Your business’ data holds incredible potential for helping you improve operations, but only when it is leveraged properly. To this end, you have to identify specific metrics that you are working toward and establish how these metrics are helping you make strides forward. IT offers plenty of metrics to help you make better decisions about operational efficiency.

Why Should You Track Metrics?

It should be established that data and metrics are two different things. Data, for example, consists of the raw information that your organization collects or generates. Metrics, on the other hand, are how you apply said data. You use data to create a narrative that can help you drive business decisions and improve your business in the short or long term.

Here are some guidelines to think about when selecting metrics:

• They should be focused on improving your business’ performance
• They should use business terms to communicate the data they contain
• They should reflect your business’ priorities and goals

You can apply these metrics to your business and its IT systems in several specific ways. Let’s discuss them!

IT Metrics to Monitor

Return on Investment

You’ve likely heard this before, so “return on investment” is nothing new. However, regarding your IT, it might take a bit of a different appearance. You’re measuring how worthwhile a particular implementation was versus the effort it took to implement it. Technology is expensive, no way around it, but you can make intelligent decisions that yield better ROI than others.

By closely monitoring your IT investments, you can attempt to translate them into quantifiable results. If you cannot see a significant ROI, then you know to look elsewhere for your solutions.

IT Spend vs Plan

Your IT budget is important, and you should stick to it whenever possible. Granted, a lot can happen throughout operations, and chances are your numbers are going to be off when the fiscal year comes to a close. The amount of money you spend on IT versus the budget is a good metric to track specifically because it helps you spot wasteful trends in your spending over time.

You can use this metric to make better purchasing decisions for your business in the future.

Percentage of IT Investment by Initiative

Every business has a different set of priorities, often department-specific and variable in scope and scale. IT is the same way; how much you spend on IT will impact the various other parts of your organization.

Consider how your investments in IT impact your business’ priorities. Will they help you achieve greater profitability? Will they help you get more paying customers? Will they simply help to achieve greater efficiency? All of these are valuable investments if they are your business’ priorities.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

By focusing on the metrics that matter to you and your business objectives, you can make better decisions over the course of your business’ lifetime. To learn how to leverage your IT in innovative and intelligent ways, contact 415 IT at (415) 295-4898.