Humans aren’t built to make sense of machine data. Despite all our rational and analytical abilities, what most engages us is a story. Smart organizations have long recognized this, and have emphasized the stories behind their products, businesses, and missions. The rise of big data and the proliferation of measurable metrics have made storytelling more essential than ever.

But of course the point of a business story is more than entertainment and engagement; usually it’s supposed to convince its audience of something. So the story is necessary but not sufficient: stories help engagement, while data provides credibility. This is hard to do well, and many solutions exist to help users organize and link together data to strengthen their stories. Not all are equally useful. A tool for business storytelling needs to speak to both the analytical and creative aspects of human thought.

IBM Cognos Analytics is designed to do just that. Cognos Analytics helps users assemble stories in a variety of formats, including:

• Slideshows
• Infographics
• Interactive stories

Cognos Analytics can help with both analytic gestures—such as intent-based authoring—and the creation of automatic visualizations. It can help you collect assets, choose a format and template, organize the story, put in animations, adjust timing and ultimately tell a compelling story to your audience.

To learn more about how IBM Cognos Analytics can help you tell compelling stories with your data, check out the presentation replay here.
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