Although metrics are an important aspect of running a business, the main thing that matters with metrics is using the data to make important decisions. In this episode of MissionBusinessPodcast.com, Bernard Roesch shares dashboards as a way to visualize your data and make decisions.
If you have any questions about this podcast episode, please feel free to contact us.
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What Is A Dashboard
Dashboards enable you to see visual representations of key data in your business. In most businesses, there are a few key metrics that indicate the health of your business. If those metrics change over time, it could be a sign of a problem.
Dashboards make it easy to show charts and graphs as well as data points for your metrics over time. This allows you to truly see the data which can lead to easier decision-making based on those metrics.
Integrating Multiple Metrics
Part of the benefit of using dashboards is that you can integrate multiple metrics into a dashboard.
- For example, you might want to include financial data from Quickbooks, sales data from your sales CRM, and inventory data from separate inventory tracking systems.
- Dashboards can be configured to combine these different data sources and show them in different ways.
- For example, you could create a report that shows sales pipeline trends compared to job costing profitability trends.
- This would be difficult to show in the individual systems where this data is stored but a dashboard can be used to combine the data and visualize it.
How To Create Dashboards
It used to be very expensive to create data visualizations, which meant that only the largest companies with a large budget were able to have elaborate dashboards.
- Creating dashboards are much easier now thanks to the growth of web applications.
- Tools such as www.klipfolio.com, www.cyfe.com, and other dashboard tools enable you to connect different systems and visualize the data easily.
- Although the standard dashboards from these tools are rather basic, they can be customized much more efficiently than custom dashboarding systems of the past.
Need Help Configuring A Business Dashboard
Having a dashboard can be a very powerful addition to your management workflow. Although it might seem overwhelming at first, hiring someone experienced with these tools can significantly speed up the process. If you need help configuring your dashboard, contact Bernard today.
You can also visit MissionBusinessPodcast.com for more insights that Bernard has been sharing with us in the previous episodes.
Looking for the best QuickBooks software for your business? MISSION Accounting can help.
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