Isabelle Schmidt and her team at Kerkhoff Technologies suggest that businesses should view IT spending as an investment rather than an expense in order to ensure their long-term growth, productivity, and customer satisfaction. The article divides IT spending into two categories: expenses and investments. The former type of spending focuses on short-term cost-cutting measures, while the latter category views IT as a long-term investment. The authors suggest that businesses should invest in quality IT infrastructure to accelerate their growth, rather than holding it back.
The article suggests that seven KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) can be used to measure the ROI of IT investments. These indicators can help businesses understand the value of their IT investments, forecast costs, and reduce the chances of unexpected emergency spends. The authors acknowledge that they don’t use all of these KPIs with every client. Instead, they work with each client individually to understand their reporting requirements and deliver accordingly. The seven KPIs include budgeted IT spend vs actual, percentage of infrastructure projects delivered on time, to budget and spec, average time to solve a problem, uptime vs planned/unexpected downtime, Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Recovery Time Objective (RTO), and Net Promoter Score (NPS).
The article highlights that tracking the budgeted IT spend vs. actual can encourage IT partners to make realistic estimates about the length and cost of projects. The percentage of infrastructure projects delivered on time, to budget, and spec can measure the effectiveness of IT investments in achieving the expected results. The average time to solve a problem can help businesses identify critical systems and prioritize their resolution. The uptime vs. planned/unexpected downtime KPI can measure the availability of systems and devices for regular operations.
The article suggests that businesses should define their Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) to ensure that their data is appropriately backed up, depending on how often it changes and how critical it is. The authors suggest that the NPS can help businesses measure their customer satisfaction with IT investments.
In conclusion, the article emphasizes the importance of viewing IT spending as an investment and measuring its ROI through KPIs. The authors suggest that businesses should invest in quality IT infrastructure to accelerate their growth and satisfy customers. The seven KPIs suggested in the article can help businesses understand the value of their IT investments, forecast costs, and reduce unexpected emergency spends. The authors acknowledge that different businesses may have varying reporting requirements and encourage businesses to work with IT partners to develop customized KPIs that suit their needs.
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