Data ≠ Wisdom

“Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom.” – Clifford Stoll, famous author and astronomer

So what’s the trick? How do we turn data into information and ultimately into wisdom?

We could collect as much data as possible and load it into spreadsheets, but then what? It’s astonishing how easily accessible our data is yet, the relevant information is often overlooked. Have you ever heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”? Well, that’s exactly what we want to do with our data. We don’t need to waste our time monitoring every indicator, rather we should focus on the essential metrics that affect our performance, quality, and profitability.

Read next: Data Persuasion: How to Make Your Case with Data Visualization

Storyboarding is a great way to break down your key performance indicators (KPIs) and determine what metrics need greater attention. Let’s say you’ve already gone through the storyboarding process and your KPIs have been chosen wisely, but the data still doesn’t translate correctly. This could be explained by a disconnect in data sources, outdated reports, data clutter, or numerous other factors. A way to resolve these issues is to implement secure dashboards that unify your data into concise interactive dashboards. Color coded spreadsheets can shed some light but dashboards can bring life to flat reports, connect your data sources, and drill down into specific KPIs to discover correlations enabling wise, informed decisions based on your data.

Check out the Everything You Need to Know About Dashboards Guide for more information regarding KPIs, storyboarding, and dashboard implementation.