What is Data Storytelling?

Data Storytelling in the context of business intelligence is an analytics capability that communicates performance to specific audiences with a compelling narrative to help build engagement with uncovered insights. Tools with data storytelling capabilities simplify and make sense of complex data that can assist in how decisions are made and actions are taken through a variety of different techniques, including data visualization, embedded analytics and 

The purpose of Data Storytelling is to transform metrics and statistics into structured stories that drive change in a business by telling an engaging story with data insights. It evolves past the formality of standard reports by using professional presentations, long-form narratives and rich visualizations to persuade people to take action and use data to justify decision paths. The aim is to move people emotionally, then back up understanding of the issue or insight with data.

Benefits of Data Storytelling

Having Data Storytelling as a native capability of your preferred BI platform Improves data accuracy and timeliness by harnessing the full power of presentation tools while ensuring a single source of truth from a centralized, secure data store – ensuring data used in a story or presentation is up to date, accurate and secure with a full audit trail. This also eliminates the unreliable process of copying-and-pasting every time new information arrives or old data is updated, allowing presentations and stories to be built once with data refreshed as often as needed, automatically, significantly reducing time and effort in the decision-making process.

Best Practices for Data Storytelling

The capability and techniques of Data Storytelling differ depending on the analytics solution in question, but its importance remains the same regardless of BI platform. To help guide you on your journey to understand how to construct better narratives around your dashboards and reporting, you can access and read our free Ultimate Guide to Data Storytelling eBook here.