Network Visualization

Network Visualization

Today we live in a world of interactions which in turn creates networks. We learned that networks are important because they help to understand complex systems. By understanding these systems, companies are able to control them which is a necessity. Networks can be very useful and in many ways, but once you construct a network it can be visualized. By visualizing a network, it can provide a lot of insight into the interactions or the nodes/communities that make up the network.

What is information/data visualization?

Some indicate it to be a mental image of a concept, idea, or object. Another definition I found indicates that "data visualization is a general term that describes any effort to help people understand the significance of data by placing it in a visual context. Patterns, trends and correlations that might go undetected in text-based data can be exposed and recognized easier with data visualization." [3]

Today the visualization tools go beyond the standard charts and graphs. Now users have the ability to display data as infographics, dials and gauges, geographic maps, sparklines, heat maps, detailed bar, and pie/fever charts. The images can be more than just the static image, they may include interactive capabilities that allow users to manipulate them or drill down into the data for querying and analysis. Another great visualization tool are pre-defined indicators that alert users when data reaches the pre-defined conditions to prompt decision making or action.

Why is visualization important?

We also learn that the purpose of visualization can be to explore the data, communicate ideas coming from the data, and to understand the data to take action on it. The reason why visualization is so important is because it helps people see things that were not obvious to them before. By visualizing information, it can convey information in a universal manner and make it easy to share ideas with everyone. It allows for those reviewing the information to begin to ask questions based on the information displayed and hopefully make actionable decision making that is data driven. For companies, it is becoming more and more important to have a way to view their data in order to answer key business questions of what, where, how or why in order to implement the necessary changes or decisions to improve. This can impact a company's bottom line as well as their reputation.

Resources

1. "Data visualization: What it is and why it is important." SAS. http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/data-visualization.html
2. Ram, Sudha. 2013. "Introduction to Networks." OMIS-MIS587, slides 1-18.
3. Ram, Sudha. 2013. "Introduction to Network Visualization." OMIS-MIS587, slides 1-15.
4. Rouse, Margaret. 2012. "Data Visualization Definition." TechTarget.
   http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/data-visualization
   

Web Analytics

For today's business, a staple in doing business is a website to promote or educate individuals about their company. A company's website collects a lot of data and companies are using that data in order to better direct users to certain information or deal located on their website in order to accomplish a goal. To leverage this data, there are web analytics tools that help answer the following five questions:

• What are people doing on the website?
• Who are they?
• When are they visiting?
• Where are they coming from?
• Why are they doing this?

By collecting this data, companies are able to leverage it through the Web Analytics Cycle. The cycle involves a company setting goals, figuring out how to measure whether or not they are achieving the goals, reporting on data that measure whether or not a company is close to achieving the goals, analyzing the reports, and making decisions on what actions to take as well as optimizing the actions taken. The cycle is continuous as company's goals change, but more important as the customers visiting the website change what they want and how they want it.

What can Web Analytics do for me?

Even though companies have had access to free web analytics tools some don't take advantage of it as they ask themselves, "What can Web Analytics do for me?" The basic answer is the information provided by the web analytics solution will help in understanding and optimizing the company's website. It also allows a company to know what they are doing and if it is working. According to the article "What is Web Analytics," web analytics is the proven, systematic, scientific way to continuously improve a company's website. It also argues that someone could be the most brilliant marketer or web designer, but that they don't know "Jack." As indicated above, it is the visitors that know what they want and how they want it. Web analytics will help companies understand the visitors of their website and if the company listens then they will benefit from it.

 

Benefits...

The benefits of web analytics is that it can improve a company's bottom line, often free to implement, can give a company a complete picture of their customers, and can enable a company to serve their customers better and in more targeted ways through marketing. Which are significant benefits for most or all companies as it can be difficult to get a complete picture of your customers especially through a tool that is cost effective. To also have a cost effective tool to assist in the company's marketing plan that helps a company know what sites to advertise on based on the revenue generating referral sites or targeting customers specifically based on demographics. Like a lot of business tools or theories this is one that can have a huge impact on a company, but in order to see the impact or benefits it needs to be implemented and utilized.


Resources

1. Ram, Sudha. 2013. "Introduction to Web Analytics." OMIS-MIS587, slides 1-8.
2. Sankar, Abhirami. 2014 April 21. "The Business Benefits of Web Analytics." Analyics Training. http://analyticstraining.com/2014/the-business-benefits-of-web-analytics/
3. "What is Web Analyics." Logaholic Web Analytics. http://www.logaholic.com/manual/references/what-is-web-analytics/

Data Quality

Data, Data, & More Data

As discussed in the prior post, we live in a world where an enormous amount of data is being generated all the time. With the constant creation of data, companies are utilizing it to make informed business decisions and more. It isn't enough to have data, what is important is to have quality data to make useful decisions or the decisions made with poor data are not useful to a company.

 

Data Quality

For any industry, the quality of data impacts every decision made along the spectrum of their business processes. Therefore, the demand for accurate and reliable data has never been more important. There are techniques to analyze and assess data to determine the quality of data stored by a company. Some of those techniques consist of data profiling, integrity checks, and business checks.

There are also properties of quality that can affect analyses or database modeling. Each property, as seen in Figure 1, helps a company determine the state their data is in and what might need to be improved before utilizing. Companies may find it hard to implement a data quality initiative, but the potential benefits of having quality data definitely outweigh the hassle. In the article "3 Reasons Why Data Quality Should Be Your Top Priority This Year," states cost, compliance, and decision making as the three reasons to implement a data quality initiative. The cost of poor quality data may cost organizations six hundred billion dollars annually. Poor data quality is also the leading cause of the failure of IT projects as well as one of the driving factors behind customer attrition. The second reason for having quality data is compliance, if a company is unable to access reliable data or missing data it may cause compliance violations which produces reputation issues. The third reason which has already been stated many times is decision making. Having good data quality means having accurate and timely information as well as the ability to prioritize and ensure the best use of resources. If a company has poor data quality in this day and age of big data there will be much to lose.

I can attest to the importance of quality data because the company I work for began reviewing our data that would be loaded into our data warehouse and it was evident that we had some issues. In order to obtain quality data, we began by preventing, detecting, and repairing within our information system that stores our data which is exactly what "Data Quality and Record Linkage Techniques" book discusses to obtain high-quality data. We have continued with these techniques and have been able to overcome the issues and make adjustments to our data entry processes in order to better our data. By making these improvements, the decisions we make are more informed which in turn has saved us on costs, helped us determine the projects to prioritize, and ensured compliance within the industry. For any company that takes advantage of taking the time to collect and store quality data will see profits, customer satisfaction, and a good reputation that will attract new customers.

Resources

1. Eichhorn, Gadi. 2014 February 19. "3 Reasons Why Data Quality Should Be Your Top Priority This Year." Realise Data Systems. http://www.realisedatasystems.com/3-reasons-why-data-quality-should-be-your-top-priority-this-year/
2. Herzog, Th.N., Scheuren, F.J., Winkler, W.E. 2007. "Data Quality and Record Linkage Techniques." https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDAQFjAAahUKEwiG8aboxJPJAhUT-GMKHfcCANw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fcda%2Fcontent%2Fdocument%2Fcda_downloaddocument%2F9780387695020-c1.pdf%3FSGWID%3D0-0-45-381701-p173712918&usg=AFQjCNEFM9g86heuzgYu9MNciSZkjkkf9A 
3. Ram, Sudha. 2013. "Data Quality Analysis." OIS-MIS587, slides 1-18.