Big Data Prediction: Story Telling to be the New Innovation in 2015
A trend expected to take center stage in 2015 is data story telling. It’s all about telling a story with data. The difference between a good and bad analyst will be solely determined by the analyst’s ability to create a narrative of the process of data analysis. The more compelling the narrative is the more convincing an analyst you are. In this blog, we will be dissecting the need for analysts to don this new role.
Why Story Telling in Big Data Would Win
Have a look at the cartoon below. Don’t you find yourself in similar position when left to glean insights from analyzed data? In 2015, business intelligence will no longer be about collecting and making sense out of reports. On the contrary, it will revolve entirely around interactive decision-making, based on data findings, presented in simple and understandable ways, thus making it possible to arrive at a consensus without a fuss.
Big Data can make complete sense only if the import of data analysis is made comprehensible to the average person. The user then gets access to the much needed actionable insight and work with a purpose. This is where analysts can use the power of storytelling to make a difference.
Stories have been used for ages as a great tool to connect with people. It is effective, because it uses a context to interpret a complex concept in a simple manner. Using stories to interpret complex data can be a more reasonable way to make the data more meaningful and interesting. When team members and executives get to see and understand data in a story format, it gets lot easier for them to make sense out of it. Besides, it persuades them to act. Sometimes, it even inspires him to think different.
Story telling can make the going easy for analysts, in yet another interesting way. It obviates the need to go into detailed analysis to explain an outcome. Instead, analysts can create shorthand representations of their interpretation to send the message across. This spares the user the trouble of wading through a sea of tedious and time-consuming details, and what they get instead, is a summarized brief in a snappy way. The other plus with storytelling in big data, is that it can help analysts standardize communications and bridge the gap between analyzing and implementing.
So, what kind of stories can analysts weave with their data in 2015. The stories can be of any type, from reporting stories –about what happened last month — to explanatory stories; from predictive stories to how to stories; from what stories i.e. narrating what happened to why stories i.e. examining and analyzing an outcome. However, to succeed they need to be truly fast – fast enough to create narratives in real time.