The Dashboard: A Tool Dedicated To Business Strategy

The dashboard, also often called dashboard in business, from the English name, is a tool for managing, visualizing, and monitoring a company’s data using different indicators. For example, these indicators can be quantified in the form of ratios or graphs.

They are sometimes referred to as KPIs (for Key Performance Indicators ). The management dashboard is linked to the company’s strategy to assess the situation and make decisions on its management. The best way to visualize a dashboard is to think of its dashboard.

All the essential indicators of your vehicle’s excellent condition are included: the counter turns red if you exceed the limits, and it tells you that you have enough petrol, water, or oil; in short, essential information to keep your car running as intended. In the same way, the executive dashboard allows you to check the excellent health of your company.

It helps assess the situation against what was expected and motivates changes of tack or critical decisions. For entrepreneurs, dashboards are essential management tools that make it possible to monitor the impact of commercial or marketing measures but also to ensure that a company is on the way to achieving its objectives, whether financial, human, environmental, or otherwise. It is used with other management tools, such as the business plan and the critical success factors. 

What Are The Different Possible Uses Of This Tool? 

The dashboard is a business intelligence tool that compares the actual with the expected. Several types of dashboards can meet several needs within a company. 

Daily And Operational Management 

The management dashboard can be an excellent tool for tracking and performing daily tasks. For example, it can analyze real-time stocks, the number of customers to call back, the number of tickets opened, the objectives set for sales during the month, and the number of incoming leads… A dashboard is thus an essential tool for a so-called agile mode of management, which emphasizes flexibility and the adaptation of resources to current needs or the rapid implementation of corrective measures. 

Strategic Management 

Thanks to the different KPIs it encompasses, the dashboard is the perfect ally of a company’s management strategy. It makes it possible to monitor global indicators such as the progression of market shares, profitability, turnover, number of customers, customer satisfaction, etc.

Data Analysis 

To dig deeper into specific indicators, it is sometimes necessary to give more material to analyze to understand the figures. For example, poor profitability may be due to many factors that must be studied together to conclude. The price of raw materials, transport costs, the cost of labor, production times, storage… These elements alone cannot explain poor profitability. But studied together, they can be used to highlight blocking points. In this case, the dashboard makes it possible to question the causes of success or failure.

How To Make A Business Dashboard? 

Creating a business dashboard is a delicate step; it must include relevant and understandable elements and be easy to update so that the information it contains is always correct. A good dashboard should achieve the following objectives: 

Use And Acceptance By Users

This element is essential; the dashboard will quickly be left out if it is simple enough. And if it is too simplistic, it will not offer the necessary added value. 

Number Of Indicators Limited

To quickly obtain the relevant information and make the dashboard readable. It is generally advisable to fit a dashboard on a single page.

Indisputable Measures 

That is to say, measures for which the calculation method is straightforward and cannot be disputed. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid overly complicated calculation methods, unreliable source data, etc. 

Information That Supports Decision Making

This means that the data presented on a dashboard must be sufficiently detailed so that corrective action measures can be derived from it. 

Clear And User-Friendly Presentation 

When it comes to dashboards, substance matters as much as form. Dashboards should be understandable at first glance, with easy-to-view indicators. This is why we generally prefer graphs and ratios for its presentation. 

What Is The Best Support For Creating A Business Dashboard? 

Many entrepreneurs wonder what the best support for creating a clear and impactful dashboard that is visual and easy to modify is.  A dashboard can be written on an excel table or via a CRM tool or management software. The most important thing is that it is easy to modify and can present the most pleasant and easy-to-use interface possible. 

Thanks to the powerful management tools available on the market, it is often possible to generate dashboards directly based on CRM data or integrated accounting tools.  For easy software integration and the best financial tool, entrepreneurs can get help from Finom. Finom is a complete financial and administrative management solution for SMEs, the self-employed, and companies in registration. 

By opening a professional account on Finom, you can open a bank account with French IBAN online in 48 hours with virtual and physical cards, 0% commission, and 3% cashback.  Finom offers an easy and powerful expense management and control solution and invoicing tool that allows you to create an invoice in minutes for free. With Finom, build your business online and be ready for the KBIS in 48 hours for free! 

In Summary 

The dashboard is a valuable decision-making tool for managing and steering a company. It can be used both for a company’s day-to-day management and long-term strategic management. It monitors the achievement of objectives but can also be used to anticipate and implement corrective measures when required.

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