If you’re running a company, chances are you probably are tracking KPIs (or not, we don’t judge). Competition in the market is all about adding hundreds of boxes of “KPIs” and a steep learning curve to achieve it.

This leads to a zillion questions - what KPIs to include? What tools to design an easily accessible dashboard? How will the dashboard help me improve my company’s performance?

In this post, we’ll cover through the following -

1. Reports vs KPI Dashboard - what is a KPI dashboard and why do you need one?

2. What are different types of KPI dashboards?

3. How to design a KPI dashboard for your business?So, let’s get on with it.

So, let’s get on with it.

Reports vs KPI Dashboard - what is a KPI dashboard and why do you need one?

We all have heard these 2 words a bit too much, but what’s the difference? Put simply, a report is a combination of set metrics over a set period of time aimed to aid decision making in the medium to long term. On the other hand, dashboards are readily accessible metrics and visualisations to help you monitor your company’s performance. In an ideal scenario, a dashboard - especially a KPI dashboard - should fit onto one screen, be up-to-date, and be easy to access and analyse.

If you’re looking for what KPIs to track, head over to this post.

Report vs Dashboard

Why do you need a KPI dashboard?

Imagine you’re on a call with an investor and you have your metrics written down either on a piece of paper or on Notepad on your second monitor. You show how you’re meticulous with everything and have it all sorted. Everything’s going great and you’re having a great conversation. Right then and there, the investor wants to know what your CAC was last quarter and what was the conversion rate? You check your Notepad and it has all the metrics such as MRR, ARR, customers, partners, new customer M-o-M growth, CAC for the last month, and even your company’s YouTube subscribers… except for the CAC trend. You feel embarrassed. The investor reassures you that it’s okay and that you can email them later. You email them 2 minutes after the call and a week later the decision comes in. It’s a pass. The most feared word for an entrepreneur. You can’t blame yourself or your company’s merit for it. But you do!

While the above scenario is over the top, it is correct about one thing - pass being a scary word for most entrepreneurs!

You need a KPI dashboard for -

1. Tracking your metrics on a more granular level

2. Keeping on top of your company’s performance and act on the data

3. Prepare reports and collaborate with your team in a timely manner

Why do you need a KPI dashboard?

A company health dashboard effectively gives you an overview of metrics for your company. Metrics could include your burn rate, cash in bank, gross profit, net profit, etc. Company Health dashboards help you stay on top of your company and take broad actions as an executive.

Obsidian Dashboard

Apart from being easy to analyse, company health dashboards are particularly useful in setting goals, OKRs, and more.

Speaking of goals, let's talk about Performance dashboards.

Why do you need a KPI dashboard?

Unlike company health dashboards, performance dashboards are designed to help you and your team analyse your current performance against your targets. The goal is to foster friendly competition and goal alignment between teams.

Performance dashboards also help you and your team reiterate your business goals, long after you've set them. We all forget them, don’t we?

Forgetfulness leads to issues and errors. We all have been there. Long before something happens, there’s usually some signals. Monitoring dashboards are designed to catch those.

Why do you need a KPI dashboard?

Chatbots ftw! Yes, monitoring dashboards are awesome. They serve an important function of keeping track of systems and instantly flagging if something has changed or needs attention. It doesn’t include goals necessarily, but it might include benchmarks for when KPIs are good, normal, or need urgent attention.

With the rise in AI, monitoring dashboards are literally turning into notification systems and I believe that a good middle ground is needed to help CXOs stay updated while keeping the dashboards accessible.

How to design a KPI dashboard for your business?

Deciding on the best program to build your dashboard can be a right headache! Lots of tools are out there, from simple spreadsheets to fancy data platforms, all promising to show you your key progress points. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be confusing!

Stop reinventing the wheel. Just head over to Obsidian and book a demo. Yes, that’s it.