How to Gain Visibility of the Performance of Your IT Estate

The best decisions are based on good quality and accurate data, but businesses often rely upon incomplete or inaccurate information. Measuring the performance of your IT estate is critical, but where do you start?

In this blog, we identify five practical ways you can gain visibility of the performance of your IT estate to help you make the right decisions for your business.

Define your data requirements

Start by detailing the data that you need and discarding the data that you don't. If your teams are collecting and processing information that isn't required, you're wasting valuable resources that could be used more effectively elsewhere. 

Your data requirements should include the crucial management metrics you need to assess performance and manage projects. It should be detailed enough but not too dense. Think about creating a data dashboard to provide simple visibility.

This will allow you to:

1. Standardise reporting requirements
   Legacy IT systems, ageing infrastructure and multiple management platforms are just a couple of the reasons why data processing can be challenging, so tackle it. 
   
   By introducing, implementing and supporting a single technology management platform, you can standardise – and crucially, simplify – data reporting. The report can incorporate data from all teams, departments and directorates.
   
   

2. Automate data capture & processing
   Manual data processing should be a thing of the past, but many organisations still have someone crunching the numbers every month. Many systems can automate processes, freeing up staff from the monthly grind. 
   
   Automating processes means that measurements can be performed and reports can be processed more frequently. 
   The result is a set of metrics that provide reliable measurement in real-time. From the boardroom to the backroom, every member of staff can understand business-critical processes and performance.
   
   

3. Create a collaborative culture
   Changing systems is less important than changing culture. You need your staff to buy in, or they'll check out.
   
   Your staff must understand the critical importance of performance management and the metrics that drive it. Implementing a performance management platform can provide a single source of truth for organisations of all sizes.
   
   

4. Engage experts
   Tasking existing teams with leading organisational change can be problematic, which is why engaging organisational change experts can accelerate the process. 
   
   Consultancy firm PWC has highlighted the rise of the "accidental project manager," promoted to a role that they lack the skills and experience to manage. Your route map won't work unless you've got someone in place to lead the way.
   
   

5. Build a better business
   Gaining visibility of the performance of your IT estate isn't a simple thing to do. It will require an investment in time and resource; however, it's the foundation of building a better business. 
   
   At Unifii, we're business change experts with years of experience helping public and private organisations change and improve. We marry a unique skill set with insights drawn from successful projects. 
   

We've been customer side and understand your challenges. Working together, we can develop new systems and processes that deliver the data you need. At the same time, we can help you challenge and change your culture and bring people along with the process. Contact us here for more.