If you can’t make sense out of the data or if you are not clear when you present your data, then all this powerful information loses its value. When it comes to data and IT Security-related material, visuals are the easiest way to convey it.

If you think about how we handle data consumption best, what comes to mind? The eyes.

There is this interesting skill between the hard execution of the tools and the people, and having Google closing gaps. We’re closing gaps in the CFO conversation in EBITDA. We’re closing gaps here because we’ve got to make sense of the data.

A few years ago, I went to a conference where we heard Edward Tufte speak. He is one of the best visualization people around and runs these seminars up and down the country for 200 people at a time.

He talks about how to respect people’s eyes and decision-making. Our eyes, our retinas, take in such vast amounts of information that you need to respect it. For example, when I designed our dashboard, I had to take all this vast security complexity and I was looking for one place to put it. Tufte talks about respect of people’s eyes and it is art, it really is.

I’m definitely going to attend another seminar of his because I need to be reminded of it. Tufte has four books out and he runs a seminar series. I find that his work is an interesting collapse of art and visual design, and the mechanics of pulling it off. His book, Beautiful Evidence, is a favorite of mine.

Please share this with members of your professional community. If you want to join the CIO Innovation Insider Community, email offenseinnovation@redzonetech.net to receive the latest updates on events, content, podcasts, and more!