A dashboard is a dynamic representation of some area of company’s activity in a visual form – but it is not just a pretty picture. It helps to better understand what is happening with one’s business and its changes in real time, and provides a vivid insight into the inner workings of… well, anything relevant in your case, you name it: from social media presence to sales and marketing and so on.
Do you and your business really need it? We believe that yes, you do. Let us explain why.
1. Dynamic Measurements
Peter Drucker, one of the most well-known management theorists of the 20th century, claimed that something that cannot be measured cannot be improved. A cleverly designed visual dashboard does exactly this – it measures current performance and progress, both of the company in general and its particular departments, and shows what can be improved, where you are not doing as well as you wished, what can be scrapped altogether and so on.
2. Visualization
Visual information is easier to understand. Even if you don’t have problems with reading through reports and looking through dozens of pages with neatly arranged rows of figures, visual representation of the same data can be perceived in a fraction of the time you spend reading it. As a result, dashboards help you and your business save time and boost the ability to make urgent decisions.
3. Performance to Plan
Most businesses function according to a certain plan that presupposes particular results at particular stages. Using a dashboard makes it much easier and more convenient to evaluate how well your company complies with the plan, and it can be done on the go, without the need to study numerous reports. This way it will not become a surprise for you to find out that you are lagging far behind, and you will be able to take the necessary measure well ahead of time.
4. Selectiveness
One of the drawbacks to getting your information from reports is the fact that you have to go through enormous amounts of data most of which is rarely of any use. In case of dashboards you can arrange and customize them exactly in the way you want them, leaving only valuable data that will be updated in real time. This way you’ll be constantly on top of things and won’t have to get side-tracked in the process.
5. Flexibility
Another helpful aspect of using dashboards is that you don’t have to depend on people to create and distribute the data you need. You decide what you are interested in, and this data is automatically updated in real time, and both you and other people who need to know about it can access it wherever they are.
Visual dashboards are indeed an extremely useful instrument when used skillfully and carefully, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there is no business that wouldn’t win by investing into arranging its core data into dynamic dashboards.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1XVZy2u via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1oL9CyV
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