Bruce Boston of Apple views data science as the shortest and most efficient route to meeting business objectives. The veteran statistician detailed how visualization further empowers data geeks to drive value for their organizations in an interview on theCUBE at this week’s Tableau Customer Conference.

“The problem that we have is that I can’t talk to a computer,” Boston tells theCUBE hosts Dave Vellante and Jeff Kelly. “There has to a language between myself and the computer, between the machine and my mind, between what I want and what I need. That communications goes two ways: me to the computer is me typing things in, me moving the mouse … and for the machine to talk back to me, that’s the visualization.”

For CIOs, data-driven insights should take precedence over gut instinct. Boston explains that solutions like Tableau’s eliminate the need for blind decision making by shedding light on the unknown and empowering business users to identify “all the right moves,” rendering guesswork redundant in the process.

Throughout his career, Boston has helped decision makers gain a better understanding of business problems by serving as a broker between top brass and personnel further down the corporate food chain. His work involves collecting input from individuals on the “frontline” and marrying it with Big Data to identify pain points and viable growth opportunities.

Boston stresses that Big Data holds answers to certain questions, but not the questions themselves. Tableau makes it easier for data scientists to find answer by providing visibility into their data, the means to analyze it, and the ability to access it from a wide range of platforms.

Simplicity is a crucial element of visualization because it enables users to focus on their goals instead of getting caught up in the details. Boston says that simplicity is made even more important by the fact that human intuition – and not Big Data – is the real source of competitive advantage.

Click the video below to watch the full interview.