The Business of Imagination

During the beginning of this week, I've begun delving into the depths of yet another dark corner of the business world: Business Intelligence. BI, as those savvy in the terminology of this industry call it, concerns itself with creating an architecture around gathering and using the various customer, financial, and technological data swirling about untamed in a company's infrastructure. Sounds dry as a bone, right? Sure, but have I yet met a topic I failed to spice up? I guess we'll find out.

BI, like so many other practices in the oft-draconian corporate world, has myriad appearances and methods of application, and looks quite intimidating from a high level. Despite this fact, however, I am convinced that with the correct application of a talent unique to our species, we can break down these walls and restore what so often falls by the wayside of progress: accessibility.

What talent could possibly accomplish this herculean feat? What skill could cut a swathe through the seas of endless red tape? The key, my friends, is imagination. True, the previous sentence might seem to contain an overabundance of cheese, but the point stands.  By linking concepts that seem unyielding in their complexity to the creative centers of our brains, we can break them down piece by piece into digestible packets of visual, auditory, and written data. Several examples of these kind of business practices already exist. Once again, as in my last article, I find myself giving a well-deserved tip of the hat to Wistia.

In addition to their innovative video marketing platform, the Wistia team makes BI easy through gathering vital information about the videos they host using analytical tools. This video, taken from the Wistia Learning Center, gives some insight into how this kind of information can help track success without melting the minds of the innocent. As you can see, Wistia presents video stats using a clean, graphical representation that forms an instantaneous imprint on the user's mind. The colors delineate important patterns and draw the eye to the most relevant data points. No longer must we swim through line after line of a spreadsheet to glean insights into performance. Using the resources that modern technology affords us, we can harness the artistic ideas bursting from our brains and speak to others through cornea blasts of content that excite rather than frighten.

This does not simply apply to video, either. Wistia's methodology is extensible. The infographic below, posted on Column Five's site and done with Wistia, moves the scope outward to cover the video marketing industry as a whole and articulates its efficacy with striking grace.

Using an aesthetic mix of colorful imagery and easy-to-decipher text, this page breaks down the applications of video marketing, as well as its key audiences. It accesses the interplay of verbal and visual connections that form the constant backdrop of our mental experience. Through understanding this transience in our language, we can transfer meaning and resonance to objects and establish chains of significance leading from words to pictures to ideas. This is at once a powerful case study for deconstructive philosophy and a boon to business practices. Who says academic and corporate culture can't live in harmony?

I know it seems that I've harped on Wistia a great deal of late, but that's only because they've done such a great deal to deserve it. Companies using the kinds of methods articulated above give me hope for further innovations to come. If we can make business our art and art our business, then nothing will stop the free flow of imagination between the two. No longer will we need to choose between the drudgeries of work and the amusements our hobbies afford us. Instead, we will all simply live in a world at play.