100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 91One of the biggest challenges in business is to avoid information
overload, focusing instead on fi nding and using the right
information, at the right time. This can be achieved using a simple
“dashboard” approach.
The idea
An information dashboard is simply a set of key business
indicators highlighting daily (or weekly) trends in performance
and productivity.
Dashboards are an increasingly popular method of managing key
aspects of a business, such as sales, from the top of the organization
through to each individual. They enable people to know exactly
where they are compared with the plan, and why. Consequently,
dashboards measure not only results but also what activity has been
done to create them.
HSBC has become more focused on customers and sales, rather
than maintaining a traditional focus (common among banks) on
processes and internal issues. Several of HSBC’s business units
have achieved this by providing sales information to employees in
the form of dashboards.