Data Visualization Vs. Analytical Visualization - What Do You Need?

Data visualization is more about seeing what you already know and less about discovering what you don't know. It confirms hunches that you were confident in and can display your information in beautiful graphs, charts and animation objects, which we are all drawn to. Visualizations are important but a relatively small part of the puzzle.

Analytical visualization is more about discovering what you don't know (and probably need to know) and having flexibility to continue to ask the data questions until you get to information you can act on. What goes on behind the scenes in analytical visualization is much more critical than the display. When looking at visualization solutions, its important to ask:

- How much is data synthesized with proven and advanced statistical techniques that automatically turn my data in to information?

- Am I limited in my consumption as to how much, what type of data, how fast, and where it comes from?

- Can I get data and turn it in to information quickly, effectively and without an arduous effort? Are there automated ways to manage my data for cleanliness, prioritization, audibility and other important Data Management tasks based on my mission or business problem?

Not addressing or asking these questions leads to the top mistake of assuming beautiful dashboards represent valuable and usable information. In some cases they may, but its rare in a big data world. Should you be adopting a data visualization platform or an analytical visualization platform in your organization?