Real-Time Data

Real Time Analytics Challenge – Are you overwhelming your users with noise?

What Is Real Time Analytics?

Real-time analytics is the ability to use and analyze data and resources as soon as new data enters the system. The adjective real-time refers to a level of computer responsiveness that a user senses as immediate or nearly immediate. Real-time analytics is also known as dynamic analysis, real-time analysis, real-time data integration and real-time intelligence.

With our technology, we can have these analytics report right at the palm of our hand on our cell-phone or on the desktop screen thousands of miles away from the actual server. The question is how we translate all of this data into relevant and actionable intelligence without overwhelming the user. We need to separate noise from what’s relevant.

Why relevancy matters?

The easiest way to explain this is Google Map. Many of us drive to many places and one thing we all like is the map on our cellphone. I’ll take google map as an example. You are going from your house to your destination that is 25 miles away and you leave around 5.30pm and will get thereby by say 6PM

• There may be traffic events happening around your route but not on your route
• There may be traffic events that have occurred prior to 5:30 PM
• There may be traffic events that occur around 5:30 PM closer to your destination vs your current location, thus not affecting you.

How do you provide right relevancy to user?

To improve user adoption and bring value, the user interface needs to be clean and simple

1. Consider “take-action” mode and identify which information is relevant and matters to the user, what is the best way to present to the user that will improve his decision-making process i.e. either to stay the course or change the route. You may need to enhance the raw information into intelligence information to improve usability
2. Rest of the information needs to be streamlined and presented in “browse-mode” vs “take action” mode.

User-centric interface design is essential to any organization to ensure relevant and actionable information is rendered in the right context vs overwhelming the user with noise.