It cannot be underestimated how the use of dashboards in your business can help to easily manage your processes as well as your ability to test and measure.
The team here at Advantage use the latest technologies in the Microsoft Cloud to allow SMEs to easily satisfy both of the above things. In our latest blog article, we’re going to showcase how business reporting dashboards can provide clear direction for your business, make more data driven decisions as well as enabling your business to function without you.
So, before we get started, let’s define exactly what a business dashboard is?
Put simply, business dashboards give you an overview of your business at certain datapoints which are connected to the main objectives of your business such as leads, completed sales, costs, revenue generated, profit and much, much more.
The data sources used for this information can be taken from CRM systems such as Dynamics 365 CRM, accounting software such as Business Central or your website or marketing channels.
What is the importance of creating a dashboard?
This may seem like it is stating the obvious, but your business can only be successful if your numbers are accurate. With data all across your business, it can be tricky to establish just how well these numbers add up.
If you have the right data insights setup, it makes it much easier to make the right decisions by looking to highlight potential opportunities, areas where costs need to be reduced and potential problems when it comes to processes. It can be easier said than done to get all these insights collated into one central location.
Why do businesses turn to Microsoft to build dashboards?
How awesome would it be if you could get a snapshot of the activities of your business through an app whilst out of the office? The fantastic thing about Microsoft’s Cloud ecosystem is the fact that you can view your reports across all major operating systems across multiple devices no matter where you are.
It goes without saying but you are more than likely already using Microsoft products such as Office 365 across your business. You might even still be using Excel spreadsheets to collate all your sales figures, customer data or turnover.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you were able to collate all that information, customer and sales data and all your business processes in one place which could be accessed by all your team in any location? As well as this, wouldn’t it be great if you get a quick overview of all your main objectives from one centralised dashboard that can be shared with your colleagues? Better still, you could also chop and change exactly what objectives you want to see through customised reporting.
If your business is more used to Excel spreadsheets, detailed templates can be built with the primary data source being Dynamics 365 and could be updated whenever you need it or automatically if you wish.
I am happy to go with Microsoft’s Cloud products but what dashboards are available?
This very much depends on your specific business requirements for the dashboard and the depths of data you wish to go into.
If you are looking for something relatively basic with charts then Dynamics 365 has the capability to help you create simple and clear business dashboards. Are your managers looking for a quick overview of how sales are performing on a certain day? Or are you looking to find out how many support requests have been made on a certain day? In this instance, real-time Dynamics 365 views and dashboards give that instant snapshot!
In other cases, you may require something more meaningful, this is where Microsoft Power BI dashboards can come to your rescue. You will find that Microsoft Power BI is part of the Microsoft Power Platform and seamlessly integrates into other Microsoft products and data sources to give you all the insights you require from your customer data.
Easily have a complete overview of your business by collating data from a whole host of systems, formatting them and creating reports and dashboards.
Next Steps?
If you are a business that is looking to get some specific Microsoft Power BI dashboards created, are looking to maximise your use of Dynamics 365 reporting through some bespoke Dynamics 365 consulting or wanting to look at our tailored reporting solutions then be sure to contact our team of reporting experts today to discuss how we can help change your business.
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