Business dashboards are a great tool for any type of business. They provide an overview of your company’s performance and help you make decisions quickly.
Dashboards can also give you insight into customer behavior, financial trends, employee performance, and more.
With the right dashboard setup, you can easily access all the data that matters most to your business from one place.
In this guide, we will walk you through the basics of business dashboards, from setting up your first dashboard to choosing the right metrics for tracking success.
We’ll also discuss how you can use dashboards to improve decision-making and create actionable insights. Let’s dive in!
What Is A Business Dashboard?
A business dashboard is a visual representation of key performance indicators (KPIs) that give you a quick, at-a-glance view of how your business is performing.
Dashboards can be tailored to display the specific information that you want to track and can be accessed on computers, tablets, and smartphones.
What Is The Purpose Of These Dashboards?
There are many different types of online dashboards available, but they all have one goal in common: to help you make better decisions by giving you easy access to the most important information about your business.
The Benefits Of Using A Business Dashboard
There are many benefits of using a business dashboard.
- Track business performance
By having all of your key metrics in one place, you can easily see how your business is performing and identify areas that need improvement.
Dashboards can also help you track progress over time and spot trends. - Time Saving
Rather than sifting through different reports, you can quickly see the information you need on your dashboard.
This allows you to spend more time working on your business instead of analyzing data. - Improve communication within the team
By sharing a dashboard with your team members, everyone can be on the same page and working towards the same goal.
This can help increase efficiency and avoid misunderstandings.
Overall, dashboards provide an essential tool for keeping your finger on the pulse of your business and ensuring that it remains healthy and growing.
The Different Types Of Business Dashboards
There are different types of business dashboards that cater to various needs and purposes. The most common ones are operational, analytical, and KPI dashboards.
- Operational Dashboards
Operational dashboards give an overview of the current state of a company’s operations. They typically focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) that help track progress against specific goals.
Operational dashboards can be used by managers to make decisions about day-to-day operations.
- Analytical Dashboards
Analytical dashboards provide insights into trends and relationships in data. They can be used to identify opportunities and problems, and to track progress over time.
Analytical dashboards are typically used by analysts and other decision-makers to understand data and make informed decisions.
- KPI Dashboards
KPI dashboards help track progress against specific goals or KPIs. They can be used by managers to monitor progress and identify areas for improvement.
KPI dashboards can also be used by employees to track their own performance against specific goals.
Business Dashboard Development; How To Create Online Dashboards?
Business dashboard development from scratch can be daunting, especially if you’re not a data expert. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating an online dashboard that will help you get started:
Step-By-Step Guide To Creating An Online Dashboard
1. Define your goals.
Knowing what you want to achieve with your dashboard will help you determine which metrics to include. You can begin by asking the following questions:
- What do you want to track and measure?
- What are the KPIs?
2. Collect the data.
Once you know what you want to track, gather the data you need from various sources, including financial reports, customer surveys, website analytics, and more.
If you don’t have access to all the data you need, consider using third-party data sources or hiring a consultant who can help you collect it.
3. Organize the data.
Once you have all your data, it’s time to organize it in a way that makes sense for your goals.
For example, if you’re tracking financial KPIs, you might create separate tabs for income, expenses, and profits/losses.
Or if you’re tracking customer satisfaction, you might create separate tabs for different customer segments or product lines.
4. Choose visualization tools.
To make your dashboard as informative and user-friendly as possible, choose appropriate visualization tools for each metric. Bar charts are good for comparing values over time,
How To Interpret Data From A Business Dashboard
Most business dashboards display data in graphical form, with the most common being bar charts and line graphs. However, some business dashboards also include tables of raw data.
Regardless of the format, all business dashboards should include a legend or key that explains what each element on the dashboard represents.
When interpreting data from a business dashboard, it is important to consider the context in which the data is presented.
For example, if a dashboard includes month-over-month sales data, it may be more useful to compare the current month’s sales to the same month in the previous year rather than to the immediately preceding month.
This type of analysis can provide insights into whether a business is on track to meet its annual goals.
It is also important to remember that businesses operate in different ways and have different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
As such, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to interpreting data from a business dashboard.
The best way to learn how to interpret data from a particular dashboard is to ask someone who is familiar with the business and its KPIs.
5 Best Business Dashboard Software
If you’re a small business looking to stay ahead of the competition, adopting the right dashboard software can be key.
But with so many dashboard software solutions out there, it can be difficult to know which one is best for your business.
To help narrow down the search, we’ve compiled a list of five of the best business dashboard software on the market.
#1 DotNetReport
DotNetReport is an ad hoc reporting software that allows users to create, schedule, and email reports from various data sources.
With its easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface, you can quickly and easily add data from your data sources, including Microsoft Excel, SQL Server, and .Net databases.
DotNetReport also includes a wide range of built-in report templates that you can use to get started with your reporting projects.
#2 Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that can provide insights about your website traffic, conversions, and other key metrics.
Google Analytics can be a valuable tool for tracking your website’s performance and understanding your visitors’ behavior. If you’re not already using Google Analytics, it’s worth taking some time to set it up and explore what it can do for your business.
#3 Tableau
Tableau is a business intelligence and data visualization tool that helps businesses make better decisions by displaying information in an easy-to-understand format.
Tableau can connect to almost any data source, including Excel, SQL Server, and Salesforce, and allows users to create interactive dashboards and reports. Tableau is also one of the most popular data visualization tools on the market, with over 50,000 customers worldwide.
#4 Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics is a web analytics service that provides insights into your website traffic and performance. It offers a variety of features and reports that can help you understand your visitors and improve your website’s conversion rate.
Adobe Analytics also integrates with other Adobe products, such as Adobe Marketing Cloud, to give you a complete view of your marketing efforts.
#5 KISSmetrics
KISSmetrics is one of the most popular business dashboard software programs available. It provides users with a variety of features and tools to help them track their progress and performance.
The software also includes a number of customizable options to allow users to tailor the program to their specific needs.
Conclusion
Business dashboards can be a powerful tool when it comes to tracking the performance of your business.
From gaining insight into customer behavior to optimizing operational processes, these visualizations can help you make decisions quickly and easily.
With this introductory guide, we hope that you have gained an understanding of what business dashboards are and how they can benefit your organization.
We encourage you to explore more options available on the market in order to find the best dashboard solution for you – good luck!
FAQs
Which KPIs can be tracked using dashboards?
The specific KPIs that are tracked will vary depending on the industry and the individual business, but some common examples include sales figures, website traffic, social media metrics, and customer satisfaction levels.
Why should a business use dashboards?
Business dashboards can be extremely helpful, below are a few benefits:
- Helpful in identifying trends and patterns over time
- They help you spot problems before they become too big to ignore.
- Helpful in tracking progress toward specific goals
- Valuable in assessing which areas of your business are performing well and which could use improvement.
What are some marketing dashboards examples?
Some of the widely used marketing dashboards are:
- CMO dashboard
- Digital marketing dashboard
- Social media dashboard
- Web analytics dashboard
- Email marketing dashboard
- SEO dashboard
