The combination of immense volumes of data sources being generated, as well as the variety of data sources available and the increased availability of new technology and software catering for this reality, is creating a data deluge.
This 'deluge' is a challenge faced by analysts and organisations arising from the megatrends such as big data, open data, social media, and the Internet of things, which play a large role in these developments. Moreover, the drop in prices of mobile devices, sensors and analytical software further drive the opportunity to make sense out of the reams of data.
This is according to Lyle Peterson, senior analyst at Woolworths, who will be discussing: 'Data-Driven Storytelling - Navigating the Data Deluge' during his presentation at the ITWeb BI Summit, to be held at The Forum in Bryanston on 1 and 2 March.
"Effectively analysing large volumes of data provides the opportunity to improve business performance, manage risk more effectively and find hidden insights for strategic competitiveness," he explains. "At the same time, not having a coherent analytics strategy can result in a situation where organisations and analysts become ineffective and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data being generated."
Speaking of what businesses could be doing better in terms of using their data effectively, Petersen says the immense challenge of the data deluge needs to be met by a holistic and multi-layered business intelligence strategy from the inception of data to its realisation as actionable insight driving corporate strategy.
"To gain competitive advantage, organisations have to regulate the flow of data congested while treating it as a core strategic asset. Smart data governance serves as the pipeline driving the entire data lifecycle, which ensures not only that data is easily captured, stored, accessed and contextualised for insight, but that it is well aligned to corporate strategy, brand and ethics."
He says effectively managing metadata and semantic data fosters understanding of business data and concepts, and helps provide the foundation of relevant data to support actionable insights within the appropriate context.
"While smart data governance effectively streamlines the data used - predictive analytics and machine learning capabilities streamline the decision-making process. These capabilities include algorithmically deriving insights and spotting hidden patterns from a variety of sources and larger volumes of data," adds Petersen.
Storytelling at the end of the spectrum relies on the softer skills analysts need to be equipped with to communicate and highlight insights from their findings to the business audience, he says.
"As a fundamental part of leadership and team collaboration, embedding analytical insights in stories, is a natural way to appeal convincingly to the needs and minds of decision-makers in a social context."
According to him, people have inherent pattern-recognising skills - continuously linking patterns we see and hear to draw conclusions. Storytelling is a communication method we understand naturally, when it draws attention to significant features of a data visualisation.
"It also helps to connect relationships in complex data structures. Techniques such as annotation, guided data visualisations and storyboarding streamline the communication of insights, helping to navigate the audience to the intended conclusion."
He says during his presentation, he will demonstrate the role of data storytelling in the context of a fully fledged business intelligence team and effective business intelligence strategy.
Petersen will also demonstrate best practices in data storytelling and visualisation techniques, showcasing how to communicate and connect insights from data while navigating the business audience to the intended conclusion.
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