The average Desktop Support organization tracks fewer than 5 KPI’s. However, there are literally hundreds of KPI’s that have been defined for Desktop Support. The vast majority of these metrics, however, are only marginally relevant – at best! When it comes to KPI’s for Desktop Support, less is more!The eight Desktop Support KPIs that really matter are as follows:Cost per TicketCustomer SatisfactionTechnician UtilizationFirst Contact Resolution Rate (incidents)Mean Time to Resolve% Resolved Level 1 CapableTechnician SatisfactionBalanced ScorecardThese eight metrics represent the 80/20 rule when it comes to Desktop Support: 80% of the value you receive from performance measurement and management in Desktop Support can be derived from these eight simple metrics!One goal of every business is to achieve the highest possible quality at the lowest possible cost. It stands to reason, therefore, that cost and quality should be measured on an ongoing basis. In fact, I would argue that cost and quality are the only two things that really matter. In Desktop Support, the most effective cost metric is Cost per Ticket, and the best indicator of quality is Customer Satisfaction.So how do we define Cost per Ticket? Cost per Ticket is the total annual operating expense of Desktop Support divided by the annual number of tickets handled by Desktop Support. Operating expense includes all employee salaries, overtime pay, benefits, and incentive compensation, contractor costs, facilities expense, telecom costs, desktop computing, software licensing, training, travel, office supplies, and miscellaneous expenses.Cost per Ticket is strongly correlated with the following metrics:Cost per IncidentCost per Service RequestTechnician UtilizationIncident First Visit Resolution RateAverage Incident Work TimeAverage Service Request Work TimeAverage Travel Time per TicketCost per Ticket is one of the most important Desktop Support metrics. It is a measure of how efficiently Desktop Support conducts its business. A higher than average Cost per Ticket is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if accompanied by higher than average quality levels. Conversely, a low Cost per Ticket is not necessarily good, particularly if the low cost is achieved by sacrificing quality of service. Every Desktop Support organization should track and trend Cost per Ticket on a monthly basis.In my next blog on Desktop Support KPIs I will discuss Customer Satisfaction.
