To keep up with the fast-paced and ever-changing world of technology, companies are relying more and more on IT departments to be their backbone. But with so many different aspects of technology to manage, it can be difficult for managers to know which KPIs (key performance indicators) to focus on to measure the success of their IT department.

In this article, we will discuss 28 IT & Technology KPIs that managers should be aware of.

Further Read: Ultimate Guide on KPIs – Incl. List of 200 KPIs for Businesses

What are IT & Technology KPIs?

IT & Technology KPIs (key performance indicators) are essential metrics that companies use to measure their IT departments’ effectiveness and productivity. As technology continues to evolve, companies must track these KPIs to stay competitive and up-to-date. Companies should carefully monitor these KPIs as they reflect the company’s ability to effectively use technology and resources.

These KPIs can be divided into four main categories: Availability, Performance, Security, and Cost Management. Each category is essential in measuring the overall success of an IT department and its ability to meet goals.

Why is it essential to track IT & Technology KPIs?

Tracking IT & Technology KPIs is essential for any organization that relies on technology. These metrics provide managers with critical insights into how their IT departments are performing and where they need to improve. With these metrics, companies can identify areas of strength as well as areas of weakness so they can take the necessary steps to improve them. By tracking and analyzing these KPIs, companies can make better decisions about their IT departments and ensure they are running efficiently.

Overview of the most critical IT & Technology KPIs

• IT Costs vs. Revenue

• IT Team Turnover

• Total Tickets vs. Open Tickets

• Average Handle Time

• Total Support Tickets

• Open Support Tickets

• Ticket Resolution Time

• Reopened Tickets

• Unsolved Tickets Per Employee

• IT Support Employees per End Users

• Total Projects

• Projects on Budget

• Accuracy of Estimates

• IT ROI

• IT Costs Break Down

• New Developed Features

• Number of Critical Bugs

• Team Attrition Rate

• Uptime %

• Server Downtime

• Security Related Downtime

• Backup Frequency

• Cybersecurity Rating

• Amount Of Intrusion Attempts

• Mean Time To Detect

• Mean Time To Repair

• Average Time Between Failures

• Phishing Test Success Rate

Explanation of 28 important IT & Technology KPIs

IT Costs vs. Revenue

When it comes to budget tracking and evaluating return on investment (ROI) in technology, measuring IT costs versus revenue can be a great KPI. Understanding how each dollar spent on IT is contributing to the overall success of a company is essential when deciding whether or not to invest in new technologies, change existing services, or continue business as usual. The key performance indicators need to include detailed information on inputs – such as hardware and software costs – as well as data points associated with revenues earned from improvements in customer service or cost savings achieved by automation. By having this information readily available and easily interpreted by analytics tools, companies are better equipped to make smart decisions when it comes to their technology investments.

IT Team Turnover

IT team turnover rates have become an increasingly poignant issue in the tech industry as companies strive to stay competitive by hiring the best and brightest talent available. Not only is it difficult to recruit these desirable professionals, but they must also be retained to ensure proper implementation of crucial IT goals. Set IT KPIs such as engagement metrics and service usage analytics can help gauge how successful an organization has been in keeping its IT teams intact, so that any future hiring endeavors can be adjusted accordingly. With the current war for top tech talent, organizations must prioritize understanding why their IT team turnover rates are high and seek out effective solution from there.

Total Tickets vs. Open Tickets

Tracking tickets within an IT or technical organization is an important metric to measure the efficacy and performance of related teams. Total Tickets refer to the number of work orders that have been logged and Open Tickets are those still in-progress. IT Management needs to understand both the open ticket count, which can give a high-level overview of how much active workload is present and their total ticket count, which shows their total achievements over a given period. Keeping track of tickets can help identify opportunities for streamlining operations as well as provide evidence for reporting successes.

Average Handle Time

Average Handle Time is an important measure used by Technology & IT departments to assess service performance. It reflects the efficiency of a customer service representative or a technical support agent in accurately addressing customer queries and problems, which ultimately helps businesses to ensure that customers have an excellent experience. Factors such as the complexity of each case and access to resources will affect Average Handle Time figures, but understanding this KPI offers important insights into a technology or IT department’s effectiveness in problem solving. With the right strategies in place, Average Handle Time can be effectively improved and provide the data needed to create actionable solutions for businesses seeking sustainability.

Total Support Tickets

One of the most used and easiest to track KPIs is Total Support Tickets; this metric helps measure how well IT resources are managing customer service requests by tracking the total number of tickets created as a result of end-user queries. Total Support Tickets works best when used alongside other metrics such as resolution times, customer satisfaction ratings, and customer effort scores to get a comprehensive view of the performance of an IT department. Additionally, it should be monitored regularly for changes over time to better understand customer needs and anticipate any software or hardware issues that may arise in the future.

Open Support Tickets

Open support tickets provide a valuable Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for any mid- to large-scale Technology or IT organization. This allows a company to track outstanding issues, not only to gauge response times but also to understand the severity of any issue and customer satisfaction levels. Furthermore, it provides insight into which systems may need additional support resources or which ones need upgrades, so budgets can be allocated accordingly. Open support tickets are invaluable and allow IT, teams, to analyze their past performance and create models for future performance optimization.

Ticket Resolution Time

Ticket resolution time is an important Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for many technologies and IT departments. Measuring this KPI helps management gauge how effective their team and systems are at providing effective customer service. Implementing a tool that tracks resolution time can give managers insight into whether their process or dispatch rules are meeting customer needs. Knowing the average resolution time allows them to compare trends over time, identify areas where they need to spend more resources, and help set appropriate expected standards for the team. Accurately monitoring ticket resolution times is key in any technology & IT setting—it makes it possible to quickly assess how resources are being used and how well customers’ needs are being met.

Reopened Tickets

Reopened tickets are an important metric that technology and IT teams should consider when evaluating the performance of their departments. This is because reopened tickets provide valuable insight into how efficiently problems are being solved, allowing teams to identify where improvements can be made. They also indicate how well team members are communicating with customers who have issues that need to be resolved. Knowing how often tickets are opened and then re-opened not only helps IT and technology leaders better understand the level of customer service they’re delivering but also reveals any systemic issues that may be preventing problems from becoming solved on the first try. In other words, metrics like reopened tickets can help IT and technology teams implement effective strategies for improvement, ultimately leading to long-term success for any organization.

Unsolved Tickets Per Employee

The use of technology and IT metrics is a valuable way to keep track of performance in the workplace. One such metric is the “Unsolved Tickets Per Employee” KPI, which helps managers measure how efficiently their team members are responding to customer requests. By taking the total number of unsolved tickets open at any given time and dividing it by the number of employees assigned to that task, companies can gain an accurate picture of how many tickets they’re handling successfully. This data can be used to inform business decisions that boost efficiency or identify areas where additional resources might be needed. When implemented thoughtfully, Unsolved Tickets Per Employee metrics can provide important insights into workflow productivity and help managers improve operations within their teams.

IT Support Employees per End Users

IT support employees are an essential component of keeping technology and IT systems running smoothly. As a key performance indicator (KPI), it is important to know the ratio of IT support staff to end users in order to properly budget resources. This allows you to understand how many resources are needed in order to ensure that each end user has the help they need when dealing with technology or a technical issue. For example, if there is one IT support staffer for every fifty end users, then adjustments might be necessary if more help is required. Having knowledge of the ratio can also help increase efficiency and efficacy while reducing response time and stress on IT personnel. Overall, tracking the number of IT support personnel per end user can help to ensure that your organization runs efficiently due to the adequate availability of technicians.

Total Projects

The total projects metric is a key performance indicator (KPI) used in the technology and IT spaces. It measures the number of projects an individual or team has completed within a given time frame, either quarterly, annually or over an organization’s entire history. Depending on an organization’s size and areas of focus, its total projects KPI may evaluate a range of activities from software development to implementation of new processes and procedures. Tracking this metric can provide useful macro-level insight into a team’s productivity and impact, helping leaders gauge their team’s overall effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.

Projects on Budget

Any projects involving technology and information technology must keep track of budgets. Companies need to be able to understand the full cost of their operations and how this affects their bottom line. Budgeting is one of the most important key performance indicators when it comes to tracking success in a technological or IT venture. Keeping projects on a budget is critical for staying within approved allocation levels, finding potential cost savings, and meeting project timeframes effectively. This kind of planning not only gives organizations a detailed financial outlook for their resources but also creates an environment where quality products are achieved within the most effective timeline possible.

Accuracy of Estimates

In today’s environment, it is increasingly important for organizations to measure the accuracy of their estimates for IT projects. This means that tracking KPIs or key performance indicators, such as the accuracy of estimates, can provide a great insight into how well an organization is staying on top of IT trends and strategies. The ability to accurately measure (and observe) this KPI can help ensure that all departments are taking the right steps to reach their desired goals promptly. Accuracy of estimates is a critical component to any successful IT strategy and should be taken into consideration when evaluating an organization’s overall performance.

IT ROI

As businesses continue to invest heavily in IT infrastructure, IT professionals need to understand the concept of IT ROI (Return on Investment) and how it relates to KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Generally speaking, IT ROI measures the efficiency of a firm’s investments in technology against the objectives across various levels of operations. It answers important questions like “Are we investing too much?” or “Are we getting enough return on our investments?”. On the other hand, KPIs are used to measure and monitor various metrics associated with technology initiatives such as customer satisfaction, technological advances, marketing outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Both IT ROI and KPIs enable organizations to make more informed decisions when investing in new technologies and assess their performance over time to ensure that their goals are being met.

IT Costs Break Down

The costs of IT can range widely depending on the size and sophistication of an organization’s IT infrastructure, and these must be aligned with the company’s overall business objectives. Without sufficient knowledge of these KPIs — such as cost per desktop, customer analytics, and system availability rate — new implementations might have too high a burden that might strain cash flow or lead to inadequate service levels. By staying informed about how much IT costs, what KPIs are necessary for the organization’s optimal functioning, and having regular consultations with expert partners, businesses can ensure that their technology investments help deliver higher productivity for a lower total cost.

New Developed Features

The use of technology and IT has led to a vast array of newly developed features that are essential in today’s fast-paced digital world. From automated customer service and improved security systems to the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, these technological advances have revolutionized the way many aspects of our daily lives function. Technology and IT KPIs explain how these new developments have helped deliver business objectives, improve performance, drive innovation, increase user engagement, and provide valuable insights while enhancing organizational efficiency. As technology continues to rapidly evolve on an exponential scale, businesses need to remain agile by emphasizing the effective use of modern IT trends as part of their key performance indicators for success.

Number of Critical Bugs

As technology and IT becomes more crucial to how we do business, a metric has emerged to measure the effectiveness of those systems. Critical bugs provide an indicator of how well these systems are running and managed. If a bug is deemed critical it implies that the system in question can no longer perform as it should and must be fixed as soon as possible to prevent further disruption and loss of data. By tracking the number of critical bugs, companies can monitor IT performance from a technical perspective and produce better end products for their customers. Critical bug metrics give them the valuable data necessary to make smarter decisions about product design and maintenance requirements, allowing for a better-informed development process.

Team Attrition Rate

Measuring and managing turnover among teams of employees is an important part of a business’ success. Team attrition rate acts as a key performance indicator (KPI) for IT and technology departments, which can be used to assess the effectiveness of hiring and retention strategies. Businesses need this kind of information to understand how well they are meeting their talent acquisition needs in the workplace and to track their overall performance. By leveraging team attrition rate data, organizations can optimize their recruitment process and improve job satisfaction among staff, resulting in maximized operational efficiency with increased productivity. As such, utilizing team attrition rate KPI is invaluable when it comes to maintaining business viability.

Uptime %

Uptime % is an important KPI for technology and IT professionals. It reflects the percentage of time a service or system is available, which is essential for any business dependent on these systems. Technology and IT teams take great care to ensure a high uptime % because when systems are down, businesses may miss out on customers and production opportunities. In addition to measuring uptime %, IT professionals also work hard to identify issues before they cause outages so that the required adjustments can be made proactively rather than reactively while downtime can still be minimized. Ultimately, this performance metric serves as an indicator of success in the technology and IT departments.

Server Downtime

Server downtime measures how reliably an IT system runs and can be used to evaluate the reliability of a business’ technology components. Server downtime can be caused by many different events, from routine maintenance to unforeseen circumstances like cyberattacks or computer failure. No matter what the cause, server downtime means lost productivity and revenue, so companies tend to invest heavily in efforts to reduce and prevent it. This can involve improved security protocols, more reliable hardware, better monitoring services, and backups plans to minimize the impact of any outages that do occur. By keeping track of server downtime regularly, companies can ensure they have the best possible IT infrastructure while also saving time and money.

Security-Related Downtime

Security-related downtime provides valuable insight into the security processes within an organization, as well as how well the system is designed, monitored and managed. Security-related downtime can refer to a variety of different types of incidents, from unexpected production outages to malicious attacks from outside sources. By keeping track of these occurrences and taking suitable preventive measures in response, businesses can ensure their technology systems remain secure and reliable for their customers. With the right data-driven approach, organizations can reduce their risk of being exposed to devastating security reversals while meaningfully improving their customers’ online experiences.

Backup Frequency

Backup frequency might sound simple but sometimes it can be good indicator of how well important data is secured. This practice helps organizations ensure their data is secure, as backups of all company data must be performed periodically. For organizations that rely heavily on technology, backup frequency can avoid painful technical outages that can come from data breaches or hardware failures. Aside from its security applications, the backup frequency can also give IT administrators a better view of their environment, allowing them to understand the traffic across their networks and enabling quick identification of any potential issues.

Cybersecurity Rating

Cybersecurity Rating has become a popular technical indicator and key performance indicator (KPI) for IT departments across the globe. Organizations measure their performance to ensure their cyber defenses are keeping up with the latest threats and attacks, while also dedicating focus to areas needing improvement. Leveraging data points, such as policy auditing, security patching, and encryption strength, Cybersecurity Ratings provide visibility into an organization’s overall posture. It facilitates better strategic decision-making by empowering stakeholders with actionable insights about current online safety measures. Defining what needs further protection allows organizations to fall back on best practices when updating architecture or dealing with more severe threats. This keeps them well-prepared for any malicious intrusions in the future with a holistic understanding of their systems and networks.

Amount Of Intrusion Attempts

Intrusion attempts, also referred to as security breach attempts, are a key performance indicator (KPI) when it comes to technology and IT. An intrusion attempt occurs when an attacker or malicious actor actively tries to penetrate a network or application with the intent of stealing confidential data or disrupting normal operations. It is important for tech and IT teams to be aware of and monitor these attempts closely in order to ensure that the system remains secure. The number of successful and unsuccessful intrusion attempts should be tracked and reported on regularly in order to identify any weak points that need additional protection and improve overall IT security policies. A trend analysis can then be conducted to determine if further intervention is necessary in mitigating security risks.

Mean Time To Detect

Mean Time To Detect (MTTD) is one such metric that indicates the time it takes for an incident to be identified, logged, and made available for repair. This important measurement is key in helping IT teams quickly diagnose any new issues or problems that arise, providing the necessary information they need to make the right decisions quickly and proactively. Measuring MTTD allows IT teams to more efficiently plan how they need to adapt their systems to provide a better user experience, as well as identify areas in need of improvement.

Mean Time To Repair

Measuring Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) is a KPI that is increasingly gaining prominence amongst business organizations. MTTR enables businesses to measure the amount of time it takes a technician to service their repair requests. Conventional methods of measuring customer satisfaction have been found inadequate in ensuring customer loyalty and improving customer experience. This has led to the adoption of proactive customer service with a focus on reducing repair time as far as humanly possible. Businesses that have embraced this KPI, have seen tangible results in terms of customer retention, staff efficiency, and cost savings. MTTR should thus be perceived by any business as an important indicator for achieving success and staying ahead of the competition.

Average Time Between Failures

When it comes to evaluating the reliability of complex systems and equipment, understanding their Average Time Between Failures (ATBF) is crucial. In many cases, the ATBF can be determined experimentally by subjecting the system or device to rigorous testing and measuring how long it remains in operation. This statistic provides great insight into how reliable that particular system or device is, allowing businesses and consumers to make informed decisions when deciding which options best meet their needs. Although having a greater ATBF doesn’t necessarily guarantee the best performance from a system or piece of equipment, it does serve as a rough guideline for reliability that can be used to compare different models.

Phishing Test Success Rate

When it comes to defending against cybercrime, businesses have a choice. Invest in cybersecurity technologies or increase user education. Recent studies suggest that phishing testing is a powerful way to help protect organizations by increasing the susceptibility rate of successful attacks. Some businesses have seen success rates as high as 95%, showing the potential that security teams have in preventing intrusions. As more organizations invest in employee training and phishing tests, expect these metrics to continue to improve and shape the future of security for both businesses and individuals.