There’s an old and oft-cited saying in business: “If you can measure it, you can manage it.” Measurable results, it is widely accepted, enables clearer visibility of performance and provides valuable quantitative data to evaluate what is working and what is not. And as software and systems continue to evolve, the availability and breadth of data and analytics have vastly expanded, empowering organizations to set, track and report more Key Performance Indicators than ever.
Key Performance Indicators or “KPIs” are measurable data metrics used to determine how effectively a business or business unit is achieving its most important objectives. Modern and mature businesses mandate a broad range of KPIs across most functions. For example, common sales KPIs include quota attainment, bookings growth, percentage of deals won, annual recurring revenue, retention and churn. Common marketing KPIs include net promoter score, marketing qualified leads, sales qualified leads, customer lifetime value and site traffic to lead ratio. Common IT and Support KPIs include availability, incident response time and client satisfaction. Common Human Resources KPIs include employee satisfaction and engagement and employee turnover. These and other responsible business units rely on KPIs to demonstrate their performance on a data metrics basis.
