Effective dashboards are critical for today’s data driven organizations. I attended yesterday’s Salesforce User Group session on “Dashboard and Data Visualization Best Practices,” presented by GoodData.

GoodData is an AppExchange partner who provides advanced analytics capabilities within salesforce.com. This was a great session that focused on how to convert data into profitable insights and strategies for business executives.

I thought I’d add a few thoughts on why dashboards and analytics are so important. In my experience, business intelligence (BI) tools work best when you:

• Know what metrics are important for your company
• Have sound business processes with a strong supporting CRM and ERP system foundation
• Can plug the BI tool into Salesforce.com rapidly (within hours) via the AppExchange
• Evaluate the BI tool’s standard reports then enhance them as needed

This is the way I’ve done it in the past. It works. And these tools keep getting better.

SaaS Consulting Group (www.saascg.com), a business advisory and consulting firm based in Austin, TX joined the NetSuite Solution Provider Program to help clients improve business processes by leveraging established and innovative cloud technology. The startup has quickly become one of Austin’s premier cloud computing consulting firms with an emphasis on the technology and distribution verticals. Rapid implementations and strong word-of-mouth have made it possible for SaaS Consulting Group to attract and retain a roster of fast-growing clients interested in modernizing their systems and replacing costly, stand-alone systems. “After working with NetSuite in sales, finance and operation roles at my previous company, and seeing the productivity benefits and increased security available in the cloud, I knew that we needed to be part of this growth,” said Rob Gottschalk, SaaS Consulting Group CEO. “The NetSuite value proposition is very obvious to forward-thinking organizations. Our customers are realizing these benefits within weeks of implementation.”

Austin, Texas-based SaaS Consulting Group, which handles sales of NetSuite, has negotiated seven agreements for NetSuite inside just ten months. “I just hired my fourth full-time person,” Rob Gottschalk, CEO of SaaS Consulting Group, told CRN. “NetSuite adoption is skyrocketing. It is easy to sell because it is such good software. There are accounting functions that take customers weeks to do that are handled in NetSuite in a matter of minutes. Customers love it!”

Rob Gottschalk, the CEO of SaaS Consulting Group, headquartered in Austin, Texas, left an IT software management company last May to focus on his cloud computing services business and has already closed seven deals in only 10 months for NetSuite. “I just hired my fourth full-time person,” he said. “NetSuite adoption is skyrocketing. It is easy to sell because it is such good software. There are accounting functions that take customers weeks to do that are handled in NetSuite in a matter of minutes. Customers love it!”

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