| | December 20158CIOReviewLet's face it - data by itself is boring!As an executive in the technology services space for many years, it will not surprise you to hear that I've spent my share of business performance meetings either squinting at the eight-point font size or flipping back and forth between different views of the spreadsheets to understand my business performance. When I have to explain business performance to others in my organization, I switch to a more visual representation of the data to try and make it consumable and interesting, but it amazes me how quickly most people glance and turn to doing email before the blink of an eye when faced with data. My delivery and communications methods set aside, many would fundamentally agree with me when I say that basic business intelligence, data and analytics, reporting and the like can be quite boring ­ and I love this area of technology - It's my passion and my life's work.While data in itself can often be boring, it is amazing to watch people light up with ideas, tell stories and jump into action when data gains context. In fact, data can trigger emotion and passion when people begin to see the stories that their data can tell and how they can put it into action. Understanding why something is important to someone and presenting it in the context of those needs is more likely to result in desired behavior and outcomes. Data without context and empathy for the desires of the recipient is what causes people to become disengaged from their data. The key is to create the linkage between the raw facts and an emo-tional response.As a consumer in the digital era, I cast out a host of infor-mation every day, whether based on the physical purchase of my The Emotional Side of DataBy Steve Palmer, SVP-Data & Analytics, AvanadeIN MY OPINION
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