External business intelligence dashboards: Real-world examples

As data increasingly drives our world, it’s more important than ever for businesses and individuals to have access to reliable information.

One way that business owners and decision-makers can access information is through business intelligence dashboards. These tools allow data to be presented in an easy-to-digest, visual format for faster comprehension and understanding.

Many different organizations—from businesses to universities—use business intelligence dashboards to gain insight into trends and patterns within their specific industries or fields.

Business intelligence dashboards are extremely beneficial to users, providing them with information that can aid in decision-making and problem-solving.

When data is made accessible via a dashboard, it becomes easy to spot patterns and correlations that would otherwise be difficult to identify. In this article, we will take a deeper look at external BI dashboards and their many uses in the real world.
 

 

What are external BI dashboards?

External BI dashboards are a type of business intelligence dashboard that presents data to external users via a web page. This data can come from a variety of places, including news outlets, social media platforms, and other businesses.

External BI dashboards are beneficial to users because they allow for a wider consumption of the data. Rather than informing users within the business alone, external BI dashboards enable users from a wide variety of audiences to consume and interact with the data.

However, they also allow you to control exactly who can access, view, and edit the data that is being exposed.

In addition to providing users with greater insight into their specific fields, external BI dashboards typically come equipped with interactive features that allow for deeper exploration and analysis of the data. This makes it easy for users to dig into the information they find most relevant and make informed decisions based on that data.
 

External BI dashboards in practice

Now that we have a better understanding of what external BI dashboards are and how they can be used, let’s take a look at some specific examples of their real-world applications:

1. Data tracking in healthcare and disease prevention

One common use for external BI dashboards is for real-time data tracking. These types of dashboards are typically used to monitor anything that changes over time, such as weather patterns or social media activity.

Many different organizations use external BI dashboards to track the movement of flu and COVID-19 outbreaks in order to better prepare for treatment and containment efforts.

For instance, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States uses many external data dashboards to track the spread of pandemics and other infectious diseases.

This dashboard includes data from sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Google Flu Trends, and social media platforms like Twitter. During the novel coronavirus pandemic outbreak, the dashboard made it easy for the CDC to verify that their containment efforts were working.

By monitoring this data, the CDC can identify outbreaks and take appropriate action quickly. In addition, they are able to share this information with other organizations so that they can also take preventive measures.
 

2. Weather predictions and reporting

External BI dashboards aren’t just used to track disease outbreaks. Many businesses use them for weather predictions, financial news, natural disaster updates, and more.

For instance, many depend on digital dashboards that include real-time weather reports from the National Weather Service (NWS). These data dashboards can help inform and display current traffic conditions, earthquake activity, and even tidal warnings.

This type of data helps businesses to make smart decisions about staffing levels, supply chain management, and customer service.

Weather dashboards can be used to determine whether deliveries will be made on time. If severe weather is forecasted, the business can choose to reschedule deliveries or hire drivers with four-wheel drive vehicles.

Although this dashboard is used internally by the NWS, many businesses have implemented similar external BI dashboards for their teams.

This allows teams to access data that will help them make smart decisions about how they allocate time and resources. External BI dashboards are also helpful for sharing data with customers.

By using widgets that allow external users to access the information they need in an easy-to-digest format, businesses can increase customer satisfaction by providing them with great service.

These dashboards display the most up-to-date weather reports and provide interactive tools so that users can explore the data in more detail.

3. Monitoring company financial performance

Companies that use external BI dashboards as part of their daily operations typically benefit from increased productivity as a result. In addition to the obvious benefits, such as being able to plan for natural disasters or large pandemics, there are other less obvious uses for this data.

For example, some companies have begun using external BI dashboards to monitor their financial performance.

Instead of constantly monitoring the market, these companies are able to view real-time information about their own company’s stock price or share value. This allows them to make changes quickly based on new information and react accordingly.

In addition to being able to see current data, many of these dashboards allow users to download information for further analysis. This is especially helpful when the company needs to analyze a specific time period in more detail.

Data governance can also be implemented in external dashboards. Dashboarding software can have security and governance tools so that managers at each level have access only to the data they need, avoiding duplication and confusion.

External BI dashboards can provide companies with important information that will help them make smart decisions about their business. This saves the company time and money because they are able to avoid potentially costly mistakes.
 

4. Government and military applications

Many governments and military organizations also use external BI dashboards to keep track of various types of data. For instance, the Department of Homeland Security has implemented dashboards that tracks natural disasters such as wildfires and earthquakes so that they can deploy resources quickly if needed.

In addition to tracking information about natural disasters, many governments also use external BI dashboards to track information about potential threats to national security.

By monitoring social media and other online sources, they are able to get a better understanding of what is happening in the world. This helps them make better decisions about allocating resources and protecting their citizens.
 

Conclusion

Dashboards are powerful tools that can improve business operations by providing teams with real-time data. Educating the rest of the organization about how to use these tools effectively is essential for ensuring high productivity levels.

External Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards are powerful tools that give businesses access to the information they need in order to make efficient decisions.

By making this information available to the public, businesses and organizations can offer quick and easy access to the information people need while simultaneously increasing customer and stakeholder satisfaction.

By learning how to use external dashboards, you can offer increased transparency and drive efficiency throughout your company or organization.