Does My Business Need a Dashboard?

A business dashboard and reporting software can be an enormous investment. Some companies prefer to build their business intelligence dashboards from scratch, while others will partner or subscribe with a BI provider to obtain the solutions they seek, such as having a BI dashboard.

Whether you build or buy, it’s crucial to answer this question first: “Does my business need a dashboard?“

To help determine if your business needs dashboard and reporting tools, or if you can get by without them for the time being, take a look at the following common signs. If your business aligns with any of these symptoms, you might want to consider investing in strategic dashboards sooner rather than later. This is important in gathering key metrics such as the KPI needed.

You sense your company could be improving, but you have no idea how to tell for sure.

You know that data can help your business. Still, like many executives and decision-makers, you don’t exactly know what types of data you should be collecting, let alone how to make meaningful decisions using the data. From ticket numbers and sales figures to customer and employee metrics, data is all around you, but what do you do with it? How are you going to see the analytics with only data?

You’re monitoring and gathering data, but nothing beyond that.

Perhaps you’ve been collecting data you think is meaningful but have yet to act on any of it. Many businesses collect data because they know they should, but they are unsure about how they can leverage it to their advantage.

They do not use any of their data collected to boost their marketing, social media presence, or a visualization towards their strategic goals. They fail to use these data into relevant business data that they can capitalize on in the future.

You’re wasting valuable time trying to create tools to help you leverage data.

Maybe you realize the right BI tool can benefit your organization, but you’ve been resisting the urge to adopt new software for fear of steep subscription plans and long, ambiguous contracts.

Having spent so much time researching and vetting a good solution, you’ve decided to create your DIY dashboard solution using Excel spreadsheets. However, your DIY dashboard solution isn’t the right dashboard for you. The days (or weeks) it takes to accomplish your DIY reporting can be built by a professional dashboard app in minutes, a more effective dashboard and an interactive dashboard.

Your current solution isn’t giving you the ROI you need.

Did you buy executive dashboard software to achieve your BI goals, only to discover that you struggle even more with it? While there are many excellent tools to be used in business analytics, most of them require sophisticated IT expertise and proficiency to get the most basic BI work accomplished. This results in additional training and resources many companies can’t afford.

Your competitors are using a business dashboard.

Your business is designed to make money, but you can’t do that if your competition is consistently one step ahead of you. Are you losing customers or new deals because your competitors can offer faster times to close (TTCs) on service tickets? Perhaps they’ve integrated a mobile business intelligence tool into their customer meetings, enticing clients with exciting numbers and graphs.

Failing to adopt the strategies of your rivals could ultimately lead to controlling a much smaller market share.

A business dashboard is a powerful tool if you need it.

If any of the signs above ring true, it might be time to adopt BI software into your organization. The benefits of the most business dashboard and reporting applications will alleviate the issues covered in this article. The correct data reporting solution can take you beyond these challenges and straight into the improvement process.

For instance, partnering with a suitable data reporting software vendor means you’ll have access to experienced developers and training workshops, thereby ensuring you and your team will know how to use the software to your best advantage properly.

The correct data reporting solution can help you stay informed, relevant, competitive and alive. You can even use this data to create a stunning marketing campaign for your business’s benefit.

But investing in BI software when you don’t necessarily need it has its risks as well. For starters, it can be expensive to maintain. If your team isn’t adequately trained, then the new software you decided to integrate will waste.

Right now, you might be in a position when data and analytical insights don’t help you strategically. That’s okay. You can always investigate BI software at a later time when you think you’ll get the most out of it. Remember: business operations depend on how efficient your BI software or BI platform is.

Next up: Benefits and Challenges of Dashboards

A business dashboard is immensely effective at organizing and presenting data in a way that’s easy to digest and consolidate. However, BI software comes with its own set of obstacles and challenges that need to be overcome to get the most out.

This article looks at the unique benefits dashboard, and reporting applications provide businesses and their difficulties in every dashboard tool.