Before making a dinner reservation in a new city, we read restaurant reviews on Yelp. Before booking a hotel, we visit TripAdvisor to review guest ratings. We don't call travel agents with questions about an upcoming trip, but rather compare flight prices on Kayak. And with these answers, we take action—make a reservation, book a flight—all from our phones.

Imagine if we could get business answers without having to go back to our desk.

Imagine if these answers were customized to our business needs.

And imagine that these answers empowered us to take action, instantly.

The great news is that mobile technology, and specifically the Salesforce1 mobile app, makes all of the above a reality. Not only does the app give users instant access to their Salesforce CRM reports and dashboards, they can also now customize an open reporting experience.

Here are three key ways this innovative tool unlocks data:

1. Access

Users will be able to drill through dashboards to access and update underlying records and data.

For example, with a few taps on a phone, an automotive executive will be able to access a dashboard of expected revenues across dealerships, drill into the data to see why some are beating their revenue goals, and then act by creating a special lease offer to incentivize dealerships in underperforming areas.

2. Analyze

With new APIs, developers will have programmatic access to report data that can be integrated into any web or mobile app—inside or outside the Salesforce1 platform. They can use rich visualizations from third-party chart libraries, such as Google Charts or D3.js, to animate Salesforce data, giving users the ability to customize reports and dashboards.

A sales manager, for example, might monitor regional up-sell opportunities using a custom app with map-like visualizations. Simultaneously, a service rep can look at open cases through a mobile app that tracks site visits. These apps are designed for specific use cases. But, because both apps are built with the Reporting & Dashboards API, both apps surface the same real-time data from Salesforce.

3. Act

Business users need information to take action, and they shouldn’t have to navigate multiple systems to drive business forward. However, some mobile form factors can be limiting, requiring users to toggle between key data sets, often impeding progress. With Mobile Reports and Dashboards, users can drag and drop charts directly onto record detail pages for any standard or custom object, bringing together critical data that accelerate action.

For example, an admin can now embed a chart displaying top up-sell opportunities related to an account right inside of an account record, giving sales reps all the information they need in a single glance.

Download this free e-book to read how 100 different Salesforce users run their business from their phones with Salesforce1.