The Power of Data Dashboards
Wherever your eyesight wanders around, you will see data, and with every step, you will experience the changes it has brought about. For example, if you look in the world of business, data is being used constantly to analyze, innovate, process the strategy and results-driven by these corporate companies. But in the digital age, it’s hard to configure which kind of data you should work with to empower your business and company. That is where the data dashboard comes to the rescue.
It can be considered as one of the best innovations in the business industry. This article will explain what a data dashboard is, why they are important for businesses, and how to create a dashboard with Microsoft PowerPoint.
What is a Data Dashboard?
A data dashboard is a type of tool that makes a consolidated form of relevant business data which helps people extract, analyze, measure, and monitor different datasets of key businesses and at the same time displays the information in a visual, interactive and intuitive way.
These dashboards provide extensive visual detail about the company and its goals, departments, initiatives, indicators, processes, and projects. All of these data are measured using the KPIs (Key performance indicators) to assist further in the growth and development of the company.
Without the dashboards, the companies will have to go through a huge amount of unstructured data and filter them out properly to get the one they require for their presentation or project. But the downside of this manual process is its extreme inefficiency, and moreover, it is a time-consuming process.
Based on your aim, goals, and strategies, dashboards can simplify and answer a lot of business-related questions. As has been already mentioned, dashboards can take data from numerous sources and present it to you in a customized, simplified, and tailored visual way so that the data make sense to the presenters and the audiences.
Using the specific KPIs that are interrelated with the consumer’s business goals, they can check their progress, measure their performance, create benchmarks, and execute their plans with better results. All of these can be performed on a regular basis with the updated stats using dashboards.
Why do people need a Data Dashboard?
The best feature of a data dashboard is that not only it saves us time, but it aggregates all the related data from all the possible sources at one place where you can see it. You can take the necessary steps which can enhance the growth of your business or company.
You can obviously ask what is the actual difference between a dashboard and a report? Because a report is also data-driven and is analytical at the same time. But the major difference between a data dashboard and a report lies in the fact that dashboards are dynamic, whereas, in reports, information is static. Dashboards monitor all the related information. Dashboards are also interactive because you can filter, segment, and visualize your data.
Various advantages of using data dashboards
- Using dashboards, you can easily oversee multiple KPIs and metrics at once
- Dashboards are usually very easy to read and understand
- With dashboards, you can save a significant amount of time because you will not have to do any kind of manual reporting tasks
Let us discuss the advantages in more detail
Oversee multiple KPIs and metrics at once
Whenever a change occurs within a particular department, be it good or bad, it can create a ridge in your company and business. Therefore, retaining your data on a dashboard can make your work easier by many folds. Moreover, you can use the dashboard to your advantage and find out the relationship between the KPIs and the metrics while digging deeper. This can help you find out what strategies are working properly and which ones are being inefficient. Observe your dashboard in real-time and make necessary adjustments whenever required.
Easy to read and understand
You will not need the knowledge of a data analyst to read, use and understand a data dashboard. Dashboards are very easy to read; anyone can easily perceive data dashboards in a single glance. The dashboard design should be made in such a way that even people who don’t have any prior knowledge of finance and marketing can easily understand the data presented on the screen.
Save your time using data dashboards
Those who have already used data dashboards know that using them saves time. There is no need for the consumers to go through multiple spreadsheets and other data services to accumulate data and compile it into a report. All of your data can be found in your data dashboard.
All you need to do is design and set up your data dashboard in such a way that it will automatically generate periodic reports and data from anywhere at any given time. Whatever investment you make on the data dashboard should at least pay you back ten times the value. With a data dashboard, executives and officials of the company won’t have to request their analysts to retrieve and present data in front of them. They can access these data through a dynamic dashboard anytime they want, while the analysts can do their work in the background.
Creating Data Dashboards with Microsoft PowerPoint
You can create data dashboards using Microsoft PowerPoint. The process is very simple, and your data gets updated in real-time, which is in its own way a very helpful feature.
Click on the DataPoint tab after opening the PowerPoint and select the data connection of your choice. Then you can attach and design your presentation, customize how you want to present your data, and deliver it. Don’t worry your data will automatically get updated when you run the slideshow or open the presentation.
Data dashboard compiling with Microsoft PowerPoint can prove to be a really useful tool to conduct your research and presentation while analyzing your business or company strategy. Don’t waste your precious time retrieving data from thousands of spreadsheets and files, just create your own real-time dashboard.
