The 7 advantages of the dashboard for driving your business (2024)

You have surely heard that the dashboard is the ultimate tool for managing a business. But, do you know why? We explain it in this article.

A dashboard is a true performance management tool. Designed to gather and present information in real-time, it is essential for data management and visualization within a company. It is based on a list of performance indicators previously chosen by the manager(s) in order to achieve a goal: to prevent potential difficulties and assist in decision-making. Ultimately, these dashboards have many advantages that greatly contribute to the management of the company.

In this article, we offer you a comprehensive definition of the dashboard. To do this, we will develop its objectives, the different types of dashboards and when to use them, its advantages, the elements that compose it, and how to mobilize them to achieve a meaningful and effective dashboard.

What is a dashboard?

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, a dashboard is essential for a company.

Within a company, there are many decisions to be made, of varying importance. These decisions arise from objectives that were set in advance and then measured by what are called "performance indicators". See the article on the performance indicators of a company. These performance indicators are always linked to a specific objective, their mission being to determine through numerical values whether these objectives have been achieved.

The dashboard, in order to be as relevant as possible, will rely on a limited number of performance indicators that will enable monitoring the achievement of the various established objectives. It will gather all data and present it in the most relevant and understandable form. This can be in the form of diagrams, graphs, tables, etc.

The dashboard is implemented and used by companies for a reason. It provides them with a clear and concise overview of their performance, allowing their leaders to monitor what works, identify what does not work, and make informed strategic decisions in real-time.

What are the objectives of the dashboard?

Companies use dashboards to achieve several objectives. A true decision-making aid, dashboards aim, when well executed, to achieve a multitude of objectives, each greatly contributing to the company's performance.

First, the dashboard allows leaders to immediately visualize the gaps between the set objectives and the achieved objectives. Consequently, they can immediately decide whether it is necessary to act and take corrective measures or if it is unnecessary. Leaders can thus adjust strategies accordingly, and if not needed, simply optimize existing processes.

The dashboards act as a true learning tool. When the business leader can see the gaps, he seeks to improve the performance of his company and thus makes appropriate decisions by implementing a number of actions.

The dashboard also helps promote internal communication. Some fixed indicators are complex, not easily understood, and therefore not accessible to all members of the company. The dashboard thus presents complex data in the form of visually appealing indicators perfectly suited to what one wants to communicate, in order to simplify the results related to the company's performance.

Furthermore, the dashboard can serve as a true source of motivation for members of the company as it highlights the various objectives to be achieved as well as the company's strategy.

The different types of dashboard

Each dashboard consists of a limited number of indicators allowing leaders to monitor the evolution of the company's results and to take corrective measures if necessary.

Within each dashboard, we can distinguish several families of indicators:

• Activity indicators (related to production and revenue)

• Financial indicators (related to expenses)

• Profitability indicators (related to financial results)

• Quality indicators

• Etc.

There are different types of dashboards, each designed to meet specific needs (strategic, budgetary, and action plans). However, although they are not designed to operate at the same level, each allows leaders to monitor the financial health of their company and take necessary measures.

The strategic dashboard

The strategic dashboard is focused on the company's strategy. It contains key performance indicators related to the overall health of the company, each grouped coherently.

This dashboard is a way to clarify the strategic vision and identify various levers for action to improve the company's performance at several levels: financial results, customer performance, and internal processes and organization. Business leaders simply need to look at this strategic dashboard to see essential indicators appear and thus have a global overview of the company's functioning.

This dashboard is used to highlight the elements essential for strategic decision-making that contribute to achieving long-term objectives.

The budgetary dashboard

The budgetary dashboard (or management dashboard) aims to track the financial situation of a company. Its objective is to highlight and analyze the causes of any gaps between forecasts and reality in order to implement corrective actions in real-time. This dashboard generally contains key performance indicators such as revenue, sales volume, or the company’s order book. Thanks to this, business leaders can make various decisions by identifying the most effective sales strategy or the best-selling product.  Established regularly, it serves as a medium-term management tool.

Unlike the strategic dashboard, the budgetary dashboard does not need to be consulted as often. This might be once a month or even once a quarter.

The operational dashboard

The operational dashboard (or performance dashboard) allows for monitoring and tracking operational processes (or action plans) implemented within the company.

It brings together performance and management indicators enabling company management to monitor progress in achieving operational objectives. Thus, its internal processes that work, as well as those needing improvement, are easily identifiable.

The operational dashboard is focused on real-time data, which is why it is often considered in a short-term perspective.

The 7 advantages of the dashboard

The management dashboards offer numerous essential advantages for managing a company, making management, decision-making, and internal communication clearer.

Global visibility of the company

The first very important advantage of the dashboard is that it allows for visualizing the key performance indicators of the company, offering a clear and concise overview of the overall performance of the activity.

Improvement of decision-making

Dashboards provide updated and relevant data that facilitates decision-making. In addition, the intuitive presentation of the different dashboards makes their interpretation quick and effective. For example, detecting potential gaps is facilitated depending on the dashboard presentation chosen, allowing for immediate adjustments.

Real-time performance tracking

Today, dashboards are available anywhere, whether on tablet, mobile, or computer. They enable monitoring indicators of performance in real-time.

Optimization of communication and collaboration

Dashboards facilitate the sharing of relevant information within the company. These dashboards are fully customizable, allowing them to be adapted according to users and their needs to facilitate access to information within the company. Thus, all employees can assimilate objectives, results, or performances that may initially have seemed complex.

Continuous improvement of processes

Thanks to dashboards, internal processes and performance are constantly evaluated, which promotes continual improvements. They allow employees of the company to identify points that need their attention and optimization.

Ability to forecast and plan trends

Due to the historical and current result analyses conducted by the dashboards drawn from various data sources, forecasts as well as planning trends are greatly facilitated.

Time saving

Finally, the seventh advantage of these dashboards is that they save considerable time for business leaders in terms of collecting and analyzing different data. Furthermore, no time is wasted in presenting and interpreting this data, which is simplified thanks to clear visualization models specific to dashboards.

In summary, dashboards are powerful tools that, when well designed and used, can greatly enhance the management, performance, and competitiveness of a company. They provide essential information that helps leaders make informed decisions and manage the company effectively and efficiently.

What are the different elements that make up the dashboard?

A dashboard consists of several essential elements that allow for effective visualization, analysis, and tracking of the company's performance.

Here are the main components of a dashboard:

Key performance indicators

Key performance indicators are the essential elements to include in the dashboard as dashboards aim to translate these values into an understandable form. They reflect the company's performance against their objectives.

Titles

One essential component is also the title to indicate what the various visualizations based on the indicators correspond to.

Visualizations

Dashboards possess many visual representations to be as comprehensive as possible. These depend on the information to be presented and there are different types:

• Bar graphs: Ideal for comparing values of different categories,

• Line charts: Ideal for showing trends over time,

• Pie charts: Ideal for visualizing distributions in general,

• Pivot tables: Ideal for multidimensional analyses such as reporting,

• Tables: Ideal for raw data such as project tracking, inventories.

Filters

Dashboards contain many filters to customize the display and thus highlight essential information considering different criteria.

Comments and notifications

Many features such as the ability to make comments explaining results, or to receive alerts on potential detected gaps can be implemented.

Determining the period

It is possible on dashboards to determine over what period you wish to visualize the information.

How to establish dashboards?

Establishing a dashboard requires rigor and organization to be effective. This requires a structured and methodical approach.

Here are the different steps to follow to implement an effective dashboard:

• Set objectives: understand all the objectives that the company must achieve by a deadline.

• List the different elements that the company should consider to achieve the set objectives.

• Select the performance indicators that will measure these different elements.

• Identify and integrate various data sources to ensure the quality and reliability of the data collected by the indicators.

• Establish the dashboard circuit to determine the various actors involved in the process (who validates what, where the data comes from, and to whom it is intended?).

• Start the dashboard project: organize the information and decide on the presentations to adopt to convey a clear and precise message.

• Set up tests to ensure that the dashboard meets initial needs. Modify the dashboard based on test results and then validate it.

• Offer training on the importance of the dashboard and how to use it to ensure its relevance.

• Regularly assess the effectiveness of the dashboard to verify its alignment with the company's needs.

By following these steps, it will be easier to establish an effective dashboard that provides relevant information and supports decision-making within the company.

The dashboard has many advantages that make it a true management aid tool for the company. While it guarantees a global view of the company's situation, improves decision-making and internal processes, or optimizes communication and collaboration within the company, it can also waste considerable time if not done correctly. To ensure that it proves truly useful and does not lose its initial interest in facilitating strategic, budgetary, and operational decision-making, it is important not to overlook the different steps of its realization. These steps will lead to the establishment of an effective and intuitive dashboard, mobilizing all the essential components that a dashboard must contain in order to monitor and optimize the company's performance.

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