A study by Aberdeen Group shows that with dashboards, 48% of business leaders find important information on their own without the help of an employee. 74% of them can quickly make strategic decisions at the best of times. A real time and productivity saver!
Implementation of a dashboard facilitates data visualization (or visualization of your data) using diagrams, graphs, maps, icons… Through a simple graphical interface, you can get a precise and deep view of the health and progress of your business. can get understanding. towards your goals.
Want to know how to build a dashboard that makes data visualization easy? Discover 6 tools for creating effective dashboards, along with our advice, in this article!
Dashboard, a visual representation of your performance
First, let’s look at the concept of dashboard or dashboard in French together. This tool aims to track and present all the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of your company in one place. It allows you to monitor your activity, the health of a service or a specific process.
In fact, to be fully effective, we recommend you break it down by department or purpose: marketing, finance, human resources, sales management, etc.
Dashboard uses data visualization to simplify complex datasets. Instead of reviewing columns or rows of a spreadsheet, you can analyze your data directly through tables, graphs, or charts.
To do this, the dashboard brings together data from various sources. It links to your files (an Excel spreadsheet, for example), your attachments, and your tools (such as a CRM or marketing automation platform).
Hence it is fully customizable to meet your needs and help you achieve your business goals. So you can choose the data to display, as well as the model used to visualize the data.
Why is Dashboard important?
Dashboards are a valuable tool for making planned, data-driven decisions. These are turned into actionable information and reports that are easy to read, prevent misinterpretations and save time.
While it can be used for many purposes, the primary purpose of the dashboard is to give you complete visibility of your activity. You know, all the time, what’s going on in your business, whether it works or not.
For example, your sales dashboard can show you the sales volume since the beginning of the year, the number of missed opportunities or, conversely, the ones that generated conversions, the number of appointments the seller made, etc. You quickly find out the efficiency of your sales force and any points of friction that have to be fixed (for example, if the number of calls that don’t lead to appointments is higher than usual, of course improvements are to be made).
Other benefits include:
- Ability to identify trends
- An easy way to measure the effectiveness of your services
- Ability to generate detailed reports with a single click
- Ability to make more informed decisions
different types of dashboards
Whether it is Business Intelligence, Marketing, Sales or Finance, Dashboards can be classified into 3 categories:
operational dashboard
Commonly used by production plants, the operational dashboard provides a complete and instantaneous overview of performance related to day to day operations. The data contained in it is updated in real time.
strategic dashboard
This type of dashboard is used to align departmental performance with the overall business strategy. It is used to look at performance data for the previous quarter, for example, and to compare it to the current period.
Data in strategic dashboards is static for a fixed period of time and is updated less frequently than in operational dashboards.
Analytics Dashboard
A large amount of data is built into an analytics dashboard and is intended for executives. It provides a complete overview of performance to the business, is used to identify trends, compare data, and make forecasts and targets.
Also read: 6 Reasons To Use Google Data Studio For Your Reports
Understand the data visualizations used in dashboards
Simply put, data visualization is a graphical representation of data. It presents these as an image or graph to help identify patterns and understand difficult concepts.
With technology, you can make data visualization interactive by creating dashboards that users can click on to see more details, for example.
Benefits of data visualization
Data visualization is an effective way to share complex concepts universally. Why ?
- Visuals are more effective than text: “A picture is worth a thousand words”, it is well known!
- Charts and graphs deliver information faster than a large spreadsheet or report: especially when you consider that, on average, companies use 400 data sources managed across 6 different tools (according to IDC and Gartner) .
- Visual metaphor is a universal language: if you work with different nationalities, everyone will have the same understanding of information.
Techniques Used in Data Visualization
To present the data in the dashboard, many techniques are used like line graphs, diagrams, maps… everything will depend on your needs.
Line charts show you results over T times, but can also help you compare time frames. Charts show distribution, while maps show trends. The key is to find the model that will best transmit the information needed for your decisions.
The key to choosing the right dashboard format is to ask yourself these questions before editing each graph:
- Which data should be highlighted?
- Do I need to compare it with another? If yes then which one?
- To whom should the information be presented?
This last question is essential, as not all employees need the same level of information. While a manager may be satisfied with global KPIs on the revenue generated, the sales manager would certainly like to know the performance of each point of sale or each salesperson.
6 Dashboard Tools to Use to Analyze Your Data
There are a whole host of tools for creating visual dashboards to help you build and manage your business better. Overview of our 6 favorite tools!
Free Dashboard Tool
Let’s start with free tools to format your dashboard.
1. Google Charts
The cloud-based GoogleCharts service lets you create line graphs, maps, and charts to display your key data in a clear and understandable way.
Dynamic, it allows you to receive information in real time. Which is practical for making quick and informed decisions.
Lastly, Google Charts offers a library of charts to best represent your data. Each model can be completely customized to your needs.
2. Metabase
An advanced data visualization tool, Metabase allows you to create customized dashboards. Equipped with collaborative functions, it allows all members of your team to create, share and organize data. Perfect for monitoring the performance of your various services.
You can connect it to almost all your data sources: Google Analytics, Apache Server, SQL Database, Cloud Platform…
3. Dashbuilder
Whether you want to build static or dynamic dashboards with real-time data, you can use DashBuilder! Working with Java, it provides you the possibility to extract information from your tables, text files and databases.
You can start with an existing model or create your own graphics from A to Z.
Paid Dashboard
For more advanced functionality, we recommend these dashboard builder tools.
4. Table
With Tableau, you automatically refresh your dashboard with data from apps like Google Analytics or Salesforce (which are the makers of this tool, by the way).
Its advantage? Assign level to users: creator, explorer or viewer. That way, you can collaborate on dashboards, but also share them with external teams, partners, and customers.
Price: $42 user/month (billed annually)
5. Clip Portfolio
Klipfolio, a cloud-based application, makes it possible to create and share updated dashboards in real time, on the web, via television screens and mobile devices. It connects to over 100 apps like Twitter, Moz, Pingdom, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Instagram, Xero, etc.
Specification of Clipfolio? You can create your own formulas to cross-reference the data, and generate dashboards that perfectly meet your needs.
Price: $24 / from 5 users
6.datapine
DataPine lets you view and monitor your most relevant KPIs in one place. A truly powerful tool, it provides advanced analysis using personalized formulas based on your activities.
You can also schedule automated reports to save time and create interactive dashboards.
Another interesting point in this tool: Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, DataPine detects trends to eliminate guesswork in your business decisions.
Pricing: Starting at $249 per month + $55 per user/month
Our tips for creating a dashboard
Dashboards play a vital role in the growth of a particular company or department. However, collecting data and creating dashboards is a time-consuming task. Mystery ? Automation! By automating your reports, you benefit from constantly up-to-date information to better manage your activity.
We recommend that you hire an independent expert in analytics to help you manage your dashboard and analyze your data. Post an ad now on Codeur.com to find an Analytics Consultant who can help you set up a dashboard and promote your business!