The (positive) side effects of (good) data visualization

If you lead a business unit, you can relate to the pain it takes to create a new dashboard. The process usually involves creating a data request, getting the data dump from IT department in an excel sheet, cleaning the data, running numerous formulas/ pivots/ macros etc., preparing colorful graphs, and maybe prepare a PowerPoint deck; all this could take good two-three working days for one person. And then your boss looks at the dashboard and asks for more granular details and trends for the last two years, and there you roll our eyes in your mind thinking that this is going to take one more day! Ughh!

I just came back from a very exciting work trip where we implemented a data visualization tool for one of our partner microfinance institutions. The tool allows the microinsurance department of the organization to prepare real time insurance claims dashboard by directly connecting with the database. Once you know what you want to see, it’s just a matter of one click and ta da! You have your beautiful graph auto-updated with the latest information. No need to toil for hours chasing the IT person for data or hoping that your laptop doesn’t crash while working on a 50 MB excel file. The little joys of life!

Besides the intended benefits of saving tons of hours, I learnt that there are many ways a tool like this can create positive effect on people and businesses. The team got excited immediately when they saw how fast it was now to understand what’s happening in the claims process. They could quickly point out the errors in the data and were able to link it with the quality of data entry (and thus the training needs of the data entry operators). It was also exciting to see the performance of key business metrics and how the numbers have changed since inception. The microinsurance business head was able to identify what was working well in the process, where were the key risks and what were some of the actions that he needed to take in order to improve the service quality for the customers. The tool helped him in identifying priorities that were more strategic in nature rather than only tactical. And not surprisingly, they wanted more such tools for the other teams of the organization too.

More than anything else, it reinforced my belief that good visual representation of data is both a science and an art. If done well, it sparks curiosity (otherwise it can make things confusing). And when the access to such critical insights is instantaneous, it has the potential to transform both people and business cultures. When learning becomes faster, businesses become smarter in designing better-quality services for their customers.

Another important milestone achieved by Women’s World Banking in driving positive change towards meeting our financial inclusion goals.