annual customer conference, Feinberg spoke with John Furrier and Jeff Kelly about the challenges businesses face when it comes to adopting data visualization, and the process they go through to find the right software and data to inform their business intelligence decision-makers.

What to do with data?

 

A big part of DecisionViz’s mission is helping their clients figure out how to make use of the data they collect. There’s plenty of tools out there to capture information, Feinberg said, but the trick is figuring out how to turn that data into communicable, actionable insights.

In an era when you can measure anything, Feinberg said, his clients implement automation similarly to how people purchase stock. This type of data collection enables DecisionViz clients to figure out where they should spend their money when it comes to marketing. As clients look at who’s viewing their ads, data helps them understand not just who those viewers are, but also how to best understand their behavior.

Adapting to real time

 

A big component of the DecisionViz mission has been to help customers adapt to real-time data. Most organizations, Feinberg explained, “aren’t set up to do that.” Tableau, though, starts to instigate the desire for real-time data because it makes the process of getting and seeing data much easier, enabling faster decisions. DecisionViz helps companies “redesign” how they think about data, so that they can have a clear view of what as decided, what happened, and the results of those decisions.

Data democratization changes the equation

 

DecisionViz also helps its clients understand organizational changes that data democratization requires. Some companies, Feinberg said, “still have the notion that they have to control data,” when they actually need to “get the data out.” Tools like Tableau have helped inspire that change because they don’t require a ton of sophistication to use. Regular business people can now access and manipulate volumes of data.

Read more after the video.

 

How DecisionViz helps clients adopt data visualization

 

In terms of time frames for data visualization adoption in the enterprise, Feinberg explained that things are still “really early” because there is “a huge volume of companies that don’t have tools like this.” And those companies that have adopted Tableau are still at the beginning stage of testing the technology, training their employees, and figuring out how to apply it to the company. “We’re in innings three and four,” Feinberg said, implying that if Tableau adoption were a baseball game, there’s be at least five more innings to go.

When it comes to helping clients start using data visualization on board, Feinberg said, he’s often greeted with a long checklist of features clients want. In those situations, what Feinberg most often advises is that companies look for the technologies and software that fit their culture best: “You can’t change the entire company to fit the software,” Feinberg said, but you can try to find the software the best fits the way the company.

DecisionViz also offers the “Blue Ocean for Visualization Framework,” which consists of eleven competencies that companies need in order to implement data visualization. It’s essentially an audit that DecisionViz uses to determine companies’ strengths and weaknesses before they build a plan to move forward with data visualization.

Facilitating the right kind of storytelling

 

The first step of using Tableau’s Storypoints tool is having data available, Feinberg said, explaining that the software is figuring out what the story is in the first place. While having data available is essential, Feinberg cautioned against the idea that “data will never be perfect.” Companies need to work with the data that they have in order to even understand the types of “stories” that they’ll be able to tell. Companies need to understand what data to add to the Storypoints tool before they can even begin to structure an intelligible narrative.

At Tableau, the goal is to help people see and understand their data, while at DecisionViz, the goal is help people communicate data. The Storypoints tool is “a key piece” of DecisionViz’s ability to help their clients “move from just working with the data to really being able to communicate.”

Tableau’s place among enterprise software

 

When it comes to finding Tableau’s place on the enterprise software shelf, the new company sits alongside many other legacy systems in which enterprises are hugely invested. When talking with clients, Feinberg said, many understand that they need to transition to new technology to remain relevant, but are unsure if Tableau with mesh with their current investments. According to Feinberg, some organizations need education as to how Tableau fits in among other software systems. There is “no right or wrong answer,” Feinberg noted, “it really depends on the company and what they’re trying to fix.” It falls to companies like DecisionViz, and Tableau itself, to help companies figure that out.

Tableau is getting a grip on cloud and mobile strategies

 

Feinberg said that he believes Tableau’s array of product offerings is headed in the right direction: namely, towards the cloud and mobile. He called out “web authoring” as a capability takes users a step closer to be able to do on the web what they can do on the desktop, an idea he considers “powerful.”

Feinberg pointed out that some of the capabilities Tableau has enabled for the iPad, like user interface improvements and snapshots, will be useful to man DecisionViz clients right away. When it comes to the Elastic Project, though, Feinberg thinks that companies will have to figure out where it fits in with the rest of their other applications.

Image via DecisionViz

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