There are many growth hacking methods that can be used to grow your company, but none of them would be possible without a solid understanding of business data.

If a business is not making data-driven decisions day by day, it becomes almost impossible to stay competitive in the market, especially today, when there are so many tools available that allow you to collect and analyze massive amounts of data.

But no matter how much data you can collect, it won’t be very useful if you’re not able to quickly interpret and use it in your decision-making process.

That’s where data visualization tools can be so beneficial.

They allow to quickly visualize complex data and present it clearly using graphics, charts, and various other visualizations.

Data visualization tools enable companies to process and understand huge amounts of information and draw insights that help to make your business better and more efficient.

And the best part is, almost any type of data can be analyzed and used – whether it’s putting together the most elaborate lead generation campaigns, or simply crafting an effective sales proposal, quick analysis of data can help to make improvements in any area.

But which data visualization tools should you use?

Well, there is a wide range of data visualization tools that can help to bring your ideas to life by helping to present the data in the most convenient way possible.

Active Intelligence Server

Active Intelligence Server, or AIS, can help you simplify every step of your Business Intelligence (BI) process, allowing you to get started in just three simple steps.

It’s able to bring your data together from various sources and find the best possible way to analyze and distribute it as necessary. You can seamlessly create reports, dashboards, or even embedded in-app widgets to make sure that your data is displayed exactly as you want it.

The detailed visualizations allow you to effectively sort through information and identify the most important trends and patterns that can guide you in the decision making process.

You can also access real-time reports that enable you to make split-second decisions based on rapidly changing data. Having the ability to see the exact areas that need to be improved upon can help to give more constructive feedback to your employees and pinpoint the exact areas that need attention.

Google Data Studio (Beta)

Google has recently launched its own data processing platform called Google Data Studio. Although it’s still in Beta testing, there’s already a lot of rumblings about just how useful this tool might be once it’s fully launched.

Google Data Studio is a web-based reporting and data visualization solution that allows to quickly pull data from numerous sources into a single dashboard and analyze the results.

You can create beautiful reports that can be fully customized to bring out the most critical aspects of the data that you want to present; it even allows to brand the reports so you can deliver a more consistent experience on your presentations.

Google also made sure to make sharing and collaborating as simple as possible – with just a few clicks, you can customize your dashboards and share them with others, setting viewing or editing permissions as necessary, just like on Google Docs.

Creately

Creately is another powerful diagramming tool that, unlike Google Data Studio, can be used both on the cloud or on desktop.

The thing that makes Creately stand out from most other data visualization solutions is its convenience – no technical skills are required, and you don’t have to go through manuals or tutorials to get started.

The application is very intuitive and allows you to build beautiful infographics, flowcharts, and other visuals in a matter of minutes, even if it’s your first time using it.

This allows you to focus on the actual design process and making sure that the data is displayed in the most convenient way, instead of worrying about the technical details of how to make it happen.

Creately also offers extensive collaboration options, so you can quickly share your reports and dashboards with whoever you need to, whether it’s in-house staff or external associates. Even Creately’s free version allows you to collaborate with up to three people.

Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is an all-in-one solution that combines powerful analytics with an intuitive interface and a wide range of data visualization options.

And when you take into account that you can also select custom visualizations from an always expanding gallery of community-made visualizations, you can be sure that you’ll never run out of ways to present your information using dashboards or reports.

Microsoft Power BI offers a free version, so you can try it out risk-free and explore the wide range of features that it provides. If you want the full functionality that Microsoft Power BI can bring, the prices start at $9.99/user per month, which is still quite affordable when you consider how much you get.

Looker

While Looker is primarily a data discovery app, it also provides a range of data visualizations options that earn it a well-deserved spot on this list.

It’s a web-based tool that allows to quickly build and share reports and dashboards with your team or with outside associates, making it much easier to make informed business decisions that deliver better results.

When using Looker, you have total control of how you want to bring your data to life – the solution provides a drag-and-drop data scheme that helps to create highly-customizable visualizations and reports that fit your needs.

Less experienced users that need to create complex visualizations can use the easy-to-use mapping feature, which can quickly analyze both web-hosted and SQL data and accommodate 25+ data variations such as Hive, Google BigQuery, and many more.

Looker can help to understand your data better and use it to increase team performance, boost customer satisfaction, upgrade content, or find ways to run your business more efficiently.

About the author:

Dave Schneider is the founder of LessChurn, churn reduction app. In 2012 he quit his job to travel the world, and has visited over 65 countries. In his spare time, he writes about SaaS and business at DaveSchneider.me.