KGIs or Key Goal Indicators
Key Goal Indicators are those that metrify if some company goal has been achieved. But what does that mean, exactly? And why should you keep an eye on the indicator? In today’s post, understand the concept behind this measure and see how establishing goal indicators can greatly help your management. Keep reading!
What is a KGI for?
KGI are lagging indicators, that is, those whose main function is to confirm whether or not an important business goal has been reached. It is a way of making tangible a concept that can often be too abstract: success.
In practice, a KGI should point out what needs to be done so that a project or sector can be considered successful. Thus, it should not be vague, but objective and easily measurable.
Ideally, KGIs should be expressed in numbers or percentages. They show how IT contributes to the company’s mission and goals and thus ensure alignment between operational and strategic levels.
What to measure by means of KGIs
Obviously, each company has different goals. However, some of them may be common in almost all contexts, such as the desire to have greater availability of services or to reduce costs.
However, it is up to the managers, in view of the scenario in which the company is inserted, to define specific goals that need to be met. In addition, it is necessary to take into account not only future goals but also performance history.
Here are some examples of IT goals that can be measured using these key indicators:
- Achieving targeted return on investment or value-for-money (VFM) benefits;
- Improved performance management;
- Reducing IT risks;
- Percentage of SLAs reviewed in the period agreed upon;
- Productivity improvements;
- Integrated supply chains;
- Standardized processes;
- Increased provision of services;
- Attracting new customers;
- Creation of new service delivery channels;
- Availability of bandwidth, computing power and IT delivery mechanisms;
- Downtime;
- Compliance with customers’ requirements and expectations within budget and on schedule;
- Cost per customer served;
- Compliance with industry standards.
Differences between KGI and KPI
Even if you did not know the concept of KGI, you may have heard of a metric that is its “cousin”: KPIs or Key Performance Indicators. These are key performance indicators used to quantify the evolution of work and help in planning the course of action that should be followed.
KPI, in turn, is a leading indicator, which points out how well a process is executing its goal of achieving KGI. Often, they are used to measure values such as benefits, efficiency, effectiveness, quality and satisfaction.
Unlike KGI, which must be reviewed at the end of a project or predetermined cycle, KPIs must be constantly monitored. After all, they let us know if an objective shall be reached or not. In a simplified fashion, KGI looks at the past to see if what was planned worked out, while KPI aims at the future so that corrections can be made.
You can you see how important these goals are for the ongoing evolution of information technology services, right?
