Data-driven Decisions & the World-class PSO

Flipping through the November 16, 2009 edition of InformationWeek, I came across an article called "From Gut to Facts" by Doug Henschen (pages 6-10). The thesis of the article is that executives who make decisions based on data and "the facts" make better and smarter decisions than those who make decisions based on instinct and "gut feelings."

In away, I had a bit of a "duh!" moment while reading the article. Of course, it makes sense to make decisions based on facts rather than on instinct. Yet, as I read the article, I thought..."How many of us actually do that?" How many of us have the time or access to the data to make smart decisions based on the facts? When was the last time you conducted market research and revamped your offerings based on the facts?

As I talk to more and more PSO managers, particularly those who work in a SaaS business model, the data that is increasingly more important to me are:

• Product consumption metrics - do customers who work with the PSO use more of what they have purchased?
  
• Renewal and growth metrics - do customers who work with the PSO purchase more or additional products?
  
• Customer Support metics - do customers who work with the PSO require less support from our service desk?
• Customer Performance Goals - do customers who work with the PSO achieve the goals they had in mind when they purchased our product?
  
• Project profitability - are we delivering projects in away that allows us to cover or exceed our costs depending on the corporate expectations?
  
• Team Utlization - is the team sized properly to meet the demand of the market?
  
• Customer Satisfaction - are we delivering effective and valued consulting engagements in a professional manner?

Now...it's time to develop a means for accessing and reviewing this data...