How Visual Reporting Drives Better Business Outcomes

You know that sense of dread when you load up a spreadsheet and the rows and columns of numbers look like a foreign language?

We know that feeling too. Humans aren’t machines. We struggle to compute raw data. You need a way of turning those numbers into something that makes sense—things like bar charts, infographics, or dashboards. In the business world, we call this ‘visual reporting’.

The good news is, the massive demand for visual reporting tools means you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to software for this purpose. And even better, these tools exist for pretty much every area of business operations, from recruitment to customer relationship management, and of course finance.

On this page, we’ll walk you through the basics of visual reporting, including some of the different types, tools, and the benefits you can expect. We'll also provide a step-by-step guide to help you implement this powerful technique in your own organization.

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Understanding visual reporting

Visual reporting is the art of taking raw data and presenting it in an easy-to-understand format. And like all good art, there are hundreds of different ways of communicating a message to the reader. So, let’s take a quick look at the most common approaches used in business visual reporting:

Types of visual reporting

• Charts and Graphs: Did you know the humble bar chart has been used in physics since the 14^th century? These days, businesses find all manner of charts and graphs excellent ways to present trends, comparisons, and distributions.
• Dashboards: With the advent of ‘big data’, digital dashboards were invented to fetch and present data in real-time. They’re great for getting a quick overview of a business’s key metrics.
• Infographics: These visually engaging presentations combine text, images, and icons to tell a compelling story.
• Video documentation: Research from Wistia found that 62% of businesses create videos to engage their internal teams, partners, and customers. This includes things like product demos, how-to guides, and video onboarding for new hires.

Tools and technologies

• Data visualization software: Tools like Microsoft Excel let you create basic charts and graphs, and plot functions like moving averages or trendlines. If you don’t have the technical know-how, you could go for a dedicated data visualization suite that suggests recommended graphs for your .csv documents.
• Presentation software: PowerPoint and Google Slides are commonly used during meetings as a way of presenting data in an engaging storyline of events.
• Generative AI: Tools like Guidde use AI to automatically generate videos, voice-overs, and closed captioning.
• Accounting software: Most accounting software programs offer built-in reporting features that present the details of your accounts payable and receivable in real time.

The main barrier within visual reporting software is data silos—which is when data becomes isolated in a specific part of your organization and can’t be accessed by other teams. One way to counter this is by using tools that work with every operating system your employees use. If your finance team primarily uses Apple devices, you'll want to go for Mac-compatible accounting software. You may also want to look into mobile apps for on-the-go reporting.

Benefits of business reporting

Visual reporting isn't just about making your data look pretty. It's about making sure the people in your business spot insights that’ll make your business grow. Here are a few of the most compelling arguments in favor of using it:

Real-time data analysis

Trying to manage your business without data is like driving blindfolded. You might get lucky and avoid a crash, but it’s certainly not a sustainable strategy! With a dashboard showing your key performance indicators, you can see exactly where you stand, and make adjustments as needed.

Let’s say you spot a dip in website traffic in real time. You’d be able to quickly investigate the cause, such as incorrect pricing information or an inappropriate banner ad, and take immediate action to fix the problem.

Identification of trends and patterns

Charts and graphs have a superpower—they can reveal hidden patterns within your data. Imagine instantly spotting that spike in sales during the summer or understanding why customer engagement dipped after a particular marketing campaign. Who knows how valuable that could be?

Visual reporting is also really useful for A/B testing. That's when you create two versions of something, like a webpage or an email subject line, and show them to different groups of people. Visual reports can then help you track which version performs better, like which one gets more clicks or leads to more sales. For example, you could test two versions of a call-to-action button, seeing which color gets more people to sign up for your newsletter.

Improved decision making

In the end, it all comes back to making better decisions. Making big decisions based solely on spreadsheets is risky business because you’re probably not going to digest and understand the whole thing. Visual reporting helps because it injects a dose of clarity into your data. Instead of relying on gut feelings, you'll have a crystal-clear understanding of what's working and what's not.

Implementing visual reporting in business

Assess your business needs

It's tempting to dive headfirst into the world of dashboards and charts, but take a beat to figure out where they can solve the most pressing problems in your business:

1. Identify pain points: Where are you making decisions based on gut feelings or incomplete information? Are there areas where you constantly feel like you’re flying blind?
2. Talk to your team: Your frontline employees often have the best insights into where data could be used more effectively. Ask them what information would help them do their jobs better.
3. Make a list of priorities: You don't have to tackle everything at once. Focus on the areas where visual reporting can have the most immediate and significant impact.

Choose the right tools

So, you have those business areas you pinpointed as needing a boost. The next step is to match the right tool to the problem area. Let's say you're wrestling with tracking sales across different regions—wouldn't it be easiest to see those numbers visualized on a geospatial map?

Or, maybe you're consistently running out of stock or missing deliveries trying to keep up with inventory. There are inventory software tools specifically designed to pull in data from your warehouse and suppliers. That way, you get a real-time view of what's in stock, what's running low, and what you need to reorder.

Collect and prepare your data

The key to effective visual reporting is clean, accurate data. If your data has been corrupted or is inaccurate, your graphs are going to lead you to draw the wrong conclusions.

To avoid this, you need tools that integrate with your existing business applications (think CRM, marketing platform, or accounting software). Your data visualization tool will come with an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process to pull data from these sources, clean it up, and transform it into a common format for analysis and visualization.

Design effective visual reports

Once you have your tools and data in place, it's time to start creating those eye-catching visuals! This is really all about personal preference. A pie chart might be useful for seeing percentages of a whole, whereas a bar chart might be more effective at showing change over time—perfect for creating a step-by-step guide.

Our best advice is that your visuals should be easy to read, and go into sufficient detail on their topic. Ask your readers what they think, as they’ll be able to give the most targeted, useful feedback.

Key takeaways

So, there you have it. Hopefully, you now understand the power of visual reporting for making better, data-driven decisions. One last thing: remember that no matter how sophisticated your graphs are, they’re only ever as good as the data they present. If you don’t spend the time making sure your data’s clean and complete, you risk being misled. If you can manage that, you’re onto a winner!