Better manage your business with dashboards
Managing a company's business means bringing together scattered data to assess the overall situation. Dashboards, business intelligence tools, are useful for the manager and the various business units, for more effective collective intelligence.
CONTENTS
The need for a cross-functional management tool
Whatever the size of the company
While large companies systematically allocate resources - entire departments or specific posts - to analyzing their performance, small and medium-sized businesses all too often neglect it. Yet it is essential to study their results in order to guide their strategy. But due to a lack of time, resources or qualified profiles, management is done on sight.
System D quickly reaches its limits
The most widely used tool is, of course, Excel. But as the data grows, it becomes difficult to manage. You have to check that the links between sheets are properly updated: it's a static tool that can be laborious to maintain.
Viewing data in silos blurs the overall picture
The first tools to be adopted are generally business-specific software programs, with each department tracking its own activity. Management is then compartmentalized into silos: each division creates its own dashboard. And the manager, to get an overall view, has to bring them all together.
A tool to centralize and share data
While business software has its merits, it lacks cross-functionality. Departments belong to the same structure and are interdependent. Data overlap and intersect, and the benefits of analyzing them in a common tool are palpable.
Choosing your management solution
Business intelligence software packages collect and analyze your data.
A global dashboard that centralizes business data
There are external software packages that you can simply connect to obtain a cross-functional view. Such is the case with Vizzboard. It plugs into all kinds of connectors, such as JSON, Elasticsearch, Excel, Dropbox, Google Drive or CSV format. It feeds data directly into the system, enabling each department to maintain its own business tools and habits. Dashboards are a datavisualization tool that is both ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing. As a result, they can be used to clearly present the results of analysis, at meetings or general assemblies for example, with no need to be a statistician to understand them.
A management tool integrated into your ERP solution
For companies wishing to standardize their tools by deploying an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) within their structure, the dashboard functionality is a criterion of choice. With software such as IOvision, each of the divisions can enter its own information. Gateways and connections are made within the tool: certain data are shared, analysis zones overlap. And management has an instant, global overview of the situation at all times.
Expert advice to identify relevant KPIs
While the visual aspect of steering is important, its analytical basis remains essential. Analysis is based on KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). We can consider any KPI or link it to another, but which ones will be relevant? Sometimes we'd like a little guidance. That's what happens when you deploy an ERP system. The software publisher provides you with an implementation consultant. An expert in the field, this contact can identify the KPIs relevant to your business.
Better control to anticipate and coordinate efforts
Real-time management with dynamic data
Basing your analysis on dynamic tools is more qualitative. Accounting statements are too static. They only provide analysis after the fact. By the time you're alerted, the wrong turn has already been taken. What's more, it's difficult to identify the origin of malfunctions from accounting data. Finally, their analysis at a point in time does not include flows and physical notions such as stock shortages, quality problems, payment deadlines... By cross-referencing accounting data with other company data, a dashboard provides a more complete vision and enables forecasts to be made: these are known as prospective or predictive dashboards.
Share data and reduce errors
The desire to unify management tools reduces the risk of misunderstandings between departments. The solution breaks down silos, brings information together and re-establishes overall consistency. Shared data is more reliable, and a cross-functional dialogue is initiated.
Making all divisions aware of global progress
This is known as internal management dialogue. Each department draws up its own reports, but has access to the reports of others. This helps to raise awareness of the consequences of each department's actions. This in-depth understanding of effects encourages management delegation and the implementation of new governance. The divisions are more involved, and play an active part in achieving the organization's overall objectives.
You need to be reactive in your management. You can't wait until you've noticed malfunctions before dealing with them. By providing you with a real-time analysis of the company, dashboards enable you to react early and anticipate. Their business intelligence dimension helps you highlight trends, threshold figures and significant milestones in your company's development. A wealth of decisive analysis to help you make the right decisions.
Article translated from French