The best ways to sell your big data projects to the CEO

 

CEOs work an average of 57.8 hours per week. They spend over half of this time in meetings, on the phone, on conference calls, or attending public events or business meals—and this doesn't even account for travel. Meanwhile, the business cranks on and trends continue to emerge in markets that demand immediate strategic attention.

These constant pressures and time crunches also impact other C-level executives and key business managers. It is exactly why well-orchestrated analytics dashboards and data visualizations can fulfill executives' need to know critical information.

In one look, a red, yellow, or green light on a dashboard can tell an executive if systems are functioning well, and if any systems are experiencing slowdowns. If the executive spots a slowdown in the company's online ordering system during a major sales promotion, she knows this could slow revenue capture, and she can make it an urgent priority.

Or, for example, a data visualization could show sales results overlaid on maps and displays that also pictorially show customer demographics, location information, or even the types of sales channels orders are coming in from.

Key executives at transportation companies might be interested in seeing risk patterns around the globe, whether they come in the form of weather, politics, or something else that has the potential to disrupt shipping schedules and revenue capture.

Companies that can't afford to develop these top-level tools can engage the services of cloud-based analytics vendors that are experts in specific industry sectors, as well as use dashboard analytics report templates that can be adapted for the company's needs with minimum effort. Many industry-specific cloud providers already have libraries of these reports from which customers can browse and select.

Add data dashboards and visualizations to your to-do list

Most analytics departments produce graphical data displays, but the effort hasn't been aggressive enough to build enthusiasm and financial backing for big data initiatives. This is analysts' big shot to sell and promote their team's products. Don't miss this opportunity—put create dashboard and visualization tools for executive management on your priority list today.