Imagine running an IT department without a compass—no clear way to gauge performance, spot problems, or demonstrate value to the rest of the organization. Issues are escalating unnoticed, improvements are relying on guesswork, and when someone asks, “How is IT helping the business?”—it’s tough to give a confident answer. Without IT metrics, this chaos becomes a reality.

Tracking the right IT key performance indicators (IT KPIs) transforms chaos into clarity. These measurable indicators allow your IT team to monitor performance, streamline operations, and align with business goals.

Let’s uncover the true value of tracking IT performance metrics so you can walk away with a clear understanding of where to begin. We’ll dive into:

  • What are IT metrics? 
  • Why are IT metrics important to measure? 
  • 5 types of IT metrics to track
  • Best practices for reporting IT metrics

What are IT metrics?

IT performance metrics are quantifiable measures used to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of your IT systems, processes, and teams. They act as a shared language for understanding and communicating IT’s impact, providing clarity for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

For IT leaders, metrics are a critical tool for making data-driven decisions, optimizing resource use, and demonstrating your team’s progress toward strategic goals. They help identify what’s working well, where improvements are needed, and how IT can better support business objectives.

For the broader organization, IT metrics serve as a bridge. They give executives visibility into how IT supports operations and contributes to the bottom line, while also helping non-technical teams understand the value IT brings to their day-to-day work.

Why are IT metrics important to measure?

IT metrics turn your raw data into actionable insights. Without them, your IT team risks operating reactively—putting out fires instead of proactively driving improvements and innovation. Here’s how tracking success can benefit IT:

  1. Performance visibility: Metrics provide a clear view of how your IT systems, processes, and teams are performing. They allow you to track uptime, response times, and other critical indicators that ensure smooth operations. Just like a sales team is measured on revenue indicators and an operations team on productivity metrics, technology leaders have their own, unique set of IT KPIs to stay on track.
  2. Problem identification: By monitoring specific metrics, your IT team can identify bottlenecks or inefficiencies before they escalate. For example, tracking system response times might reveal that certain applications are consistently slower during peak usage hours, signaling a need for resource optimization.
  3. Alignment with business goals: IT performance metrics help ensure that technology initiatives are aligned with organizational objectives. By tracking metrics tied to productivity, customer satisfaction, or cost savings, you can demonstrate your IT team’s contributions to broader business success. 
  4. Continuous improvement: Metrics provide a baseline for performance, making it easier to measure progress over time. Whether you’re optimizing your network or improving ITSM (IT Service Management) to better support end-users, consistently tracking areas to improve helps create a culture of growth and a service-forward mindset on your team.
  5. Accountability and communication: Metrics serve as a common language for IT and other departments, helping you clearly communicate about priorities, successes, and areas for improvement. This transparency builds trust and collaboration across the organization.

Now that we know why we need to track IT metrics, let’s get into what to track.

5 types of IT metrics to track

Organizing IT metrics into categories can help you gain a holistic view of how IT is performing from every angle—including your people, processes, and technology. Below are key categories of IT metrics, why they matter, and examples of what to track within each.

  1. Network performance metrics

A reliable network is the backbone of IT infrastructure. Network performance metrics ensure connectivity remains smooth, performance stays optimized, and the network can handle business demands. Network administrators and infrastructure teams rely on these KPIs to prevent downtime and address performance bottlenecks.

Important network performance metrics include:

  • Bandwidth utilization: Tracks how much network capacity is used, as high utilization can cause congestion, slowing your applications and services. Use network monitoring tools like Auvik to analyze traffic patterns and identify peak usage times.
  • Latency: This measures your delay in data transfer. High latency impacts real-time applications like video calls or VoIP, slowing them down. You can use tools like Ping or traceroute command to measure data transfer delays.
  • Packet loss: Tracks the percentage of data packets that fail to reach their destination, which can disrupt your applications and slow data transfers. Your network monitoring system will help measure success rates over time.
  • Network availability: This metric monitors the uptime of components like routers, ensuring uninterrupted operations. Uptime monitoring tools can help you generate alerts for downtime events.

Explore more network optimization insights >

  1. Service delivery metrics

Efficient service delivery ensures your IT team is meeting user expectations and effectively supporting the business. Helpdesk teams, IT managers, and customer service leaders often focus on these metrics because they highlight the effectiveness of IT’s response processes and the quality of user support, helping to improve issue resolution, enhance user satisfaction, and build trust in IT.

Here are the key IT service delivery metrics to track:

  • Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR): Measures the average time to resolve issues. Lower MTTR reflects faster problem-solving and minimizes downtime. To track this, use ticketing or incident management tools to log and timestamp incidents from identification to resolution.
  • First-Time Fix Rate (FTTR): Measures the percentage of incidents resolved on the first attempt without the need for follow-up actions or escalations. To track this, analyze data from your helpdesk software by flagging resolved tickets that did not require follow-ups.
  • Incident volume: Monitors the number of reported incidents over time, which helps identify trends and address recurring issues proactively. To track this metric, you can generate periodic reports from incident management tools to identify trends in ticket submissions.

Service request completion time: Measures how long it takes to fulfill user requests, with faster completion meaning you’ve improved support efficiency and can boost end user satisfaction and confidence in IT. Track this by looking at the average time from request submission to completion.

IT metrics
  1. IT infrastructure metrics

These metrics help ensure IT systems are reliable, scalable, and optimized to meet business needs. IT operations teams and infrastructure engineers use them to monitor system availability and resource utilization. Proactively tracking infrastructure metrics minimizes the risk of downtime, prevents over-provisioning, and ensures your technology can scale effectively to meet demand.

Essential IT infrastructure metrics include:

  • System uptime: Tracks the percentage of time systems are operational. High uptime ensures business continuity and reduces disruption. To track this, use your network monitoring software to log uptime and downtime events.
  • Capacity utilization: Measures how much of your infrastructure is in use, because proper utilization can prevent overloading and helps you plan for scalability during peak usage periods. Check your server, storage, and network utilization statistics to track this.
  • Backup success rate: Evaluates the reliability of your data backup processes, which is important in protecting against data loss and ensuring recoverability. To track this, log your successful, failed, and incomplete backups. 
  • Hardware failure rate: Tracks the frequency of hardware breakdowns, which helps identify weak points so you can plan timely replacements. You can monitor your hardware performance through diagnostic tools or asset management systems that record failure incidents.
  1. IT service management (ITSM) metrics

ITSM metrics are closely related to IT service delivery metrics, but they are not identical. While service delivery metrics focus on the quality and efficiency of services provided to users, ITSM metrics encompass the broader processes and frameworks that govern how those services are managed. ITSM metrics evaluate the effectiveness of processes like incident management, change management, and request fulfillment, ensuring they align with best practices and contribute to organizational goals.

These metrics are important for IT managers and operations leaders, as they provide insight into process efficiency, resource allocation, and the overall success of IT services within the business.

Crucial ITSM metrics to track:

  • Change success rate: This metric tracks the percentage of successful changes made to the IT environment by documenting and flagging successful versus failed implementations. A higher success rate indicates your team is efficiently and proactively planning changes.
  • Request backlog: Monitors the volume of unresolved IT requests by using ticketing systems to generate periodic reports that highlight unresolved tasks. Managing this backlog helps your IT team maintain timely resolution and prevent bottlenecks.
  • IT support cost per ticket: Calculated by dividing your total IT support costs (labor, tools, etc.) by the total number of tickets closed in a timeframe, this metric evaluates the average cost of resolving your support requests. Lower costs without compromising quality reflect greater operational efficiency.

Read more about ITSM and its role in IT management >

  1. End-user experience metrics

These metrics provide insight into how well IT systems and services support the needs of users. End-users, IT support teams, and business leaders find these metrics valuable because they gauge the direct impact of IT on productivity and satisfaction. High scores in these areas indicate that your IT team is successfully creating a seamless, user-friendly environment that supports business goals.

Important end-user satisfaction metrics include:

  • User satisfaction (CSAT) scores: Using post-ticket surveys or periodic feedback forms, you can gather ratings and qualitative feedback that measures general satisfaction with IT services across the organization.
  • Application response time: By using performance monitoring tools to measure response times in real-time, you can track how quickly your business applications are responding to user inputs.
  • Downtime impact: This metric assesses how system downtime affects user productivity, which can help IT better prioritize critical systems and recovery efforts. To track this, analyze your downtime logs and correlate them with lost work hours or missed deadlines reported by users. Surveys can help here.

While there are many more metrics to track, these IT KPIs are a great place to start with optimizing your performance, improving user satisfaction, and demonstrating your IT team’s value to the organization.

Best practices for reporting IT metrics

Effectively tracking IT metrics is only half the battle—how you report them can make all the difference. Clear, actionable reporting ensures that your metrics are understood and used by the right people to drive decisions. Here are some best practices to follow:

  1. Tailor metrics to your audience

Different stakeholders need different levels of detail. While IT teams might require in-depth technical data, executives are more interested in how IT impacts business outcomes. Make sure your reports are customized to address the priorities of each audience.

  1. Focus on actionable insights

Avoid overwhelming stakeholders with too much data. Instead, highlight trends, anomalies, and areas requiring attention. For example, if network optimization metrics indicate a recurring issue, clearly outline the impact and potential solutions.

  1. Use visualizations

Charts, graphs, and dashboards make complex data easier to understand at a glance. Visual tools, like Auvik’s network management dashboards, can help communicate key insights quickly, making it easier for stakeholders to grasp the significance of the metrics.

  1. Maintain consistency and accuracy

Consistency in how metrics are tracked and reported is important for spotting trends over time. For example, pulling a monthly or quarterly report helps you measure improvements in equal increments. Plus, you should always double-check the accuracy of your data to build trust in your reports.

  1. Connect metrics to goals

Always tie the metrics you report back to business objectives. For example, linking ITSM metrics to improvements in customer satisfaction or increased uptime to improved operational efficiency can demonstrate the value of your IT initiatives.

  1. Automate where possible

Use tools like Auvik’s Network Management platform to monitor systems, automate data collection and reporting processes, and better visualize metrics. This reduces time spent manually pulling insights, helps you stay timely and efficient, and minimizes the risk of errors in your reports.

Take your IT knowledge further

The right IT metrics can be a game-changer, offering the clarity you need to optimize performance, enhance user satisfaction, and showcase IT’s value to the business. Whether you’re tracking system uptime, network performance, or end-user experience, understanding these metrics empowers better decision-making and continuous improvement.

For a deeper dive into IT terminology and to explore more metrics and insights, visit the Auvik IT glossary. It’s your go-to resource for making sense of IT terms and concepts to drive success in your IT operations.

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