“Measure everything of significance. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.” - Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy
 
Most businesses and nonprofits today are swimming in data, and generating more all the time. It’s stored in customer databases, inventory software, QuickBooks, marketing programs, social media platforms, and even Google Analytics. Many entrepreneurs and leaders know intuitively that this can be a powerful tool for smart decision-making, but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of mining and making sense of it all. This is where dashboards come in.
 
A Digital Dashboard is an information management tool. Dashboards create visualizations of your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by pulling them into charts and graphs that are displayed side-by-side and updated in real time. This allows you to see trends, patterns and opportunities as they emerge.
 
Organizations of all kinds can use dashboards to help track meaningful metrics, for example: nonprofit fundraising or grant administration, marketing strategies, accounts payable and receivable, sales, lead generation, web traffic, project management, etc. Businesses and nonprofits working in healthcare, finance, insurance, small manufacturing, retail sales, customer service, education, conservation, and more. See some examples of different industry dashboards here.
 
With all of this information clearly visualized, accessible, and at your fingertips, your stress will go down and your productivity will increase!
 
Need help honing in on your KPIs? Would a few tweaks to your existing systems help you gather data that can be translated into a dashboard for smart decision making? Give Clarity a call or drop us a line. Together we can design a system that works for you, keeping you fit and moving forward.
 
Sources for this article:
Wikipedia 
The Best Business Dashboard Apps for Small Businesses
 
Best practices when designing dashboards:
Data Dashboards for Small Business
 
For Nonprofits:
Models & Components of a Great Nonprofit Dashboard
 
A few examples of companies providing dashboards for small business:
Klipfolio
Dasheroo 
Tableau 
iDashboard