As companies digitise their financial processes, they are accumulating enormous amounts of data about operations and customers. The point of collecting this information is to provide insights that leaders and teams can use to make better decisions.
As a result, visual reporting is gaining momentum. Foundry’s 2021 Data and Analytics survey found that 69% of organisations are piloting or using visual dashboards and data visualisation tools to consolidate and share information. By 2025, data stories will be the most widespread way for organisations to consume analytics, according to Gartner.
But at many organisations, this new type of reporting has yet to gain traction: Over half of finance departments struggle to provide data and reports stakeholders can rely on to inform their decisions, according to Gartner.
Data is only useful when people can easily find it, understand it, and put it to work. When it’s buried in spreadsheets and scattered across departments, teams often don’t know where to look for it. Searching takes up valuable time, and the numbers teams find often lack context.
Frustrated by the inability to use their data effectively, management teams are turning to new solutions that collect data across the business and present it in customised dashboards. The dashboards don’t just display facts and figures. Instead, they create a narrative that places the data in context, along with graphical depictions that help bring it to life. Finance leaders and teams can easily filter the information to learn what’s working and what’s not, and then using these insights to improve operations or find new revenue opportunities.
In addition to improving business results, sharing information through customisable dashboards helps executives better communicate with their teams. Reports don’t necessarily show why results are important, but presenting them in a narrative with visual illustrations explains them more effectively and makes leaders’ recommendations more meaningful and convincing.
Teams can experiment with their dashboards, using real-time information, charts, and graphs to try out ideas for improving processes or services. Teams can look backward or forward and use real-time insights to predict future results.
