
Jira
Your organization depends on your team to deliver the actionable C-Level insights from your EPM data that it needs. If you are stuck with static reports, BI tools that don’t innately understand the hierarchies and dimensions of fi...Read more
monday.com, an award-winning collaboration and project management platform, helps teams plan together efficiently and execute complex projects to deliver results on time. monday.com team management and task management tool allows ...Read more
iDashboards provides easy-to-use, visually appealing, and cost-effective data visualization software for clients in a wide variety of industries. Our Enterprise Success Platform easily integrates with key data sources and users ca...Read more
Phocas is a team of passionate professionals who are committed to helping people feel good about their data. Our software brings together organizations’ most useful data from an ERP and other business systems and presents it in a ...Read more
The MicroStrategy analytics platform is a cloud-based and on-premise self-service business intelligence platform that supports both data mining and visualization. The platform can be implemented on a gradual and as-needed basis, s...Read more
Logi Analytics is a business intelligence (BI) platform that provides self-service analytics tools for businesses. It can be embedded directly into the applications that employees use every day. Key features include a dashboard, d...Read more
Qlik Sense is a business intelligence (BI) and visual analytics platform that supports a range of analytic use cases. Built on Qlik’s unique Associative Engine, it supports a full range of users and use-cases across the life-cycle...Read more
Izenda is a business intelligence (BI) platform that enables real-time data exploration and report creation. It is suited for software vendors and development teams in enterprises that need to embed BI and analytics functionality ...Read more
Salesforce Analytics Cloud, also known as Wave Analytics, is a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) system that provides an interactive platform to access and share business trends. The software provides data insights and helps ...Read more
DecisionPoint For Excel is a business intelligence solution for small and midsized businesses that work on microsoft excel. It allows users to create interactive dashboards directly from data stored in Excel spreadsheets. Use...Read more
Style Intelligence from InetSoft is a business intelligence for midsize to global organizations. It offers users customizable dashboards and a data mashup engine that generates reports and visual analyses from real-time data....Read more
As more companies realize the benefits of implementing business intelligence software, there has been an increase in the number of vendors offering dashboard software. Dashboard solutions provide a visual overview of organizations' data and analytics in an interactive dashboard that displays key performance metrics (KPIs) in various charts, graphs and animations. These visuals help illustrate business trends and insights so users can better understand company performance and make faster, more informed and accurate decisions.
Before deciding on the right dashboard software for your organization, however, it's important to understand more about what it is and the benefits it can provide. To that end, we've put together this helpful guide that breaks down everything you need to know.
Here's what we'll cover:
What Is Dashboard Software?
Common Features of Dashboard Software
Benefits of Dashboard Software Applications
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are useful metrics for companies to benchmark progress. But without visibility into these metrics, fires may be burning without any signs of smoke or alarms to alert you to the problem. Dashboard software connects data from throughout the organization, consolidates that information into digestible visualizations and helps decision-makers come to more intelligent conclusions.
Of the hundreds of conversations we’ve had with buyers, there are several recurring themes we hear during our calls. Most buyers are typically using homegrown solutions, disparate analytics tools with limited connectivity or even spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel.
Common reasons these buyers are researching dashboard software include:
There are a number of applications on the market with a wide range of features, functionality and prices that can successfully address the above pain points. This guide will help explain the benefits that can be realized with dashboard software, the top features and functionality offered and common buyer scenarios to be aware of.
KPI visibility | Allows users to access key performance metrics from a single dashboard. Also gives them the ability to create department-specific dashboards, or create reports for executives so they can access the most important metrics instantly. |
Interactive dashboards | Enables users to quickly create new dashboards and reports from a set of regular data sources. You can also define how users can click on any metric to drill-down further for additional information. |
Timeframe comparison | Gives the ability to compare key metrics over time so users can quickly identify trends and areas for improvement. |
Customizable permissions | Enables the definition of multiple permission levels to customize which dashboards and reports different employees can access. |
Alerts and notifications | Alerts can be configured to notify users of immediate changes in performance. These notifications can be sent to an email address, or notify users directly within the application. |
Web accessibility | Many BI dashboards are Web-based, meaning they are accessible from any device with a Web browser. Users can log in from anywhere to access their dashboards and reports. |
Native mobile apps | As smartphone and tablet devices have increased in both popularity and functionality, vendors have invested in the development of beautiful, fast mobile apps. Many vendors now offer native solutions for Apple iPhone, iPad and Android devices. |
Data integration | Dashboard users can pull data from their own database, other business applications or a variety of other sources. The dashboard then becomes a central analytical tool for the entire organization. |
Dashboard software offers organizations a host of benefits. The top three benefits that can be realized with dashboard software applications include:
Increased visibility of key metrics. Interactive reports and scorecards mean users can quickly slice-and-dice data in interesting ways. Anyone with access to the dashboard software can review historical KPIs to inform future decisions.
Customizable reports (without IT assistance). In the past, IT professionals were likely the only team members with technical capability to build new, customized analytics reports. Today, dashboard solutions make it easy for less-technical workers to build powerful reports tailored to their needs.
Real-time access to data. Data can be integrated from a variety of sources, providing dashboard users access to key business metrics in real time. Dashboard software users only need to log-in and select a few parameters to quickly obtain up-to-date analytics. And once a new dashboard is built, the report will update in real-time, reducing the time spent crunching numbers and leaving more time for the analyst to analyze trends.
As you begin your research for a new dashboard software solution, it's important to know what type of buyer you are so you can make the best decision for your organization. Consider if you fall into any of the following categories, as these different buyer types will require specific functionality in their dashboard applications.
Department managers and business users. Many dashboard software providers offer pre-built, department-specific scorecards and reports to help business users quickly find the most important metrics. These dashboard applications are often built into or built on top of popular customer relationship management (CRM), human resources (HR) suites and many other business applications.
Corporate executives. Executives need the ability to track KPIs from a bird’s-eye view, but should still be able to drill-down and investigate specific metrics. These buyers will often need dashboards that can be highly customized, with a back-end infrastructure that can support data integration from a large number of systems and databases.
Software vendors. Analytics functionality is a common feature in many business software applications. Vendors can choose to embed dashboard software directly within its own application, or provide the functionality via another means, such as a custom portal. Customer service solution vendor Zendesk, for example, offers dashboard functionality by embedding the GoodData business intelligence platform.