Dashboards are like the home screen for business intelligence. This is where you’re going to see all the top key performance indicators (KPIs), better understand your performance, and support decision-making. There are many advantages to using BI dashboard software, especially when it comes to the ability to customize workflows and permissions for specific users. At the same time, the way most people think about dashboards is just the beginning of what can be done with them. Here are some things to think about when configuring your business intelligence dashboard.
What Consider When Configuring a BI Dashboard
Every organization wants to get the most out of their business intelligence technologies. Otherwise, they’re sort of admitting they’re okay with throwing money out the window, which is a toxic recipe for any organization trying to succeed in today’s business climate.
The fact of the matter is, with so many different BI technologies out there today, if you don’t use them to their fullest potential, your competition will. Having a disadvantage in business intelligence is like showing up for a baseball game without a catcher. No matter how good the rest of your team is, your squad simply won’t be able to keep up with a fully functional team.
This is why it’s so important to not only get the right business intelligence technologies, but know how to use them. These are a few general ideas to keep in mind when configuring dashboards:
- Maximize efficiency for the user – The whole point of BI is finding ways to make operations more efficient. While the end goal is often clear, it can sometimes be forgotten when using the technology itself. Dashboards should be designed in a way so as to maximize user efficiency. This will likely look drastically different for various employees within an organization, making customizable and embedded analytics key to workflow efficiency maximalization.
- Ensure data reliability – One of the only things more dangerous to your organization than not utilizing business intelligence technologies is relying on inaccurate data. This can be disastrous if not immediately remedied. Sometimes there can be issues with accuracy when BI is having to aggregate data. Finding business intelligence technologies that allow for data to be easily connected makes leveraging your data easier and less prone to error.
- Self-service makes anyone an expert – Another benefit of dashboards generally is they are wonderful for simplifying complex information into digestible models. With self-service business intelligence tools, even individuals who don’t have extensive—or any—experience working with data can derive insights.
Modern BI Dashboard Configuration
While these concepts are great to keep in mind when putting together any kind of BI dashboard, there are some finer details to keep in mind as well. It should come as no surprise that business intelligence technologies are constantly evolving. These are a couple of the most prevalent tools and concepts to consider when working with modern BI dashboards:
- Drill downs – While the base visualizations and KPIs offered by dashboards are great for broad strokes, they aren’t adequate for deeper work. This is why the ability to drill down needs to be incorporated into the modern BI dashboard. Getting to the granular level is often essential for extracting actionable insights.
- Seamless multi-cloud integration – Enterprises today are sitting on tons of unused data. It makes no sense for organizations to collect this data and then not put it to use. Being able to effortlessly integrate data from any cloud or on-premise source allows businesses to capture value from more of their data, while also facilitating better operating outcomes.
Dashboards are one of the most essential parts to business intelligence. Knowing how to build and use them effectively can make all the difference to your organization.
