Klipfolio announced their v5.4 release of Klipfolio Dashboard today – a desktop dashboard focused on providing operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Some interesting additions to their product are:
- Search – the ability to use search functionality within the dashboards to filter out columns and to identify interesting data points using Boolean operators.
- Drill across – in addition to drilling down to more detailed data, users can also drill through data to identify related data points to identify relevant information. This can include analyzing the relationship between sales and the delivery of inventory, etc.
- New charts, stack bars, win/lose charts, etc. – helps broaden the analysis capabilities.
Many new releases focus extensively on adding features and on increasing interactivity, and Klipfolio v5.4 is no different. What does differ, however, is the way in which dashboards are delivered to end-users. Organizations have access to dashboards continuously on their desktops and can interact with and change what they see, making them easy to interact with. Although not targeted to analytics, the ability to get a view of current performance and targeted metrics enable users to get a continuous view of what is happening within the organization.
Klipfolio provides a good example of operational dashboards and the importance of constantly being in contact with essential metrics to increase overall visibility into performance. At the same time, it is important to remember that not all companies require operational dashboards or constant updates to information. Depending on the type of business problems being faced, and depending upon the overall goals and usage of dashboards, different options exist. It’s always important to remember that picking the right type of dashboard extends beyond features and functions towards business goal alignment and data visibility.
