Jeff Rumburg of MetricNet has delivered many great columns that examine some of the key performance indicators of the IT service and support industry. Here are ten to consider when you need to refresh on some of the key performance indicators of the industry.

by Jeff Rumburg
Date Published June 22, 2021 - Last Updated July 26, 2021

Jeff Rumburg of MetricNet regularly highlights one Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for IT service and support. In each column, he defines the KPI, provides recent benchmarking data for the metric, and discusses key correlations and cause-and-effect relationships for the metric.

Here are ten more great columns to peruse:

Metric of the Month: Customer Experience

A look at how to combine Customer Satisfaction, Net Promoter Score, and Customer Effort Score to create a single metric of Customer Experience.

Metric of the Month: ROI of Support, Part 1

An examination of how to define how value is created in IT service and support.

Metric of the Month: ROI of Support, Part 2

Here, we chronicle a case study that calculates the return on investment for a particular support organization.

Metric of the Month: Agent Training Hours

A look at agent training hours, which is important because higher training hours are positively correlated with several other important metrics on the service desk.

Metric of the Month: Call Abandonment Rate

This metric may be a bit overrated. Many service level agreements include an abandonment rate target. Although a low abandonment rate is a worthy objective, many service desks go too far in trying to reduce abandoned calls.

Metric of the Month: Ticket Handle Time

A ticket is the basic unit of work in a service desk. Ticket handle time, therefore, represents the amount of labor required to complete one unit of work.

Metric of the Month: Agent to Supervisor Ratio

The agent to supervisor ratio is simply the number of front-line agents divided by the number of supervisors for a service desk. It is a measure of management span of control and managerial efficiency.

Metric of the Month: Channel Mix

Channel mix will continue to evolve for many years to come. Voice is decreasing as a percent of all incoming tickets, while chat, web, email and self-help are all on the rise.

Metric of the Month: User Self-Service

Last year, the average cost of resolving an incident at level 1 in North America was about $22. If some of these incidents can be deflected to self-service, that reduces the headcount requirements and hence the cost of the service desk.

Metric of the Month: Ratio of Agents to Total Headcount

The ratio of agents to total headcount is an indirect measure of managerial efficiency in service and support. A high ratio of agents to total headcount is indicative of lean management staffing, while a low ratio of agents to total headcount is symptomatic of a top-heavy organization

Metric of the Month: Introduction to Chat Metrics

A look at the metrics that matter when it comes to chat and IT service.


Jeff Rumburg is the winner of the 2014 Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award, and was named to HDI’s Top 25 Thought Leaders. As co-founder and CEO of MetricNet, Jeff has been retained as an IT service and support expert by some of the world’s largest corporations, including American Express, Hewlett Packard, Coca-Cola, and Sony. He was formerly CEO of the Verity Group and Vice President of Gartner. Jeff received his MBA from Harvard University and his MS in Operations Research from Stanford University. Contact Jeff at [email protected]. Follow MetricNet on Twitter @MetricNet.

Tag(s): supportworld, service quality, service management, best practice, metrics and measurements

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