The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

By Jeff Rumburg

Managing Partner at:

This month we depart from our usual format, and instead of discussing a single metric I
will explain how a handful of critical metrics can be combined to create a single, overall
indicator of service desk performance. We call this the Service Desk Balanced
Scorecard.

The Balanced Scorecard

Today’s service desk technologies and reporting packages make it easy to capture
copious amounts of performance data. Most service desk managers can tell you
everything from last month’s average speed of answer to yesterday’s average handle
time. But what does it all mean? If my abandonment rate goes up, but my cost per
contact goes down, is that good or bad? Is my service desk performing better this month
than it was last month?
Despite all the data that service desk managers have at their fingertips, most cannot
answer a very basic question: How is my service desk performing? The balanced
scorecard resolves this dilemma by combining the most important service desk KPI’s into
a single, overall measure of service desk performance.
MetricNet’s research shows that establishing an overall metric for your service desk is
critical. We call this metric the balanced score because it truly does communicate a
balanced picture of service desk performance. The balanced scorecard is a mechanism
that aggregates the most important service desk metrics – such as cost per contact and
customer satisfaction – into a single, all-inclusive measure of service desk performance.
The value of this metric, when tracked over time, is that it enables a service desk to
determine whether overall performance is improving or declining.

Oftentimes, when a service desk attempts to communicate its performance to other

stakeholders in the business, particularly to lay people who do not understand service
desk operations, those people quickly become overwhelmed by the minutia of such
measures as first contact resolution rate and speed of answer, and they are confused about
how to interpret the results. They are likely to focus in on one, easily-understood metric
like speed of answer, and draw conclusions about overall service desk performance from
this relatively unimportant metric. This is a classic case of missing the forest for the
trees. It is therefore absolutely critical to communicate the overall performance of the
service desk, and the balanced scorecard does that for you. Think of the balanced
 The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

scorecard as your letter grade for the month! In this way, a service desk can track its
overall performance, and, in any given month, may see costs go up or customer
satisfaction go down or speed of answer increase, but these individual measures take on a
secondary level of importance because the balanced score provides a more complete and
accurate picture of overall service desk performance.

The Mechanics of Creating a Scorecard

Creating a scorecard is relatively straightforward. You can follow along in Figure 1

below as I explain the process.
Figure 1: Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

First you select the metrics to include in your scorecard. We suggest including the
following six metrics: Cost per contact, customer satisfaction, agent utilization, first
contact resolution rate, agent job satisfaction, and average speed of answer. Depending
upon the metrics you track in your service desk, you may choose fewer metrics or a
different mix of metrics for your scorecard. Secondly, you establish a weighting for each
metric based upon its relative importance in the scorecard. This is a judgment call, but
we suggest overweighting cost and customer satisfaction, since these are the foundation
metrics for service and support. Step 3 is to show a reasonable range of performance –
worst case to best case – for each metric. Normally these performance ranges are derived
from a benchmark of your service desk. In step 4 your performance for each metric is
inserted into the third column from the right. A score for each metric is then calculated
based on the interpolation formula in step 5. And finally, a balanced score for each

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 The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

metric is determined by multiplying the metric weighting by the metric score. When the
metric scores are summed up, you have the total balanced score for your service desk.
In this particular example, the service desk balanced score is 55.6%. Your balanced
score will always range from 0% (if you have the worst possible performance for every
metric in the scorecard) to 100% (if you have the best possible performance for every
metric in the scorecard). It turns out that the service desk in our example has scored quite
well. When we run hundreds of service desks through this algorithm, we get a normal
distribution centered right at 50%. Those who score above 61% are in the top quartile;
those who score between 50% and 61 % are in the second quartile; those between 39%
and 50% are in the third quartile; and those below 39% are in the bottom quartile for
overall performance.
Benchmarking Your Performance

The balanced scorecard is an ideal way to track, trend, and benchmark your service desk
performance. Figure 2 below shows the trend in one company’s service desk
performance over a 12-month period. The blue bars in the chart represent the monthly
balanced scores, while the red background represents the 12 month trailing trend in
scorecard performance. Clearly, the performance trend for this particular service desk is
improving!
Figure 2: Balanced Scorecard Trend

Finally, the service desk balanced score can be used to benchmark your service desk on a
fair, apples-to-apples basis against other service desks. Figure 3 on the next page shows
how the service desk in our example compares to other service desks in their
benchmarking peer group.

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 The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

Figure 3: Scorecard Benchmarking Comparison

About the Author

Jeff Rumburg is co-founder and Managing Partner of MetricNet, LLC. He was awarded
the 2014 Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the IT Service
and Support industry. He also authored a best-selling book on Benchmarking, and has
been retained as a help desk expert by such well-known companies as Intel, General
Motors and American Express. Equally broad is his industry experience, which includes
project management and delivery responsibility in virtually every major industry.
Prior to co-founding MetricNet, Mr. Rumburg was president and founder of The Verity
Group, an international management consulting firm specializing in benchmarking and
competitive analysis. As president of The Verity Group, Mr. Rumburg launched a
number of syndicated benchmarking services that provided help desk benchmarks to
more than 1,000 corporations worldwide.
Additionally, Mr. Rumburg has held a number of executive positions at META Group,
and Gartner, Inc. As a vice president at Gartner, Mr. Rumburg led a project team that
reengineered Gartner’s global benchmarking product suite. And as vice president at
META Group, Mr. Rumburg’s career was focused on help desk Benchmarking.
Mr. Rumburg's education includes an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, an M.S.
magna cum laude in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a B.S. magna
cum laude in Mechanical Engineering. He is author of A Hands-On Guide to Competitive
Benchmarking: The Path to Continuous Quality and Productivity Improvement, and has
taught graduate-level engineering and business courses.

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 The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

Mr. Rumburg’s contact information is below:

Jeff Rumburg
Managing Partner
MetricNet, LLC
1431 Mayhurst Blvd
McLean, VA 22102
United States
Telephone: 703-992-8160
Facsimile: 703-992-8130
E-mail: [email protected]

About MetricNet
MetricNet is the leading source of benchmarks, scorecards, and performance metrics for
corporate managers worldwide. MetricNet benchmarks encompass every industry and
government sector, and address numerous business functions including information
technology, customer service, and technical support.
MetricNet’s mission is to provide its clients with the benchmarks they need to run their
businesses more effectively. MetricNet is committed to making the benchmarking
process quick and easy for its customers. We have pioneered a number of innovative
techniques to ensure that our clients receive fast, actionable benchmarks, with a minimum
of time and effort.
MetricNet offers a number of competitive differentiators that will enable us to complete
this benchmark very successfully. These include:
 Credibility and Experience – The principals of MetricNet have collectively
completed more than 3,700 benchmarks since 1988. Each of them has extensively
researched, written, and published on the topic of help desk best practices. Prior to
joining MetricNet, the founders of the company held executive positions at a
number of companies including Gartner, META Group, the Stanford Research
Institute, and the Verity Group.
 Board Memberships – MetricNet serves on the Board of Directors for numerous
company and industry associations. In recognition of its industry expertise, and
ground-breaking benchmarks in technical support, MetricNet was recently
appointed to the Strategic Advisory Board for HDI, formerly the Help Desk
Institute.
 Industry Recognition – MetricNet’s CEO, Jeff Rumburg, was recently awarded
the Ron Muns Lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the IT Service
and Support industry (http://www.metricnet.com/jeff-rumburg-honored-ron-
muns-lifetime-achievement-award).
 Benchmarking Database – MetricNet’s help desk benchmarking database is the
most comprehensive in the industry. This database contains information on more
than 20 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and nearly 60 best practices from
hundreds of help desks worldwide.

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 The Service Desk Balanced Scorecard

 Methodology Expertise – Through decades of help desk consulting experience,

MetricNet has perfected its methodology for help desk benchmarking.
MetricNet’s approach to peer group selection, data normalization, gap analysis,
and action planning yields consistently positive results for its clients. One of
MetricNet’s co-founders, Jeff Rumburg, authored a best-selling book on
benchmarking, and MetricNet has authored and published more than 100 articles
on help desk benchmarking and best practices.
 Streamlined Approach - MetricNet's streamlined methodology for
benchmarking means that its clients receive comprehensive, accurate benchmarks
with a minimum of time and effort. MetricNet's clients report that it takes on
average between 8 and 12 hours to complete MetricNet's benchmarking
questionnaires. This is far less than the time and effort (typically a week or more)
required by competing firms.
 Value - Through MetricNet's syndicated benchmarking services, our clients are
typically benchmarked against 25 or more comparable peers both inside and
outside of their industry. Moreover, because our benchmarking peer groups are so
large, our clients benefit from economies of scale that simply don't exist
elsewhere in the industry. MetricNet's benchmarks contain far more data, are
more statistically valid, and are typically priced an order or magnitude less than
other available benchmarks.
 Objectivity -- MetricNet’s recommendations are independent and unbiased. We
have no relationships with hardware manufacturers, software vendors or systems
integrators, and we do not perform downstream hardware or software
implementation work. As a result, our clients receive objective recommendations
that are free from any vendor bias.
MetricNet, LLC serves a global client base from its headquarters in the United States, in
McLean, Virginia. MetricNet’s US Federal Tax Identification Number is 20-5791285 and
its web site address is www.metricnet.com. The principle location of MetricNet, LLC is:

1431 Mayhurst Blvd.

McLean, VA 22102
United States
Telephone: 703-992-7559
Facsimile: 703-992-7558
Email: [email protected]

For More Information

For more information about MetricNet, please go to www.metricnet.com, e-mail us at
[email protected], or call us at 703-992-7559.

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