IT Performance: Management, Measurement, and How to Improve

IT systems are the heart and soul of most modern businesses. Therefore, when the IT system is secure from a cybersecurity standpoint and is performing efficiently, the company as a whole can operate to the best of its ability.

In a perfect world, IT systems would take care of themselves. However, specific IT performance management and decision-making are required to ensure that they operate correctly and improve over time.

In this article, we will unpack the concepts of IT performance and IT performance management. We will also discuss key performance indicators and metrics, and provide a list of best practices for monitoring and improving IT performance.

What is IT Performance Management?

IT Performance Management, also known as monitoring IT performance, involves observing, analyzing, and improving the overall performance of your company's IT system. Every IT department will manage its performance differently, but IT performance management tends to include five critical steps:

1. Monitor and observe key performance indicators (KPIs) and their various metrics
2. Analyze the data to identify strengths and weaknesses in the IT system
3. Improve the performance of the IT system by implementing corrections to address the previously identified weaknesses of the system
4. Anticipate the needs of future resources required for sustained IT performance management
5. Report and communicate about the IT management process and KPIs

Why is it Important?

Monitoring and managing IT performance is essential because, without it, a company would have no idea where its IT system excels. Nor where it struggles.

Proper IT performance management accomplishes the following:

• Allows you to optimize your resources
• Improves the user's experience
• Aligns the department with the organization's overall business strategy
• Allows a company to remain responsive to change with proper performance monitoring

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) vs. Metrics

It's common to consider KPIs and metrics as synonyms. However, they are different concepts, albeit related to one another. KPIs differ from metrics in terms of their objective, communication, and focus.

The objective of KPIs is to be directly correlated to a specific outcome. A KPI will either go up or down as it relates to that outcome. On the contrary, only some metrics will help you track the process of specific actions.

In other words, KPIs require a series of metrics to measure their actual progress, but not all metrics are viable. Or you can think of it this way: all KPIs are metrics, not all metrics are KPIs.

KPIs are designed to communicate a business's overall progress towards achieving its goals. On the other hand, metrics communicate the performance of specific processes that function in support of the business goals.

Lastly, KPIs focus on a higher-level business perspective. For example, KPIs can include business goals across various relevant departments, and across longer lengths of time. On the other hand, metrics are lower-level data. They have a lower-level focus that tracks the activities or processes of specific departments. Metrics also tend to track short-term data and data in real-time.

To sum things up, a KPI can be generally viewed as a group of metrics that influence how you proceed with processes and meeting stated goals.

Examples of IT Performance Metrics by Category

• Application Metrics

  Application metrics measure how internal and external users engage with applications. This includes applications your business uses or your actual product when customers are using it.

  • Server response time: The total time the system requires to respond to a request after receiving it
  • Transaction error rate: Percentage of successful transactions in relation to the total number of transactions
  • User response time: The total time it takes for a user to see a response to an action they have taken
  • User satisfaction: Measures how response times, customer data, and IT issues impact satisfaction

• Infrastructure Metrics

  Infrastructure metrics paint a picture of the overall IT system's efficiency.  Measuring infrastructure metrics allows you to address bugs, avoid disruptions to service, and optimize data storage.

  • System availability: Percentage of time the system is operating correctly in relation to the total time
  • Resource utilization: Measures the usage of hardware and software resources
  • Network latency: The speed of data as it transfers from one system to the next
  • Disk utilization: A measurement of the presence or lack of storage capacity for data

• Business Metrics

  Business metrics help companies quantify whether or not the business is achieving its KPIs.  For example, improving product quality and generating revenue.

  • Return on investment: Measures the impact of a specific investment by comparing the initial cost of the investment with the profit generated from it
  • Customer acquisition cost: Measures the amount of money spent to acquire a new customer in order to maximize the return on investment
  • Customer lifetime value: A measurement of the total revenue from a specific customer throughout their relationship with the business

Best Practices to Improve IT Performance

IT performance management is carried out differently depending on the industry and a company's unique business strategy. However, all proper IT performance management should identify bottlenecks and boost overall efficiency.

Likewise, IT performance management practices should emphasize training, awareness, and engagement of all stakeholders. In addition, respective personnel should be equipped with the tools and technologies for high-quality data collection and analysis.

All of this with the end goal of driving continued improvement that is in alignment with the overall IT strategy and the goals of the business.

• Determine Relevant Metrics and KPIs

  When it comes to optimizing your business's IT management, there is a lot you can learn from competitors in the industry. However, how your competitors are managing their IT performance may not make sense for your business. Especially if all they focus on is "vanity" metrics or KPIs.

  Vanity metrics and KPIs are statistics that look good but don't translate to good business practices or meaningful business results.

  Instead of focusing on vanity metrics and KPIs, you want to determine what's relevant for your specific business operation. From there, you can determine actionable metrics and KPIs. In order to do this, when determining metrics and KPIs for your business, you can focus on the S.M.A.R.T. mnemonic. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

• Implement Change Iteratively

  When implementing change, you should start small and prioritize critical KPIs and metrics. Throughout the process, you should gradually expand your scope as it matures.

  The "iterative" component of this step maintains that you repeat the process again and again, making improvements along the way. You want to stick with what works within your IT performance management process and update what doesn't.

• Focus on Interactive Data

  The best KPI reporting tools provide interactive features that allow you to analyze your data more scrupulously. By focusing on interactive KPI and metric data, you can ensure that you extract the most helpful bits of information to improve your IT performance.

• Automate Certain Data Collection and Reporting Processes

  There's a lot you can do with automation to reduce the manual work of your IT personnel. By automating certain IT processes, you can eliminate a lot of slow and clunky components of your system.

  As a result, you'll also mitigate a lot of human-induced errors. This will make your IT systems more effective, accurate, and sustainable. For example, Giva has created a powerful IT Service Management Software (ITSM) solution that operates alongside an AI Copilot, which allows you to resolve issues effortlessly and automate smart workflows.

• Define a Routine Monitoring Schedule

  A well-defined monitoring schedule is essential for measuring your IT metrics and KPIs. A routine schedule allows you to gain more insights while also allowing you to implement new strategies.

  Metrics can be monitored on a more short-term schedule, and some can even be monitored in real-time. On the other hand, KPIs are monitored on a long-term schedule. Typically, KPIs are tracked monthly, quarterly, or annually.

• Report and Communicate Findings Effectively

  With proper KPIs and related metrics for measurement, you can collect a lot of data related to your company's IT performance. However, that data won't do much for you if you cannot find a way to effectively synthesize the information into a report and communicate your findings.

  To be the most effective, it's best to create reports tailored to specific stakeholder groups. In addition, using visual aids like charts and graphs will drastically improve how your data is received. For example, Giva's ITSM software mentioned above delivers immediate visual dashboards, reports, charts, and graphs. With high-quality data like that, you can garner actionable insights to improve your IT performance.

• Review Your Findings and Adapt

  Routine reviews and adaptations should be part of any IT performance management practice. In other words, the data you're collecting and the knowledge you attain about your business cannot help unless you harness it to make business decisions and changes.

  Part of the review process is regularly assessing the relevance of KPIs and metrics. When necessary, you must update your measures to align with your evolving business strategy.

  For example, a drop in your user engagement metric for your ticketing system could mean the software has a bug, or the user experience is poor. Identifying the correct culprit and making an adaptation will be critical for success moving forward.

Mistakes to Avoid When Managing IT Performance

If you are actively taking steps to manage your IT performance by measuring and analyzing KPI data and metrics, then you are off to a great start. Unfortunately, throughout the process, you may experience some pitfalls.

While we could probably write an entire article about the potential pitfalls of improper IT management, here are three mistakes to look out for:

1. Measuring Too Much or Too Little

   There is such a thing as measuring too much and overloading your team with data. First off, storage costs make abundant data collection costly. Similarly, the more data you have, the more exposed you are to security, privacy, and compliance issues.

   On the flip side of the coin, if you don't spend enough time and resources to manage your IT performance at all, you'll inevitably cause harm to your business. Therefore, effective IT performance management is all about calculated and sustainable decision-making.

2. Ignoring Organizational Challenges

   Resistance to change and a lack of ownership among IT stakeholders can derail IT management initiatives. To mitigate these two organizational challenges, proper personnel training must be focused on. In addition, incentives should be in place, and motivated leadership should be involved.

3. Failing to Take Action

   It is said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  Each component of an IT management plan must be well developed and executed. Excellent monitoring and analysis will still fail if reporting and making changes is lacking.

Greater IT Performance Comes from Better Management 

The highest-performing IT departments worldwide are intricately managed. The more effectively an IT department can create relevant KPIs and metrics for its business practice, the better it will perform. Likewise, the better its IT processes for observing and analyzing its KPIs are defined, the better suited it will be for addressing issues and adapting to change.

Giva Can Help You Elevate Your IT Performance

Giva's IT help desk and ITSM software solutions offer easy-to-use and set-up solutions to help streamline your IT organizations.

Features include:

• Intuitive and flexible dashboard
• Helpful copilots for quicker issue handling
• Ticket macros for faster UI interactions
• Multiple service desks for different departments

To learn more, book a free Giva demo to see our solutions in action, or start your own free, 30-day trial today!