What is a Dashboard?

A dashboard is a visual representation of an organization's or an individual's key performance metrics, designed for easy recognition of trends, problem areas and other relevant data. Dashboards use visuals such as gauges, graphs and color coding (green, yellow, red, etc.) that allow users to quickly scan the dashboard to understand overall performance and identify areas that need immediate attention. Effective dashboards include both historic and real-time data, aggregated from multiple sources when necessary.

Dashboards are ideally suited for contact centers, which rely heavily on real-time data to manage their operations. A contact center dashboard can typically be customized to contain that center's specific KPIs. Common dashboard statistics include the number of contacts in queue, abandon rate, average speed of answer, and customer satisfaction scores. Dashboards are helpful only when they're visible and viewed, so it isn't uncommon to see them on flat screen TVs on the walls of the contact center floor.

Dashboards can also be implemented at the agent level, which can be an effective way to improve performance, increase engagement and accountability. Agent dashboards might include statistics such as number of contacts handled that day, first call resolution rate, and average handle times. The dashboard might also include company announcements or links to relevant articles. Ideally, agents can also access team-level stats through their dashboards so they can benchmark their performance. When implemented in the right spirit, dashboards can motivate agents to take ownership of their results and strive for continuous improvement.