What is a KPI Dashboard?
Every day your business collects hundreds or even thousands of data points, and it can be overwhelming to wade through all of this information. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are the different metrics used to access if you’re reaching your business objectives and goals. There are numerous KPIs that businesses can use, but the most common are Quantitative, Qualitative, Lagging, and Leading KPIs. Quantitative KPIs deal with numerical data such as currency, percentages, and statistics. Qualitative KPIs, on the other hand, takes into account the interactions of your customers. It factors their opinions, experiences, and even feelings towards your business or product. Lagging KPIs takes a look at historical data and uses it to predict future outcomes. Most Leading KPIs, though, look at performance for future forecasting. Typically these will be used together to help increase your overall visibility. Looking at all of this data separately can be both time-consuming and inefficient in the use of resources. A KPI dashboard can look at all of this data and provide you with key information at a glance. That allows you to monitor goal performance, find ways of improving workflows, and make sure that you’re making the best use of your resources.
Who Can Benefit From a KPI Dashboard?
Businesses that are already gathering any form of operational or transactional data can benefit from a KPI dashboard. Organizations that need to make adjustments to their workflow or data collection processes would also benefit from a KPI dashboard. They can see information at a glance to know if the business is over or underperforming in regards to trends, quarterly goals, and business strategy. Companies that have numerous departments or organizational levels can take advantage of a KPI dashboard. Each business function may have its own individual goals and the dashboard can help paint a clearer picture of how that fits into the organization as a whole. That way you can manage your target strategies and identify which areas of your operations need to be streamlined.
What Are Some of the Benefits of a KPI Dashboard?
A KPI dashboard can provide you with new insights into how your business is performing. Whether you want a high-level view or need to drill down for more detailed information, you can customize reporting to meet the needs of your business or department. Additionally, the KPI dashboard can also be customized to meet the needs of individual users. That way the data can be tailored to what’s relevant for each person’s role and daily responsibilities. Some examples of KPIs that you can put into your dashboard can include:
Depending on the size of your business, you could be using hundreds of KPIs. Regardless, dashboards will work to filter and highlight the key information. Another benefit of a KPI dashboard is that you can scale the data. You can get down to individual performance metrics, departments, or teams so that you can easily access desired information and find ways of improving performance. Using a KPI dashboard can also help businesses make decisions about their investments. You can get real-time updates to monitor the ROI and use historical data to forecast profitable future investments.
Why Should I Use a KPI Dashboard for My Business?
When building a KPI dashboard, you should consider metrics that are relevant to the goals of your business. Examine the various stakeholders in the organization and access who will need to access the data, then choose the KPIs that align with their goals and strategies. When selecting individual KPIs, you should focus on actionable metrics. Be specific with your goals and focus on the ones that are of the highest priority. If the business strategy changes, you can always go back and adjust the KPIs to realign with your new approach. At the end of the day, the KPI dashboard that you use should help improve your business. As your goals and strategies change, the KPI dashboard should be robust enough to adapt as well. A KPI dashboard that works well for one industry may not work for yours, so it’s important to do your research and find the right components for your business.
