A major deficiency in most IT organizations is the performance metrics they provide to business units. Invariably, these metrics reflect an IT-centric perspective, rather than a business perspective. Performance of IT assets that might be deemed within the norm from an IT perspective could still result in communications and application response delays that have a noticeable business impact.

What organizations need are metrics that can serve both IT and the customer. The use of metrics is an essential component of IT Service Management. It provides a mechanism for ensuring that processes deliver the required outcomes and remain efficient and effective. ITIL defines metrics to measure performance against the customer experience. In addition, ITIL sets forth processes for defining IT services and presenting them to users in the form of an IT service catalog.

The result?

IT is provided with service definitions that increase its ability to administer and maintain services while setting performance standards. Simultaneously, business customers are able to choose services that meet both their business requirements and budgets.