Modern companies gather enormous volumes of data from multiple internal and external sources, but getting actionable insights from such big and complex datasets is not easily achievable without reliable tools. Data visualization software can transform massive sets of data into digestible and compelling visuals to help companies improve efficiency and speed of insight generation. That is why, today, more and more businesses are investing in this technology, and researchers from Market Reports World expect the global data visualization market to increase from $10.63 billion in 2025 to $25.77 billion by 2034.

If you also plan to implement this technology in the near future, you need to prioritize tools with up-to-date data visualization functionality beyond basic charts. A modern tool can make your business data clearer and even more actionable, which can result in improved agility in decision-making and speed in responding to market developments that present new challenges and/or new market opportunities.

In this article, experts from Itransition, a company providing data visualization services for over 15 years, highlight four highly relevant capabilities you should look for when choosing a data visualization solution in 2026.


Real-time data visualization


32% of data users who participated in Luzmo’s The State of Dashboards In 2025 report named real-time insights as their most requested software capability. Therefore, choosing a tool that has capabilities for real-time data visualization can assist you in providing business data users with up-to-date insights.

In such a manner, the solution can be capable of automatically processing real-time data inputs from different sources and dynamically communicating such inputs in an intuitive manner. The real-time data inputs can quickly and dynamically point out certain trends and anomalies for immediate action. This can be beneficial to business users who can, for example, monitor real-time market changes for efficient trading activities and observe market changes for corresponding adjustments in prices for their services.


Data storytelling

43% of data professionals who participated in the State of Data Governance in 2025 report from Secoda said they prioritize data democratization and accessibility, enabling teams to use data effectively. In this context, it’s no surprise that concepts such as data storytelling are growing in popularity in the analytics field. Data visualization in business increasingly relies on narrative-driven approaches to make complex insights accessible to diverse stakeholders. Data storytelling involves explaining the meaning of data through narrative formats to make data-based insights clearer and easier to grasp for users, which facilitates data exploration and decision-making. In 2025, the data collection platform SurveyCTO shared the results of a survey in which its users, asked about the benefits of data storytelling, named better decision-making (55%) and clearer insights (52%) as the top two.

Choosing data visualization software that provides storytelling capabilities can help companies craft sequential narratives based on data, reaping the abovementioned benefits. Modern solutions often include pre-built storytelling templates that facilitate the creation of data stories or narrative visualizations, as well as automated AI tools for data story generation. Another useful feature related to data storytelling is collaboration capabilities like shared workspaces and secure link sharing that enable users to provide their colleagues with access to data stories or a broader audience within a company.


Interactive visualization


Interactive visualization

While traditional static dashboards simplify the perception of complex datasets, they lack interactivity, which means they only enable passive data consumption, without allowing users to explore data more actively and in-depth. That can prevent companies from maximizing data analytics efficiency, with 51% respondents to the aforementioned Luzmo’s report stating that the lack of interactivity in dashboards blocks their data analytics efforts, and 42% say they want at least basic interactivity.

In view of the above, companies should consider data visualization tools that support the creation and use of interactive visualizations beyond traditional static dashboards. Such systems will help your business users perform active manipulation of data using the zooming facility in the report to have a closer view of the data and drill-down facilities to analyze the data in a more detailed form. The system will also help the users reorganize the data in ascending or descending order to meet the needs of the users or improve the readability of the data visualization system.


Mobile-friendly visualization


In recent years, there has been increased investment in data analysis tools in the mobility domain that enable users to access and analyze their own data using their mobile devices. Statistics from various market researchers clearly mark this trend, with Mordor Intelligence reporting that the mobile business intelligence market size reached $19.93 billion in 2025 and is expected to amount to $55.56 billion by 2030. One of the reasons why mobile data analytics tools are becoming more popular is that they make data accessible from literally anywhere, which allows data users to make quick and informed decisions on the go.

Mobile-friendly data visualization tools automatically adjust charts, graphs, and dashboards to different screen sizes on smartphones and tablets to ensure an optimal user experience across all mobile devices. These solutions also incorporate local data caching, so that your field teams can have offline access to the visualizations that they need, and when your field teams encounter internet connectivity problems, it won’t affect their data analytics and decision-making process.


Final thoughts


In the modern era of a data-driven business environment, it is imperative to select a data visualization tool with a modern set of features in order to ensure that your company is in a position to extract meaning from the data and act accordingly in response to market trends, opportunities, and threats that would arise in 2026 and onwards. A seasoned professional assisting in data visualization solutions would help an organization select a future-proof data visualization solution that fits the needs of an organization and, if required, develop a custom solution perfect for an organization’s needs.