IT Metrics and Small Business

"If you don't measure it, you can't manage it!"

All too often we encounter small business clients who feel their IT infrastructure is operating just fine. When asked, "how is your IT infrastructure working", they roll their eyes to the sky and think back to their personal computing issues over the past week. The answer is often, "things are okay...I guess".

Then it happens...

"My computer crashed!" 

"Are you able to get e-mail?"

"I can't print, can you print?"

"Why is the internet so slow?"

"My home computer is faster than this."

With almost inborn instinct the victims hit the power button and pray for normalcy. If the situation is not resolved with a reset and the frustration level is high enough, a call for support is made. Since these issues typically happen sporadically they are often swept under the mental rug.

But lets examine this with business basics - Time Is Money! If we chalk down the lost time of the underrated comments above into dollars, the loss would be startling. This is where a small business owner with limited IT support needs insight into their infrastructure with simple "Key Metrics".

Key Metric 1: "How many times a week, month or quarter have I experienced an outage, failure or issue?"

Key Metric 2: "How long was each outage, failure or issue?"

Key Metric 3: "How much did this on average cost me in dollars and cents?

The metrics are no more complicated than 5th grade math class, but pack the same power as E=mc² 

If the financial loss because of the issues approaches 40% (for arguments sake) of the cost of the hardware, software, or service being used its time to take action. Setting aside a little effort measuring IT outages (among other things) can save a bundle. A small business owner can use the information to target potential system failure, plan for hardware upgrades and more important have peace of mind.