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IT directors at companies that are actively pulling in reams of big data may feel like they have arrived. They've put the tools in place to gather information, and they've plundered the data for treasures. But all of the discoveries are useless if they aren't presented in the right way to the right people. Data visualization projects are an essential part of big data and analytics initiatives.

So what is the key to successful data visualization projects? Paul Bradley, chief data scientist at healthcare software company ZirMed, said visualizations shouldn't be overwhelming to the reader. They must be catered to their audience. For some audiences, that means making everything as simple as possible. Other visualizations are for a more technical audience and can contain more complicated material.

In this e-book chapter, SearchBusinessAnalytics site editor Ed Burns writes about how companies approach data visualization projects. Find out what tools they've used, where they've run into trouble and where they've had success.