Metrics from a Support Services Perspective NERCOMP November, 2014 Roy Atkinson 11/10/2014 2013 HDI. All rights reserved.
About HDI HDI is the worldwide professional association and certification body for the technical service and support industry. Facilitating collaboration and networking, HDI hosts acclaimed conferences and events, produces renowned publications and research, and certifies and trains thousands of professionals each year. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO Over 60 local chapters in North America + vchapter Serves a community of over 170,000 worldwide www.thinkhdi.com @ThinkHDI www.hdiconnect.com #ThinkHDI
About the Presenter Senior Writer / Analyst, HDI UBM Tech 15 years experience in help desk, service desk, desktop support, business consulting HDI Conference Faculty, International Certification Standards Committee, Desktop Support Advisory Board Advanced Management Strategy, Freeman School of Business, Tulane University Twitter: @HDI_Analyst @RoyAtkinson
This Isn t Easy Things that are easily measured very rarely get us to what we really want. Steve Hultquist, in SupportWorld
The Why of Metrics What job are we doing? What are we doing well? Where do we need improvement? How well are we supporting our organization and its goals?
The Why of Metrics What job are we doing? Is it what we think we are doing? What are we doing well? How do we know? Where do we need improvement? Are there indicators pointing to weaknesses? How well are we supporting our organization and its goals? Are the metrics aligned with the goals?
Are You Measuring What Matters? Source: 2013 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Quick Show of Hands How many of you have conducted a full metrics review with stakeholders in the last Year 6 Months Quarter Month
Quick show of hands When was the last time you made any major changes to either the metrics or the way they are reported? 1 Year or more 6 Months 1 year Last quarter Last month
Easy Question Has the world of IT changed in the last 2 years?
Consider This Scenario CEO / President / Chancellor says to you: Show me why we have a support center. Photo: Creative Commons, Scott Schiller
Pressure Source: HDI Research September 2013
Metrics Review Understand the desired business outcomes Determine which metrics most closely reflect the desired outcomes Work with senior management to ascertain the who, when and how of metrics reporting Revise and refine Schedule periodic reviews
How Your Organization Thinks
Reporting Metrics reporting is 2 parts calculation and 3 parts communication.
Flow of Information Strategic Tactical Operational Focused internally Based on The Definitive Guide to IT Service Metrics by McWhirter and Gaughan
The Why of Metrics Redux What job are we doing? Is it what we think we are doing? What are we doing well? How do we know? Where do we need improvement? Are there indicators pointing to weaknesses? How well are we supporting our organization and its goals? Are the metrics aligned with the goals?
Let s Start with the Big Stuff Tickets Requests
Measuring Separately Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Channels Autologging (no human intervention) Chat Email Fax Mobile app Phone Social media Text message Walk up / Genius Bar Web form/request (customer created tickets)
Channels Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Channels Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
What? Shift
Shift Left $250 $200 $150 $100 $50 $0 Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Cost Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Evidence of Shift Left 85% of organizations provide some type of self help option Remote Control Technology is more common in support centers than even incident management systems 30% of support centers are resolving tickets previously handled by desktop support or other escalated level(s) of support Sources: HDI 2014 Research
Seeking to Understand Understanding the relationships among metrics is as important as understanding the metrics themselves.
How Metrics Affect Each Other If you Shift-Left : Average Handle Time will go up (at least at first) Speed to Answer will go up (at least at first) First level resolution rate (FLRR) should go up* (that s the point) Mean time to repair/resolve (MTTR) should decrease* Customer satisfaction (CSAT) will go up* *(but maybe not right away)
Increased Number of Tickets In 2010, cost per ticket for phone was $20. In 2013, cost per ticket for phone was $17. Percentage of support centers that say the number (volume) of tickets (all channels) has increased: 2009 70% 2010 67% 2011 68% 2012 66% 2013 66% 2014 57% Have costs really decreased? Sources: HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Reports
How Metrics Affect Each Other Fully-burdened cost per ticket (Total costs Total number of tickets) Total costs = $1.3M/yr Total # tickets = 52,000/yr $1.3M 52,000 Fully burdened cost per ticket = $25 Total costs = $1.3M/yr Total # tickets = 76,000/yr $1.3M 76,000 Fully burdened cost per ticket = $17 Cost itemization calculator available to HDI members at ThinkHDI.com
How Metrics Affect Each Other Problem: Reduce speed to answer (ASA) Solution 1: Solution 2: Solution 3: Solution 4: Add staff Augment staff Add self service Reduce handle time (AHT)
More Qualitative % versus targets set in SLA Level Zero Solvable (LZS) The difference in average resolution time between tickets resolved at L1 versus Escalated* Escalated versus L1 Solvable for everything *and cost
Metrics That Make Sense Support Business Growth: Efficiency, effectiveness, capacity Improve customer service: CSAT, NPS or CES; MTTR, IUM Improve efficiency: AHT, FCRR, Quality scores Reduce costs: Cost per ticket / user; IUM, CoD Expand services: Capacity (volume), utilization, value
What Satisfaction Numbers Tell Us Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Change of Focus Quantitative Qualitative How many times are we? How well are we? Activities Outcomes We resolve tickets. We help produce business results.
Event Management Percentage of events requiring human intervention: Number of events requiring staff Total number of events 100 Percentage of events leading to incidents: Number of events as incidents Total number of events 100 [Monthly]
More Event Management Formulae: Number of events as _ Total number of events warnings repeated resolved by tools 100
Incident Management Average incident resolution time: Accumulated incident resolution time* Total number of resolved incidents Average escalation response time: Accumulated incident response time Total number of escalated incidents *By incident priority
What if we posted Days without any Interrupted User Minutes (IUM) IUM = number of affected users duration of interruption (min.)
The Brass Ring of Metrics Cost of downtime. Almost impossible to obtain Extremely valuable
The Brass Ring of Metrics Cost of Downtime (CoD): Interrupted User Minutes Cost per minute* *Lost productivity average value of productivity per user per minute
Change of Focus Consider recognizing and rewarding accuracy and quality over speed and quantity.
Caveats If you measure FCR, you also need to measure reopen rate (If the user calls back and says it happened again or it isn t fixed It s not FCR)
Cost of Password Reset Avg. cost per ticket (industry) = $14 for phone Let s say a quick password reset call costs $10. Average password reset volume = 30 35% of all calls. If total volume = 1000 calls per month: 30% of 1000 = 300 $10 = $3000/mo. or $36,000/yr.
What Is FCR? First Call/Contact Resolution Considered by many to be the main metric Really means you are doing repetitive work What you reward is what you will get. Source: 2014 HDI Support Center Practices & Salary Report
Customer Satisfaction Measurement CSAT: Generally ~5 questions; scale 1 5 NPS : One question; scale 0 10; toss 7 s & 8 s CES: One question; scale 0 5; 0 is best
Review The easy info is not the most valuable Business thinks like business Metrics that are aligned with goals are best Metrics are not goals, they are mileposts Measure and report The right way To the right people At the right time
Metrics versus Goals The metric not the goal. The metric is the milepost that helps you measure progress toward your goal.
Science of Metrics Further reading: Metrics for the New World of Support