The rapid advancement of data dashboard technology has affected all major sectors around the world including the automotive industry. The effects of electric cars, personalization, automated cars, driver assists, telematics and augmented reality are discussed every day in executive offices and over drinks in the evening.
All car manufacturers understand that there is a need for transformation in the market. However, the challenge is: how do they start transforming themselves when their processes and employees are distributed in dozens of countries? How do they become agile and innovative? Before automotive manufacturers begin the transformation process, they must create a roadmap or strategy. To do this successfully, they need to implement a dashboard system.
Traditional Business Dashboards
Between the invention of accounting and the 1980s, there were no significant changes in the business. The one thing that mattered to most businesses was how much revenue and profits they made. Financial statements were prepared and reported to GAAP. And that was all.
Today, we collect different kinds of information and measure them using our modern dashboards. The success of the modern business does not entirely depend on the profit it makes but also employee satisfaction, the efficiency of operations, and client feedback to name a few.
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Characteristics of Modern Dashboards
Since the early 2000s, there have been massive changes in the business world. Technology has shown us the value of customers. We are encouraging everyone to come up with ideas even if they are not profitable at the moment. Businesses are focused on modern metrics such as organizational excellence, work-life balance, and net promoter score to name a few. Here are some of the things that matter to modern businesses:
- Agility: In business, agility is the ability of an organization to respond to internal and external changes. Every organization needs to remain agile since not every event or outcome can be forecasted or avoided. An agile organization can address and solve complex problems quickly and stay ahead of the competition.
- Resilience: Resilience is the ability to adapt to disruptions without destabilizing operations, the brand, or shareholders. Unpredictable disruptions in business must be dealt with effectively to avoid a crisis in the future.
- Risk: The operations and performance of a business are under constant pressure from cyber-attacks, disasters, changes in government policies, and customer preferences. To manage and mitigate risks, the managers have to identify them and ensure that the organization is running at a comfortable level of risk.
- Employee experience: Employee experience includes everything an employee encounters as he or she works in an organization. These include company culture, working environment, technology, rewards, and culture. Employee engagement is also an important factor that determines employee retention and customer satisfaction.
- Velocity: Velocity is the ability of an organization to operate at an optimum level in all significant areas at the right cost and quality. Organizations that offer their services quickly and efficiently will have a competitive advantage over organizations that move slowly.
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Implementing a Dashboard for a Vehicle Manufacturer
As vehicle manufacturers move towards the new realities and different ways to measure their success, some shareholders might feel uncomfortable abandoning the traditional measures. In such a case, a combination of traditional and new age measures will work effectively. To implement the dashboard, there are a few steps that you need to take:
1. Prepare for Change
Before developing different kinds of key performance indicators, you need to sit down with the management and define the overall organization's strategy. Everyone in the business, starting from the top, has to actively engage in defining this strategy. As a manager, you'll need to support your team and make hard decisions to avoid losing track.
2. Establish your metrics
With the strategy in place, the next step is to identify the right types of metrics that will help you track the organization's progress. Metrics range from hard to technical goals such as profit margin and client satisfaction.
There are also other less technical ones like employee and customer retention. You need to establish the right metrics to avoid getting wrapped up with lots of factors. Information overload can reduce the effectiveness of your dashboard.
3. Get Approvals at All Levels
Implementing your dashboard might require managers to change the way they view their work. A dashboard system should change existing practices such as reporting and decision-making. All users should be on board with the newly developed approach for the organization to achieve its goals. One of the best ways to get everyone on board is by training them on the new concepts and involving them in reviewing performance and providing feedback.
4. Use Simple Tools
A management dashboard project should not be complex. With the wide variety of IT tools on the market, you shouldn't have a hard time finding a simple tool that will help your team achieve its objectives. Simple tools make it easy for more people to use them. Some of the dashboard tools include spreadsheets and databases.
5. Be Ready for Surprises
Many dashboard projects bring to light existing data and practices that have been in place for a long time without much notice. It's time to look at your data and practices critically. Keep in mind that an inaccurate dashboard will result in many errors.
6. Have Fun
A management dashboard that has been successfully implemented will get deep and broad over time. At the start, you shouldn't expect much from your employees because they trying to adopt the new practices. Remember, everything worthwhile takes time.
Conclusion
Car manufacturers might never have the ability to predict and mitigate all risks. However, they need to have a flexible plan in place to respond to unexpected changes effectively. Developing a clear strategy together with the right key performance indicators will improve how they operate and increase profits. All businesses must have flexible and practical digital strategies to move forward securely and sustainably. To stay ahead of the competition, you need to get accurate information at the right time. Are you prepared for change and progress?