Business results through IT Performance Management
Description:
Performance for information technology today is much more than measuring characteristics like uptime, availability and service level agreements. The current change in perspective, defining IT as a commodity, drives a need for a more business oriented approach to IT performance. Years ago, IT performance was focused on simple delivery of technical capability and the measurement of asset consumption like storage and machine cycles. Today, performance of IT as an integral part of the business includes web presence performance, total cost of operation, portfolio management, new technology deployment, customer service, standards management and e-commerce performance.
Further there are more standards and standard approaches such as ITIL, Cobit, CMM and others to assess the performance of IT along several dimensions not just technical capability. Adopting new technology such as portals and content management also require some implementation of performance measures that identify the value the business receives from their investment. As new technology and capability is deployed methods of measuring the performance and assessing value are needed.
IT is still expected to be accountable for its resource performance as it has in the past. Building upon the basic concepts of traditional performance management you have updated performance needs that relate directly to business performance. At the heart of performance is the return the business is expecting and receiving related to IT asset use.