Dashboard: what it is and what it can do for your company
One of the most interesting tools that you can use in your business to improve decision making and have a real vision of what is happening in the company is the dashboard.
These information panels are configurable with the most relevant data that you need to monitor, and allow you, at a single glance, to have a clear and precise idea of the company’s situation, an advertising campaign, the functioning of an area of your business, or any project you need to control.
What is a dashboard
The dashboard definition is a representation of a series of preselected data from a company, using metrics and KPIs in graphic and attractive format , with the aim of making it easier to read and understand. The dashboard is a tool that companies use to analyze their situation in real time and assess whether the objectives set in their strategies are being achieved.
One of the most interesting features of a dashboard is that you can configure it with the data that you are interested in monitoring, which allows you to build a personalized dashboard for each situation you want to control , whether it is the overall situation of the business, a specific digital marketing strategy , or a department of the company, for example.
What is a dashboard for in a company?
A dashboard concentrates a lot of relevant information in a panel where, with a simple visualization, you can understand what is happening in real time. The use of this tool is essential to improve decision making in your company , based on accurate and updated data, presented in a visual format through graphs, colors, icons and other similar elements.
Among the applications that you can give to a dashboard in your company we can highlight:
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Show financial situation of the business.
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To control whether the objectives of digital marketing strategies are being achieved.
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Control the operation of a department (human resources, logistics, customer service).
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Monitor the results of the business’s commercial actions (e-commerce, sales teams, points of sale…).
What a dashboard should be like
For a control panel or handheld panel to be effective and facilitate the company’s decision-making, that is, for decisions to be made more quickly and accurately, it must have certain characteristics.
Customizable
A dashboard has to be customizable to be able to select the metrics and KPIs (metrics associated with specific objectives) that are of interest at all times.
When building a control panel, you must select those data that are relevant, and discard those that do not add value or may divert attention from what is pursued with the dashboard.
Visual
A dashboard must represent information in a way that can be understood at a glance . To achieve this, visual elements such as graphs, symbols, icons and other elements are used that allow you to quickly and easily interpret what the figures they represent indicate.
Easy to understand
A dashboard must be practical because its objective is to understand what the situation is to make quick decisions. If a dashboard is saturated with excess information that complicates its understanding, it will not be serving its purpose.
Real time data
All information represented in a control panel must be up to date, showing data in real time . In this way, decisions will be based on real data and you will have an accurate view of what is really happening.
We have seen what a dashboard is , what it is for and how it should be configured so that companies can know the situation of their business, a specific project or a department, with a quick visualization.