What are KPI Dashboards and Why do Businesses Use Them?

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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) allow companies to improve.

By setting out specific targets and developing the criteria that measure how well you are actually reaching those targets, KPIs are critical in revealing true performance. Also, by illuminating where you may be failing, KPIs can point the way to the critical actionable course corrections that steer a company back to health.

A KPI dashboard is one of the most important tools at your disposal. It gives you a snapshot of your performance that can be customized to your specific needs, allowing you to check the pulse of your company and visualize real-time progress.

So, why else is a KPI dashboard critical?

Seeing Is Believing

Using data that is visualized using a clear, well-designed graphical interface is an effective way to quickly relay the meaning in that data. Without resorting to jargon or the nuanced differences in explaining progress through speech or the written word, graphical visualization hits home faster to reach a wider audience.

An effective KPI dashboard is like impactful road signage. Drivers can instantly see, absorb, and comprehend information to formulate next steps. It’s universal, clear, and progressive. Equally, seeing clear dashboard information allows all team members to instantly understand issues and to take the appropriate actions to rectify them.

Bottom Line

By tracking the associated costs in a project, a dashboard highlights where budgets are on track and where they require modification. Identifying where budgets are being underutilized is hugely important to its effective reallocation as a project progresses. Without visibility into how such resources are actually performing, poor funding allocation will result in bigger problems down the line.

A solid KPI dashboard, formulated to track expenditures, help managers work proactively to pivot according to the changing needs of the project instead of reacting without due insight.

Pooling Strengths

Clear visibility into information means that all team members are on board. This works against the tendency for siloed views to develop according to varying team approaches. For example, the classically divergent mindsets of ‘hard’ Sales teams and ‘soft’ Marketing departments often lead to mixed project values. Accurately visualized data doesn’t lie, so a KPI dashboard will form the key meeting point for different skill sets in your company.

A cloud-based business intelligence dashboard reaches all your people, wherever they are, bringing together their strengths by outlining how their efforts are complementing or creating friction.

Takeaway

Businesses use KPI dashboards to keep everyone on the same page. The volume of data a company needs to process is only increasing so an effective tool that aggregates that data by providing clear, concise meaning is critical.

A KPI dashboard is a necessity. After all, what’s the point of accumulating data without using it to create the actionable insights that keep your business goals on track?

Further reading: The top KPIs for real estate businesses

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