Table of Contents
Consolidation
A recent survey of 124 executives done by EWI found that while 85% of the executives surveyed were familiar with the concept of digital dashboards, only 12% actually used them. The results showed a definite trend towards increased adoption as 84% said they would be more likely to use them next year and 78% believe they are a good idea. With that in mind, here are five quick takeaways on digital dashboards.
In a similar survey of more than 1,200 finance executives, 21% said they already use a digital dashboard. Only 7% use it daily.
The concept of digital dashboards is still a fairly new one. Only 15% of the executives surveyed (from EWI’s 2010 Executive Survey) indicated that they used one – with only 5% using it daily.
Drill-down
The use of dashboards in an organization to visualize, measure and analyze performance data is a relatively new concept. Digital dashboards provide an effective means for consolidating and analyzing all information about the organization’s business in one place. It enables decision-makers to drill down into the data and quickly find information with which they can make decisions that affect their business. A dashboard is also an effective means of bringing together disparate data sources, offering visualization of the findings and allowing easy access to information. It provides a single point of integration of all the relevant data.
In dealing with the information overload that occurs in the Information Age, most organizations are using a variety of techniques to provide the information they need, including creating custom applications, integrating data from multiple sources, or even using “big data” analytics. The use of big data is rarely thought to be effective for business intelligence and decision support. In fact, one study concluded that “overwhelm leads to confusion and frustration.”
The use of dashboards in an organization to visualize, measure and analyze performance data is a relatively new concept. Digital dashboards provide an effective means for consolidating and analyzing all information about the organization’s business in one place. It enables decision-makers to drill down into the data and quickly find information with which they can make decisions that affect their business. A dashboard is also an effective means of bringing together disparate data sources, offering visualization of the findings and allowing easy access to information. It provides a single point of integration of all the relevant data.
Slice-and-dice capability
Within the digital dashboard, different roles have different responsibilities. Those in charge of the performance reporting, for example, determine which performance metrics to display and how they should be displayed. They also set the dashboard’s search settings (e.g., by date range or geographic location) and review the dashboard data to ensure that it measures what they want it to measure. Other roles responsible for making decisions within their particular field can then use data from other dashboards that are relevant to their work to make better decisions. For example, an executive responsible for marketing, budgeting and resource allocation can look at roles’ KPI’s to evaluate performance and plan budgets accordingly. The executive can even use the role’s KPIs to implement adjustments to the budget. The executive also has access to a zoomed-out dashboard of all managers’ KPIs and can use this data to change the budgeting policy on a regional or corporate level.
Since many roles involve making decisions within businesses, dashboards are vital for those who need to make business decisions but don’t have access to key information for their decision-making.
Slice-and-dice capability is the ability of a digital dashboard to show more than one view of its data. In most cases, the views are dependent on which slice or dice the user chooses. These slices and dices occur at different levels (e.g., geographic, product type, date range). The dashboard then dynamically rearranges the information based on the users’ choices.
Value to the organization
Data is one of the most important assets of an organization. A digital dashboard allows the organization to take a step back and view their data in an easily accessible format allowing them to see trends that they may have not seen otherwise. This enables the organization to make informed decisions based on historical data as well as current data, saving time and improving decision-making throughout the company. A digital dashboard allows an organization to be more proactive and helps reduce wasted resources by identifying problems as they are happening.
This article will cover a variety of ways in which the digital dashboard can surface information to the organization:
The dashboard itself will look at various metrics, such as how much revenue was generated, how that revenue was generated, and what percentage of that revenue came from each type of product or service. This allows an organization to see which type of products are bringing in the most revenue and creates a bar graph or pie chart that breaks down how much money was brought in by each type of product. This allows the company to visualize the revenue and then look at each product or service individually, determining if changes need to be made based on customer feedback or other factors.
Increased efficiency
With a digital dashboard, organizations can eliminate the need for multiple meetings to gather the same information. A conversational system allows employees from different areas of the company to instantly see how their area is doing and how to make changes if necessary. This allows all participants to become more aware of what is going on in the company and identify problems before they become larger issues, cutting down on wasted time spent gathering unnecessary information.
Unless your company is a start-up, you have systems for manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer service. Within each department there are specific goals and objectives that need to be met. However in many companies there are multiple areas of responsibility for each employee and the departments themselves often do not have as much in common as they need to in order to accomplish goals.
With a digital system every department has their own actual dashboard viewing tool that they can access via their smart phone, tablet or workstation. From there every employee can view their departments goals, who else is working in their area, what is going on with the department and how they are doing against the goals and objectives. This allows employees to see where they are at in relation to the larger picture of the company and work together to eliminate disconnects.
