Change, Risk and Crisis Situations: Does KPI-Based Management Still Make Sense?

In today’s episode of the Business Tech Talks powered by BlueSoft podcast, we are joined by Łukasz Bober, Managing Director at BlueSoft. We discuss whether KPI-based management still provides an effective way to monitor an organization’s performance and what a modern system for tracking key performance indicators should look like. We explore how to select KPIs for different management levels, reduce dashboard overload, and break down information silos. We also look at how operational management can be integrated with risk and crisis management – from system failures and cyberattacks to geopolitical threats. The conversation also covers the concept of a single source of truth, Business Intelligence, AI, and JayBSC – a platform that integrates data, KPIs, and communication across the organization. Below is a detailed summary of the episode.

Does KPI-based management still make sense?

KPIs, or key performance indicators, have long been a fundamental tool for managing organizations. Problems arise, however, when a company starts monitoring too much data or relies on indicators that do not reflect its actual business needs.

There is no single universal set of KPIs that works for every company. Even organizations operating in the same industry may need different metrics. Standards can provide a useful starting point, but they should be adapted to the organization’s specific characteristics, strategy, and processes.

It is equally important to align KPIs with the relevant management level. The executive team needs different information than a factory manager or an employee working on a specific production line. Showing everyone the same data can lead to information overload and make decision-making more difficult.

How to choose the right KPIs and avoid data overload

More data does not always lead to better decisions. If a management dashboard contains dozens of indicators, users may struggle to quickly identify which information actually requires their attention.

Effective KPI-based management should therefore rely on a clear information hierarchy. At the highest level, a dashboard should primarily answer one question: is the organization operating as expected?

A simple RAG model (red, amber, green) can help. Green indicates that operations are running as expected, amber signals a potential risk, and red highlights an issue that requires action. Only when an irregularity is identified should the user need to drill down into more detailed data to determine its cause.

A KPI dashboard designed in this way does not try to show everything at once. Instead, it delivers the right information to the right person and enables users to move seamlessly from a strategic overview to operational detail.

Information silos: why do they make organizations harder to manage?

Information silos are one of the biggest challenges facing large enterprises. Individual departments, factories, or business units may use their own tools, reporting methods, and data definitions.

The problem becomes particularly visible in global organizations. Individual factories may report inventory levels differently or even use different definitions of an SKU. Similar challenges arise when defining a customer – especially when sales are handled directly in some markets and indirectly in others.

That is why an important element of effective enterprise data management is establishing a common business glossary and a single source of truth. Data reaching the executive level should be consistent regardless of the department, system, or location it comes from.

Crisis management and day-to-day KPI monitoring

Under normal operating conditions, organizations monitor production, sales, efficiency, and progress against their plans. The situation changes, however, when a major incident occurs, such as a system failure, cyberattack, or geopolitical threat.

In many companies, crisis management and day-to-day operational management still function as two separate areas. As a result, an organization may receive information about a serious threat while its production dashboard continues to show all KPIs in green.

This separation makes it difficult to obtain a complete picture of the situation. Information related to security, organizational resilience, and potential threats should be connected to business KPIs. Only then can executives assess not only current performance but also the potential impact of a crisis on business operations.

Organizational resilience and cybersecurity as part of management

Between business as usual and a full-scale crisis lies another important area: organizational resilience. It encompasses an organization’s preparedness for events that could disrupt its operations.

This also applies to cybersecurity. The episode discusses the example of energy infrastructure and wind farms, where insufficient software reviews may create exposure to cyberattacks.

The challenge, therefore, is not limited to the technological threat itself. It is equally important to connect security information with the business context and demonstrate the potential impact of a given incident on the organization’s operations.

Crisis communication: getting the right information to the right person

Data and KPIs are valuable only when information reaches the right person at the right time. An effective management system should therefore also incorporate both crisis and operational communication.

Not every message requires an immediate response, and not every message should be distributed across the entire organization. Information needs to be properly aggregated, communication channels need to be established, and organizations should clearly distinguish between purely informational messages and those that require action.

One effective approach is to integrate management systems with tools employees already use every day, such as Microsoft Teams. This helps avoid introducing yet another communication channel and can make it easier for employees to adopt new technologies.

JayBSC: integrating KPIs, data, and management dashboards

JayBSC, discussed in the podcast, is a modular platform designed to support organizational management, KPI monitoring, and the integration of information from different areas of the business.

The solution can operate at the strategic level, providing executives with a high-level dashboard showing the organization’s overall health, while also enabling users to drill down to the operational level, for example, to a specific factory or production line.

An important capability is creating a single source of truth for management data. Instead of building more independent dashboards, an organization can aggregate and structure information from multiple systems.

The platform is also configurable. Existing standards and methodologies, such as the Balanced Scorecard, can provide a starting point, while reporting, communication, and KPI presentation can be adapted to a specific organization’s needs.

Business Intelligence and KPIs: do you need another BI system?

JayBSC does not have to replace existing Business Intelligence tools. It can complement platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, or Qlik.

In the solution discussed in the podcast, the reporting layer can use Power BI, while the wider ecosystem also includes Power Apps, a mobile application, Microsoft Teams integration, and Dataverse.

The key is maintaining data consistency. Information entered at the operational level should be accurately reflected in the reporting layer. This ensures that executives, managers, and employees all work with data based on the same definitions.

How can you tell if your company needs a better KPI system?

There is no single universal sign that indicates an organization needs to change its management approach. However, several symptoms should prompt a company to review its current model.

One of them is the recurrence of the same problems. If the same error or incident recurs, it may indicate that the organization is failing to apply lessons learned from past experiences.

Another warning sign may be declining productivity or difficulty assessing the impact of new regulations, such as NIS2 or DORA. If a company cannot determine how regulatory changes will affect its operations, this may indicate that the data it monitors does not provide a sufficiently complete picture of the situation.

It is also worth looking at how existing tools are actually used. If employees avoid applications, dashboards, or reporting systems because they are too complex, contain too many KPIs, or fail to address their needs, simply adding more technology will not solve the problem.

AI in organizational management and crisis analysis

Artificial intelligence can support both data analysis and communication in organizational management. One application of generative AI is the creation of crisis situation reports, which can help organizations preserve knowledge from previous incidents and use it in the future.

AI can also simplify the way users interact with systems. Instead of searching through an interface for the right function, an employee can provide information naturally, for example, through a messaging platform, and the system can use it to update the relevant data.

This does not mean removing people from the process entirely. AI-generated outputs should be verified, while automation should be applied to well-designed processes. Human-in-the-loop remains an important part of using AI effectively within an organization.

Is it still worth managing a company based on KPIs? Summary

KPI-based management can still be an effective way to monitor an organization’s health, but simply increasing the number of indicators does not automatically lead to better decisions. What matters is selecting the right KPIs, aligning them across management levels, and linking strategic and operational data to risk information.

Modern organizational management also requires breaking down information silos, establishing a single source of truth, and enabling efficient communication between business, IT, and security teams.

Technologies such as Business Intelligence, Microsoft Power Platform, AI, and the JayBSC platform can help bring this ecosystem together and deliver the right information to the right people. Technology, however, remains a tool. Effective management ultimately depends on well-designed processes, consistent data, and an organization’s ability to continuously learn and improve.