How Dashboard Software Helps You Make The Right Decisions

Your ability to navigate data and make informed decisions driven by it is what separates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones. Data is the single biggest predictor we currently have for business outcomes and to ignore it is to ignore opportunities for growth and development. Most businesses understand this, yet still fail to utilize data properly when making decisions. This is largely because of an inability to properly understand the information presented to them. That’s why dashboard software and reporting tools are so important.

How Dashboard Software Adds Value

If knowledge really is power, then a good dashboard will turn your sales and marketing teams into veritable superheroes. A good dashboard solution will be customized to your team’s unique needs by displaying only those KPIs that your organization wants to zero in on. By collecting all that relevant customer data into one easy-to-read platform, they will be able to identify trends and focus on potential problem areas. Dashboards help your team make the better, more informed decisions and do so quickly.

Additionally, good dashboard software often offers predictive analytics capabilities. This helps sales and marketing teams anticipate customer needs before they even arise so that services can be tailored to pre-empt them. This kind of targeted service is highly valued in many industries, as it allows for better customer retention and loyalty.

By eliminating confusing Excel spreadsheets and different reporting platforms, dashboard software keeps everyone in the organization on the same page; everyone from interns to C-Suite executives can look at the data snapshot provided by a dashboard solution and understand what needs to happen moving forward.

Get the Most out of Your Data Dashboard

1. Regular Attention and Maintenance: Even the best tools are useless if you don’t actually use them. Checking your dashboard regularly is hands-down the best way to get the most amount of value from it. Weekly to daily reviews can help your team take note of long-term trends and, more importantly, notice any irregularities.  Armed with this knowledge, teams can act quickly on potential issues that have the greatest impact.
2. Training: Understanding your dashboard isn’t just important for using it correctly; it’s also necessary to get the most from it. Many businesses invest in upskilling sessions to help  teams become familiar with their new or improved dashboards.
3. Dashboard Sharing: No department can carry a business singlehandedly. Success requires all your teams working in lockstep and one of the best ways to do that is data transparency across all departments via way of dashboard sharing. Barring any confidential customer data, every team should have some regular access to every metric across the board.  This allows for more meaningful discussion and helps teams identify patterns to make better decisions.
4. Capitalize on Integration: Most vendors these days design products with integration in-mind and dashboards are no different. Think of your dashboard as a railway hub that your other key systems can drop their respective metrics and integrations as the trains through which they arrive there. You should always be looking for new ways to integrate your different systems as efficiently as possible. This allows for more efficient data gathering, filtering and analysis as well as an improved user experience. Additionally, it can help organizations reduce manual data entry and other tedious tasks associated with manual processes.
5. Eliminating Data Silos: Data silos are massive repositories of data that stay isolated from the company at large. They’re mostly accessible by only one team or a small handful of team members. These silos are a bad thing and are counter intuitive to your overall goals. They most often lead to inter-company confusion, needless duplication of efforts, and an overall limit on accountability. Shared dashboards promote a level of data transparency that eliminates the dangers silos present.
6. Think Ahead of the Game: The data presented in your dashboard is useful for more than just making informed decisions and making presentations during meetings. After long-term use, you’ll inevitably start to notice patterns in your metrics over time. Intrepid users will be able to take those patterns and apply them to the future, effectively making some safe predictions about what to expect in the weeks/months to come.

Time to Invest in a Dashboard Upgrade?  BrainSell Can Help!

Want to learn more about what a good dashboard software can do for you? Don’t hesitate to contact us! BrainSell has a team of business technology expert standing by to help your business grow! Be it through a fresh ERP solution, a slick new Fast Dash dashboard, an updated CRM, or anything in between, we’re here to help your business reach its full potential.