The consulting industry is a data-driven activity that relies on in-depth analysis of every facet of the business in question. Whether you are a strategy, management, or operations consultant, you need tools to facilitate efficient data processing. Modern-day human resources and financial advisory consulting companies also rely on real-time data acquisition.
To this end, a lot of programs and software are coming into the market to address the constant demand for processed data. Every company in the consulting industry wants condensed data available at a glance. Even if you are a consulting firm or an independent consultant, you need tools to help you interpret and share the data. And there is no better platform for data processing and display than a dashboard.
What is a dashboard?
A dashboard refers to a multi-faceted tool that analyzes and presents the information required for a specific mission or project. The information that can be accessed on a dashboard includes key performance metrics and project scorecards.
Management dashboards provide clear representations of every relevant metric for any specified business. They also monitor employee performance, assess risks, and involve customers in the creative process.
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What is a dashboard report in the consulting industry?
A dashboard report represents the aggregated data from information obtained across every facet of a company. In essence, dashboard reporting involves analyzing the company's KPIs based on data obtained in real-time.
For a consulting firm, the information on a dashboard report summarizes a client's business decisions over a specific period. It is similar to a still-frame of the company's position at a given point in time.
What should a consulting firm's dashboard report contain?
A consulting firm's dashboard report must contain drilled-down data, depending on the specifications and filters.
Here are the main components of a standard dashboard report.
- Performance metrics of the product and employees
- Company growth over a specified period
- Revenue chains
- Risk identification and assessment
- Customer engagement (based on location and demographics)
Let's check the advantages of management dashboards to the consulting industry and how companies implement them.
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1 - Dynamic analysis and informed decision-making
Dashboards help consultants to analyze obtained metrics in order to make informed decisions regarding human resources and capital. Since the market is dynamic, every consulting firm will benefit from an optimized management dashboard.
Moreover, the comprehensive nature of the data provides consultants with insights into their clients' business practices. As a result, strategy consultants can advise clients on effective strategies because of instant access to performance metrics in plain sight.
For example, if the dashboard indicates a decrease in product demand, you can decide on improving the product or channeling the resources elsewhere to minimize losses.
2 - Performance evaluation
Data displayed on an executive dashboard facilitates performance assessment. Besides, it helps business management consultants analyze KPIs of human and material resources allocated toward realizing an objective.
Here are the principal performance indicators that can be monitored:
- Product performance
A consultant can refer to the data on display to ascertain how the product performs per preliminary projections. With the help of an executive dashboard, consulting agencies can monitor product sales in real-time.
- Project viability
Operation consultants can evaluate the feasibility of any business decision or process with the help of dashboards. Also, dashboard reports provide clarity on resource implementations and revenue cycles.
- Employee performance
Dashboards eliminate confusion in projects involving multiple teams. IT consultants can study the data for more precise performance insights.
3 - Better data interpretation
As an agency or individual in the consulting industry, you want clients to access the most relevant interpretation of the acquired information. This process involves software integration, like the Sharepoint dashboard, on all project-related data. Management dashboards like these not only store data but also interpret the results.
Besides, the easy-to-use layout of modern dashboards allows orderly data arrangement in a timely fashion.
More so, data obtained by consulting firms come from multiple diverse sources. Therefore, a data-blending system is required to aggregate the data and produce comprehensive analysis reports.
4 - Proper time management
Recent dashboards have 'partial independence,' which means that small and large-scale consulting firms can save time on data analysis. Since executive dashboards allow fast-paced data aggregation and interpretation, this hastens the operations of consulting agencies.
Also, the centralized display eliminates the hectic task of analyzing individual metrics — all the information you need is in one location. As a result, the average data processing time is reduced significantly. The obtained information is precise and relevant. And most importantly, the data is saved automatically for future access by any authorized party.
5 - Improved communication
Management dashboards promote transparency between consulting firms and their clients. Since most dashboard tools are collaborative, clients can monitor the analysis. They can also participate in the analysis.
Also, the centralized data collation system allows real-time, seamless collaboration between various departments. Moreover, these platforms generate comprehensive reports that can be shared with stockholders and senior management.
Ultimately, consulting agencies can generate customer-oriented reports on the company's creative processes and marketing strategies. This level of transparency and user engagement, in turn, helps to strengthen the trust in the consulting company's services.
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6 - Clear risk assessment
A dashboard helps in accessing the risk factors of every decision. The comprehensive report also highlights key indicators that require immediate attention, like employee performance or productivity issues. These indicators are also present on executive dashboards — most of them are color-coded.
Moreover, spotting possible red flags is easier when you have a robust platform for data processing. With the help of these specialized indicators, consulting companies can assess the potential risks and rewards connected to the clients' objectives.
7 - Revenue monitoring
A well-executed dashboard can help a consulting firm monitor revenue flow, especially in data-sensitive industries like mining. The platform collects real-time data, which is then tallied with the working capital to determine the net production cost.
Furthermore, dashboards can deliver timely warnings, and actionable intel aimed at cost reduction. This strategy helps eliminate redundancy in the work process by detecting potential excessive production costs (expenses).
Ultimately, a management dashboard is an essential tool in the consulting industry due to the vast amount of data processing. It helps management consultants analyze the market position of their clients' products based on their objectives. Moreover, performance consultants can use executive dashboards to evaluate KPIs at every level in the company. Not only that, the centralized data processing system allows risk assessment consultants to spot potential risks in a company's policies. In the end, the report generated by a dashboard is essential when assessing the company's performance over a specific period.