Looking at this, we also found a discrepancy between what kind of data representation marketers prefer and what kind of data representation they are required to use. The graph below illustrates what kinds of data representation is required from marketers by their bosses, clients, and other stakeholders.

Required data representation

But things look a bit different if you ask people how they would like to represent their data. 

Prefered data representation

There’s some overlap between these two, but it kinda gets worse. Let’s see what happens when you cross-reference the two. Let’s check what’s actually required of all people who prefer “mostly visual, with some text”

So, 50% of all respondents prefer mostly visual data representation, but they are usually required to represent the data in some other way. If we cross-reference each of the four categories, we get that less than half (44%) of people are allowed to use the same data representation style that they actually prefer. A bit more than half of the marketers out there have to make their reports in ways that they don’t like at all.