Data & Dashboards

Some entrepreneurs are accustomed to making decisions based on their intuition, honed through years of experience. In fact, according to some studies, more than half of enterprise leaders rely on their “gut” in order to decide what to believe, even when they are confronted with evidence that speaks to the contrary. Though intuition can be a helpful, it would be a mistake to base all decisions around a mere gut feeling.

While intuition can provide a hunch or spark that starts you down a particular path, it's through?data?that you verify, understand, and quantify. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives conducted by PwC, highly data-driven organizations are?three times more likely ?to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data. It's much easier to convert people to data-driven thinking when you can give people a smarter way to do business with easily visible information.

To create or expand your data-driven culture, you’ll have to build a culture of data lovers across the business. You need to give employees visibility into the metrics that matter to them professionally and use this data to make changes that will scale. This is where, Dashboards come in to play.

Why Use Dashboards? Dashboards allow you to present data from across your business in a way that’s easy to digest. With a consolidated view of data, they also play a key role in helping to derive actionable insights and tell the right stories to the right stakeholders to propel business performance. Understanding the purpose of a dashboard—as it relates to your particular company, department and position—can help you determine where it fits into your day-to-day responsibilities. The more you use business dashboards, the more benefits you’ll come to realize. Here are five of the top reasons to use dashboards:

1. Better Alignment - Knowing the Gaps which translate into Time Savings: Without a business dashboard, you (and others on your team) will spend countless hours manually chasing data and running individual reports. Not to mention the fact that you’ll have to wait on colleagues across business functions to provide you with the information you’re seeking. The more time you spend on these tasks, the less time you spend on your core job responsibilities. And that will quickly take a toll on your performance. A dashboard pulls together all the data you need and allows you to review it in real time.
2. Real-Time Analytics - Becoming more Proactive rather than Reactive: When you first implement a data-driven decision-making process, it’s likely to be reactionary in nature. The data tells a story, which you and your organization must then react to. Given enough practice and the right types and quantities of data, it’s possible to leverage it in a more proactive way. For example, in identifying hidden opportunities across which were hitherto undiscoverable or even by detecting threats before they grow too serious.
3. Efficient Collaboration: The more data you need to share and the more people who need to see it, the more complicated it becomes. You’re sending and receiving emails and Slack messages. You’re texting co-workers for updates. You’re scheduling meetings that take you away from other projects. A business dashboard eliminates all these potential problems. With more efficient sharing, every team member has access to the same real-time analytics and reports.
4. Detect Problems With Performance: A data dashboard ensures that you don’t have to wait days, weeks or months to review key performance indicators to detect performance issues among your team.?And, when your team knows that you’re actively monitoring data in real time, they’re more likely to maintain a high level of performance.
5. Improved Decision Making: Today’s largest and most successful organizations use data to their advantage when making high-impact business decisions. But it’s not just large organizations that can benefit from using data to make better decisions. From early stage startups to scale ups and SMB's, access to accurate and timely data improves the decision-making process.

The collection and analysis of data have long played an important role in enterprise-level corporations and organizations. But as we generate more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day, it's never been easier for businesses of all sizes to collect, analyze, and interpret data into real, actionable insights. And, if you don’t take advantage of this “modern phenomenon,” you’re missing the boat in regards to a tool that can improve decision making from the top down.

*First in a series of articles on Dashboard Development.