Most people want to know what’s going on with their business. But they don’t want to have to wait for colleagues and employees to create reports, update spreadsheets, summarise data, and build presentations. That’s where business reporting dashboards come in.
The trick is to know what information you need from that data. Once you know what questions to ask, you can isolate the data that’s relevant to your goals. Here’s how:
Choose the right type
All companies need to set goals. And these goals need to have milestones so you can easily see whether you’re succeeding in your endeavours. Without KPIs, your employees have no way of tracking their performance, which can also lead to a decline in job satisfaction.
Reporting and analytics software can give you information about what has occurred in the past, what’s happening in real-time, and what may happen in the future. Not all businesses will need all of these capabilities. And you should prioritise which information is the most important for meeting your business objectives.
You can measure your business performance in a range of ways, including:
- Analytic applications
- Mobile business intelligence
- Intranet integration
- Business intelligence portals
- Social media analytics and insights
- And more
Once you know which information is relevant, you can use your data to find this information and track it over time.
Choose the right format
You may have already heard about the seven learning styles. Everyone has a mix of different styles of learning, and are often dominant in one particular way of learning information. These styles include:
- Visual/spatial
- Aural/auditory
- Verbal/linguistic
- Physical/kinaesthetic
- Social/interpersonal
- Logical/mathematical
- Solitary/intrapersonal
Some people prefer to be sent the most important information, while others like to do their own analysis. Some may prefer a written report, while others geek out on charts and graphs.
It may be impossible (and expensive) to satisfy everyone’s preference. But making an effort to provide formatting options can increase productivity and ensure everyone on your team has access to the information they need.
Get it at the right time
If you want to make informed, strategic business decisions, timely information is crucial. The closer the information is created to the time that information is received, the better. Working with data that is out of date can make it impossible for you to react to changes in the market or new customer preferences.
You may need to consider whether your current reporting solution is giving you information in real-time, or if the data is already out of date by the time it’s hitting your desk.
Ensure it’s the right information
Your business probably has a significant amount of data available that you can use for your strategy and decision-making. But when you’re measuring your business performance, you need to be able to take data from many different sources and transform it into information that drives real results.
An excellent business performance reporting solution will help all of your employees access the information they need to make the best decisions. It will also give them the tools to perform at their best without feeling like they’re overloaded with information.
Is your current business reporting solution allowing you to measure your business performance and learn from trends across different time periods? If not, we can help. Get in touch to learn how we can make it easy for you and your team members to get the information that matters in your business.
