How Executive Dashboards Lead to Better Business Insights

When you think about the term executive dashboard, the first thing that might come to mind is a digital monitoring system with lots of nice graphs and indicators to track performance data. But what makes these dashboards so special? Is there anything more than just a fancy interface with some visual information?

Let’s explore the value of executive dashboards in business and see how they can improve your company’s business insights.

Keep reading to learn more about executive dashboards:

1. What is an executive dashboard?

2. Why are Executive Dashboards important?

3. 5 ways in which Executive Dashboards improve business insights

4. How to create effective executive dashboards?

5. 3 tools to build effective Executive Dashboards

6. Conclusion

What is an executive dashboard?

Simply put, an executive dashboard is a visual representation of crucial data that is important for your business. Essentially, it’s a tool that provides a bird’s eye view of important business metrics, making it easier to understand the bigger picture and make effective business decisions. There are many advantages to using an executive dashboard, including increased transparency in reporting, improved collaboration, and better business insights.

Why are Executive Dashboards important?

At first glance, an executive dashboard may not seem like a big deal, but they have the power to change your business in a significant way. 

Using executive dashboards can help engage your upper management team and board members. They present the data in a visual format, so it’s easier for them to understand how the business is progressing without investing much time trying to understand the data meaning behind it, as well as making better decisions. 

Secondly, executive dashboards are great for employee engagement. The data presented in a simple and easy-to-read format allows everyone in the company to see how their specific department is doing, and how the business is progressing. This makes your staff feel more involved in the company and their contributions to the business.

5 ways in which Executive Dashboards improve business insights

Let’s look at different ways in which executive dashboards can improve your business insights.

1. They provide transparency in reporting. If you work in a big company, you know how important it is to have transparency in your reporting. With an executive dashboard, you can provide your managers and board members with a clear view of how the business is doing.
2. They encourage collaboration. An executive dashboard is a perfect tool to encourage collaboration between the different departments in your company. By seeing how each department is progressing (or not), you can collaborate and find a solution that works for everyone.
3. They give you a big picture of your business. When you have a clear picture of how your company is doing, it’s easier for you to adapt to any changes that are taking place within the business. You can make smart decisions and find solutions to any problems or challenges that your business is facing.
4. They help you make better decisions. With executive dashboards, you are better able to understand your customer base and key performance indicators that are important to your business. This means that you have the data you need to make informed decisions and make the right calls.
5. They help you stay ahead of your competitors. With a dashboard, you can stay ahead of your competitors. You can easily see what strategies and marketing campaigns they are using and adapt them for your business.

How to create effective executive dashboards?

Here are some steps you can follow to create effective executive dashboards:

• Clearly define your business goals. The first thing you need to do is to clearly define your business goals. This will help you determine what data you need to track and what metrics you should include in your dashboard.
• Identify the key metrics. Once you’ve identified the key metrics, you need to decide what data you want to track. Make sure you choose the most important metrics, such as revenue, customer retention rates, and other business KPIs.
• Choose the right charts. Once you’ve decided on the right metrics, you need to decide which charts will be most effective in your dashboard. The most commonly used charts in executive dashboards include bars, lines, and tables.
• Choose the right colors. Color psychology plays an important role in the way your executive dashboard is perceived. Make sure you choose colors that don’t distract your audience, but instead, guide them toward the data they need to see.

3 tools to build effective Executive Dashboards

You can create effective executive dashboards manually from scratch, however, there are tools that can streamline this process for you. Let’s take a look at them:

1. Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a great tool for building your executive dashboard. You just need to create a spreadsheet, add charts and graphs, and you’re ready to go. It’s a very flexible tool, which means that you can make changes whenever you want.
2. Tableau.Tableau is one of the most popular data visualization tools available. It’s used by many businesses and organizations, including Airbnb, PepsiCo, and Airbnb. It’s a great tool for building data visualizations that can be used for your executive dashboard.

You can create effective executive dashboards manually from scratch. However, some tools can streamline this process. Let’s take a look at them:

1. Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a great tool for building your executive dashboard. You can create a spreadsheet, add charts and graphs, and you’re ready to go. It’s a very flexible tool, allowing you to introduce changes when you need to.
2. Tableau. Tableau is one of the most popular data visualization tools available. Many businesses and organizations use it, including Airbnb, PepsiCo, and Airbnb. It’s a great tool for building data visualizations for your executive dashboard.
3. Microsoft Power BI. If you want to create an interactive executive dashboard, you might want to consider using Power BI. It has many features, including a great data visualization tool that you can use to create an engaging dashboard.

Conclusion

An executive dashboard is a powerful tool that can improve your business insights and help better decision-making. To make it work, you might want to define your business goals first. This way, you’ll know what data you need to track. Then, you need to identify the key metrics, so that the dashboard could help track the progress and make informed decisions. Ultimately, choose the right charts and colors that won’t distract your audience. While you can do it all manually, employing the right tools to build your executive dashboards can help you perform this task faster, more accurately, and with less effort.