In today’s competitive business environment data has become an important competitive asset and organizations that manage it correctly are set to become market leaders. To do so, they need to rely on the right tools and technologies to extract the maximum potential out of their data and dashboards have become one of the most powerful tools to date. Here, we’ll briefly overview what business dashboards can do for you.

What Are Business Dashboards?

Dashboards are analytical tools that offer centralized access to a business’s most important KPIs through a visual interface. These tools are designed to offer a comprehensive and visually appealing picture of the performance of an organization across areas and departments.

Why Do You Need Dashboards?

Dashboards have become fundamental tools to support decision-making. These tools offer a range of features, filters, and functionalities to support strategic, operational, and tactical decisions and boost organizational performance in the process. Let’s look at some benefits in more detail.

1. Centralized data access: Dashboards support multiple data sources to provide organizations with a centralized view of their data. There is no need to generate a different dashboard for each analytical scenario, as all data sources can be connected to a single interface. For instance, datapine’s dashboard creator offers users the possibility to connect all their data sources and visualize them in real-time using interactive graphs and charts that get automatically updated as soon as new information is available.
2. Improved decision-making: Given that dashboards offer real-time insights, businesses are able to spot any bottlenecks as soon as they occur and avoid any bigger consequences. Likewise, by analyzing relevant data insights, decision-makers can identify improvement opportunities that will boost growth and performance.

• Data accessibility: As mentioned, business dashboards are designed with powerful data visualizations that make the data  easier to understand and analyze. This is especially valuable considering that not everyone in the organization will have data knowledge, making dashboards the perfect tools for non-technical users. Through that, a successful data-driven culture will be set across the organization.

• Save time and lower costs: For decades, reporting on data has been a task for the IT department to perform. The issue is, the reports can take hours or days to be produced and by the time they are ready, the data might not be valuable anymore. Modern business dashboards eliminate this problem thanks to their self-service nature. Most business intelligence tools enable you to automatically generate professional dashboards within minutes and with the latest data available. This way you are saving time and money thanks to agile and informed decision-making.

• Enhance communication across the company: In order for a company to be successful, all departments and areas need to be connected to meet general company goals. Professional dashboards can be accessed online and easily shared through secure formats. This way, teammates and departments are able to collaborate and support each other by staying informed of any relevant developments.

As you learned, business dashboards are powerful tools that provide organizations with a single version of the truth. Shooting in the dark when it comes to important business decisions is a risk that you don’t need to take anymore. Dashboards will enable you to make informed decisions based on a mix of historical and real-time insights that will skyrocket your company’s growth.