One of the most important things to consider when getting a Customized SuiteCRM solution for your business is your SuiteCRM dashboard. CRM dashboards are usually kept simple, as if they don’t amount to much; contrary to popular opinion, they serve very important purposes. Even though a dashboard is not all that a CRM has to offer, it is still a major part of it and there are great benefits associated with the use of CRM dashboards.
Benefits of SuiteCRM Dashboards
Dashboards provide a holistic view of the business's performance while pointing out different parts of the business that require attention. However, care should be taken when getting custom dashboards developed so that they are not overfilled with information or reports since that would defeat the purpose of having dashboards in place while also depriving the business of the CRM dashboard benefits discussed below.
Shows Business Performance
Dashboards, at first glance, provide a snapshot of the position of the business. This can help the various members of the business identify the direction that the business is moving towards. However, the information shown does vary according to the person viewing the dashboard and the department that he or she belongs to. In fact, even within a single functional department of a business, there are different dashboards for people in different positions. For example, in the sales department, the Sales Manager will have a different SuiteCRM dashboard than a sales agent. Therefore, at one instance in SuiteCRM, there are multiple types of dashboards added for different people to view.
Identifies Business Weaknesses and Strengths
Another benefit of having dashboards in your SuiteCRM is that dashboards show you the parts of your business that are working well as well as those that are weak. This way, you can replace or improve upon the weaker parts while focusing more on those that are performing well, whether it is the service, product, or customer touchpoint.
Aids Decision Making
Finally, although the list of benefits has not been exhausted yet, we would like to mention the help in decision-making processes that you get from your SuiteCRM dashboard as the last benefit. Dashboards often tend to contain information that assists you in making data-driven decisions concerning your business. What information, in the form of charts or reports, can a SuiteCRM dashboard contain? We discuss this below.
Dashboard for Sales
Since this department is more concerned with convincing people to buy the products or services of the business, it will have dashboards customized to show customer behavior as well as buying patterns and trends at a holistic level. The sales pipeline is one of the most popular components of CRM dashboards for Sales. The CRM dashboard for Sales managers would include other components, such as:
- number of sales closed
- sales reports on a monthly or weekly basis
- sales activity reports
- sales forecasts
For individual sales agents, the dashboard might include:
- information on open leads
- customer segments
- sale process flowchart
- upcoming events or pending activities
This data is set to help the people viewing it improve their performance as well as that of the company by being able to close quality deals more efficiently.
Dashboard for Marketing
This type of dashboard is set to change not only according to the people using it but also according to the marketing strategy deployed by the business and whether marketing has been automated or not. Some businesses are more focused on ATL than BTL marketing, and some use more conventional methods of marketing while others are inclined towards digital marketing. Using SuiteCRM can improve the marketing efficiency of businesses. SuiteCRM dashboards are one means of achieving this. However, this would require an optimized SuiteCRM dashboard containing some or all of the following reports or statistics:
- campaign status
- region-wise traffic to the company’s website
- market segments to target
- customer engagement
- leads by source
- Cost per Lead
- Cost per Click
- Marketing budget and its allocation
Dashboard for Customer Service
The importance of this department, and hence its dashboard, should not be underestimated. According to the 80/20 rule, this department could affect the sales of the business since 20% of the customers are the source of 80% of the revenue. This department could help in encouraging customers to come back for more. However, in order to be able to do this, the services provided to the customers should be impeccable. That is only possible through effective and efficient customer management. The use of SuiteCRM can improve customer management. Furthermore, SuiteCRM dashboards play a significant role in good customer management. A good SuiteCRM dashboard for customer service is comprised of reports and charts showing, among other important KPIs, the following information:
- number of customer service requests
- nature of customer service requests
- customer satisfaction data of Customer Service
- status of cases
- age of open cases
- customer churn rate
Dashboard for Accounting and Finance
Many businesses have employed CRMs for Marketing, Sales and Customer Service departments. However, integration of the CRM with third-party software, such as QuickBooks, also makes the CRM suitable for the Accounting and Finance department since they can gather relevant data from the CRM, while also being able to update their QuickBooks records from within the CRM. This calls for a custom dashboard for the Accounting department also. The CRM dashboard for Accounting, being more relevant to finances, should display some of the following information:
- Various ROI (including that on marketing campaigns)
- cash flow status
- break-even level in revenue or quantity sold
- total profits earned from sales
- Profit or Cost centers
- cash versus credit sales
All these pieces of information could help in the decision-making process of the business, relevant to finances.
Dashboard for Human Resources
SuiteCRM can also be customized for use by the Human Resources department through the addition of an HRM (Human Resource Management) module. RT Dynamic has developed an HRM solution for SuiteCRM. It is in the form of a SuiteCRM plugin.
A SuiteCRM with HRM capabilities also begs for a custom HR dashboard. Such a dashboard is set up to streamline and optimize certain Human Resource Management processes. This would be possible through the addition of components, which might include the following:
- number of vacancies
- labor turnover
- key performance indicators of the various staff members
- commissions, increments or reimbursements, etc. owed to various staff members
- staff absences
- number of leaves taken in comparison to the number allowed
- Required teaching or training sessions
- Employee motivation status
All these pieces of information will assist the HR staff in maintaining a healthy workspace for the employees of the business.
Over to You
We have gone through the importance that the dashboard of a CRM carries, especially that of SuiteCRM. Furthermore, we have also identified some important information, in the form of statistics and reports, that should be displayed on the dashboards of the various functional departments of a business. As already mentioned, these help in not only streamlining and optimizing business processes but can also act as a great aid in decision-making. Read all of the important charts and reports mentioned, and add any or all of them to your company's dashboards if you think they're useful. Furthermore, if you don’t have a CRM dashboard in your business or don’t use it, you should get one and start using it right now.
RT Dynamic, being an Official SuiteCRM Partner, is your best bet for the development of custom dashboards as well as for other services including SuiteCRM Migration, Integration and Customization. Get in touch by filling out the contact form below. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
