The Business Reporting is not just a collection of reports and data; it is a fundamental tool for the success and growth of a business. Reporting provides us with a clear and comprehensive view of the company’s performance. Through the systematic collection of data from various functional areas, we can assess progress towards goals, identify trends and opportunities, or pinpoint any problems or challenges that require intervention. This framework allows us to make informed decisions and adapt quickly to changing market conditions.
In recent years, Business Intelligence (BI) has undergone significant transformation, moving from a system that extracts data in tabular format to a more graphical visualization. This is precisely why infographics are a key element in data representation, allowing for the compact and engaging presentation of a large amount of complex data. The message is thus conveyed more effectively compared to using texts or tables. Reporting that combines coherent storytelling with quality infographics allows for greater user engagement and, consequently, increased content sharing.
One of the objectives is to create an engaging experience that provides users with all the relevant information. This builds trust in the product, increases its usage, and establishes a strong relationship between users and corporate data.
Moreover, we cannot limit this information to ourselves; it must be shared both within the company and externally. Internally, it is essential for the growth and coordination of various teams, while externally, it is crucial to share informative materials and infographics with our audience. These elements are called ‘deliverables,’ which refers to everything we deliver to the public.
Initial Analysis of Infographics
To design a quality infographic, it is necessary to thoroughly analyze three points:
- Objective: It is essential to have a clear vision of what you want to represent, so it’s important to ask various questions:
- Target: Who is the reporting intended for? This allows harmonizing language and visual style.
- Information Content: What topic needs to be represented?
- Data Source Analysis: It is crucial that data sources are accurate and reliable. An eye-catching and easily understandable infographic is useless if the represented data is incorrect. Therefore, it is essential to:
- Verify the data sources from which the data is collected.
- Update data to make real-time decisions based on the latest available data.
- Define the logical structure to support users in understanding the represented information. To better organize information, you can follow these guidelines:
- Introduction: Include a clear title and an informative introduction that immediately conveys the topics the infographic will cover.
- Logical sequence of information is crucial to understanding the flow of information; ensure that steps are listed in logical or chronological order.
- Highlight key points using colors, text sizes, or graphs to capture users’ attention.
- Conclusion: Include a brief summary of the main points to recap the essence of the infographic.
Once these initial analyses are complete, you have all the information to develop an infographic.
Infographic Characteristics
Quality reporting must employ effective strategies to improve infographics.
- Firstly, use a clear design, avoiding any information overload. The goal is to understand the content at a glance.
- The choice of colors is fundamental for visualizing trends and being consistent with brand identity. For example, a green KPI quickly indicates that the trend is better than the previous year or budget, while red indicates the opposite.
- As additional communication support, you can use icons.
- Various infographics must be designed to explore data through hierarchies. These allow for drill-up and drill-down operations. For example, you can create a territorial hierarchy that allows viewing aggregated data by region, then descending to the province level and finally to the city level.
- In addition to these aspects, it is crucial to balance text and images to maximize effectiveness and engagement.
Effectively Communicating with Infographics
The goal of infographics is to simplify the understanding of complex data, especially in a world where information abounds. It is therefore crucial to use well-designed infographics to communicate effectively.
With the support of Blue BI, it is possible to communicate complex information simply and innovatively!
We realize Business Intelligence & Advanced Analytics solutions to transform simple data into information of freat strategic value.
