The best dashboard UI/UX is intuitive. It’s easy to follow and use, the first time through, with no explanation. You can get to the data you need, fast. In addition, the dashboard must provide the data most needed by your everyday users as well as data needed by multiple members of different teams and managers and executives. One of the biggest challenges in dashboard design is how to balance data density (the amount of data we display) with the overall aesthetics, so that we end up with a gorgeous interface that draws you in to explore.
A well-designed dashboard brings real value to an organization. The faster you identify a problem or recognize an opportunity, the faster your smart teams can fix the problem or capitalize on the opportunity. That means lower costs or higher revenue for you – always a good thing!
That brings us to one of our team’s all-time favorites: the dashboard UI/UX prototype we created for a nationwide managed IT services provider, GURU.
The problem our client faced: large organizations have hundreds or thousands of devices, servers, routers, firewalls, and more. Troubleshooting can be time-consuming and involve a significant amount of legwork. The faster GURU can identify the problem, the faster and more efficiently the problem can be fixed and GURU’s clients can get back to work. So, we created an intuitive dashboard that would be easy and fun to use.
If you watch the video above, you’ll see how the GURU dashboard UI/UX:
- Leads with vital information. If you’ve ever seen a heat map of how people view information, you’ll know that most people scan information from top to bottom, left to right. The GURU dashboard shows vital information in the top left corner so that the user can instantly find what’s most important.
- Color signals importance. Network health alerts and status are shown in green, yellow, and red, with critical problems in red, of course.
- Key metrics are easy to find. A glance down the left side of the page shows all key metrics, right down to the status of any working help desk tickets.
- Icons connect information. More detail is shown on the right, using icons that mirror those on the left to quickly draw the eye from each alert to its corresponding details.
The visualization of each client’s building is what truly sets this dashboard apart. We used a CAD model of a client’s building and enabled them to tag network devices with each device’s physical location. You can see the building as a whole or zoom into each floor and then to each device. Using a dashboard like this, a tech in front of a computer can instantly see the health of the system and more quickly grasp the nature of a complaint or problem. If the problem can’t be solved at that level, the dashboard will help show precisely what’s happening to a team lead or senior manager, enabling the team to solve the problem that much faster.
The benefit to a managed IT services provider like GURU: easier monitoring and faster solutions, saving the team time and money. The benefit to an MSP’s clients: the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their network is running more smoothly and faster solutions to any problems. As we all know, the cost of a network issue that sideline just one person can be calculated by multiplying that person’s hourly wage by the time that person spends not working. Add in frustration of a slower solution and that time multiples. And if there is more than one person involved, that cost is compounded. A network problem that affects more than one person not only puts a sizeable strain on company resources, the loss of productive time can quickly skyrocket. This dashboard would allow a managed IT services provider to consistently deliver higher value to their clients and help save time and money throughout the value chain.
Interested in a similar tool? Talk to us about how we can help you save time and deliver more value to your clients.