Does anyone have any examples of how you’re using KPIs and dashboards to effectively demonstrate IT's value to stakeholders?

We emphasize availability, but we also strive to turn these metrics into stories that the business can relate to. Cybersecurity is a critical component, and we monitor compliance with patching and software usage to give the board a clear picture of how smoothly operations are running. Our dashboards also include a financial forecast, providing a three-year outlook based on budget, and internal customer satisfaction metrics, which assess how well we serve employees and third parties. Additionally, we produce a monthly risk dashboard to highlight potential threats to the business, whether due to IT investments or security risks. This often sparks important discussions and helps us advocate for necessary actions.

We've learned that storytelling is powerful. Initially, our KPIs and dashboards focused on issues, but we've shifted to highlighting positive stories first. This change has significantly improved our relationship with the business, as they now remember the successes and contributions of our team.

One of the key ways we demonstrate IT's value is by customizing our availability metrics. People often remember the last problem, but I make it a point to remind them of our achievements, like maintaining almost 99.9% availability. Our organizational goal is even higher, at 99.995%, aligning with Azure's standards. Presenting these statistics helps to quickly reassure stakeholders of our performance. We also focus on cybersecurity metrics, such as phishing click rates, and conduct third-party assessments of our cybersecurity maturity using CMM levels. This benchmarking against other organizations helps stakeholders see our progress and maturity.