Dashboards are a life raft in the ocean of big data. They help us distill the mountain of information available to us into simple, easy to understand charts and graphs that allow us to assess progress and performance at a glance.

Rangling your data into dashboards in the first place is an accomplishment all on its own, but once you have a dashboard created, you open up a world of possibilities to customize, improve, and perfect your dashboards to really put them to use for you.

Here are three ways you can take your dashboards from good to great, and from valuable asset to game changing tool:

1. Iterate

Nobody is an expert at something the first time they try it and dashboards are the same way. We’ve never seen a great dashboard that was great in its first incarnation. Just get one out there, live with it a while, get feedback from the people using it, and improve it over and over again. This process is known as iteration. Your dashboard should be a living platform that is continually changing and adapting to better suit the needs of its users.

This iteration improves the functionality of your dashboards, but also ensures everyone has the dashboard experience they really want and can’t live without. If you can’t easily create new dashboard components, edit them, and swap them around, you need a new CRM system. This stuff should take minutes (or you’ll never do it and find you’re stuck with a sub-optimal dashboard).

2. Integrate Tasks

While old dashboards were static data slices, new dashboards are active productivity environments. This means that from within the dashboard, you can capture tasks and activities. No logging in and logging out. No sending emails or chasing with phone calls. Social features are just the beginning of what you can do with today’s dashboards.

This makes common business activities dramatically more streamlined. Because you can make real work happen right there in the dashboard, that means there’s no time wasted jumping between tools and systems. Just take meaningful action right from your dashboard. You’ll spend less time on process and more time dedicated to tasks that really matter, such as prospecting your next deal and staying in touch with your leads. After all, more selling means more revenue.

3. Make Them Beautiful

When it comes to our daily online tools, looks matter. We’ve logged enough time in mind-numbing spreadsheets to know that an aesthetically pleasing and well-designed tool is functionally more effective. It gets used more often — and with considerably more joy. This means a greater ROI on your investment.

If you want people to really use your dashboards, add a bit of design. Colorful, simple, easy-to-read charts, graphs, and dials make important data jump out from the background noise. And people enjoy them. Consumer apps have proven this design principle again and again — beautiful, well-designed tools get used most. There’s simply no excuse for ugly dashboards any more.

To learn even more about creating incredible dashboards, download the full e-book 9 Principles of Killer Dashboards today.