If you can’t count it, it doesn’t count

Early in my career, I worked as a Statistical Analyst. I learned that you virtually live and die by your numbers. I learned that if you can present numbers to back up a discussion, you are a world ahead of those who can’t. So, once I moved into technology and I would hear someone present a case that a system was having problems, I would ask for the numbers or if I were the engineer in question, I would present numbers.

On the other hand, I was sometimes surprised that the numbers didn’t support what I was hearing from end users, which raised serious question marks in my mind about where problems really lay. At that point, deep analysis is necessary to reach the true root cause.

For IT:

While I am an advocate of producing metrics, it is key that IT departments not rely so heavily on the metrics that they forget to listen to the end users. From end users, you may get different messages:
·         The network is slow,
·         The system is slow,
·         My pc is slow,
·         Everything is slow

The reality is, the numbers will tell the true story. That is, IF there are numbers. Mature IT departments, with seasoned Service Management teams, metrics to demonstrate:

·         System availability
       o   Outages due to 3^rd party providers,
   o   Outages due to extenuating circumstances,
   o   Outages due to excessive system use,
       o   Outages due to human error,
       o   Mean time to recovery,
       o   Mean time between outages,
·         Percentage of systems nearing obsolescence,
·         Percentage of systems nearing end of warranty state,
·         Percentage of systems requiring patching exceptions,

For a team that hasn’t quite matured to the point of providing full-blown metrics yet, system availability, obsolescence state, warranty state and patching state are a great place to start.

If you’re on the IT side of the house, meet with the business on a regular basis. By doing this, you become someone they are confident is going to listen to their issues.  If you are on the business side of the company and your IT department isn’t providing these metrics, ask why.

For ERM:

When creating or maturing an ERM (Enterprise Risk Management Program), the same can be said for metrics. You live or die by your numbers. KRI’s (key risk indicators) assist a company’s management and/or Board of Directors become more risk aware. The BoD should not be the last group (behind the press) to know about risk issues. Technology risk items need to include those items listed above but also align and support the business risk attitude. Unfortunately, meaningful KRI’s are impossible to manage unless there is a sufficient amount of measurable data.

Keep in mind that KRI’s are ever-changing depending upon a company’s strategy and goals. This may be uncomfortable for those who are of the mind to build a system and then leave it alone – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fixit it”. Key Risk Indicators/factors do NOT work that way.

·         Link KRI’s to a company’s strategy,
       o   This allows for the development and awareness around key risk factors,
       o   Map KRI’s to strategic initiatives,

This allows management to become more proactive in preventing risk issues from occurring by observing metrics,
       o   B e careful that indicators actually provide a clear picture of the risk. Just having a metric doesn’t mean the metric has value.

·         KRI’s create a unique experience to evaluate and communicate the company’s strategy
   o   After reviewing the key risk indicators, it’s possible a company may rethink strategy based upon the risk associated.

Another advantage to an ERM is that focus becomes proactive versus trying to figure out after the fact why a project or system failed. That’s key to the success of a growing company. Think of it as an early warning system that can give you the advantage you need to avoid risk.

If you are having difficulties figuring out where to start, give CGSolutions of Jax a call. We can help you work through the inertia and get to the guts of a reliable and informative process.