Whether you’re a C-suite leader in a technology company or the head of a tech department, it’s important to pay attention to key performance indicators across all areas of the business. Customer satisfaction, revenue and even employee retention are all influenced by a company’s technology stack and its effectiveness, which means tech leaders can play a key role in leading the charge for improvement.
Below, Forbes Technology Council members share essential business metrics every tech leader should keep a close eye on. Read on to discover why these data points reveal essential information and how tech leaders can leverage the insights they provide.
1. Business Expense Ratio
Tech leaders should pay attention to the business expense ratio, which is reported quarterly by most public companies. This metric, in particular, has a direct impact (after people expenses) on technology expenses. As responsible stewards of the business, tech leaders must be aware of these factors and drive efforts to keep expense ratios on track in terms of both committed targets and industry comparables. – Prashant Nema, Arch Capital Group
2. Customer Retention Rate; Repeat Purchases
Pay special attention to the customer retention rate and repeat purchases. These indicate revenue stability, customer satisfaction and cost savings and provide insights for product improvement and competitive advantage. – Swati Kirti, Walmart Global Tech
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
3. Net Dollar Retention
Net dollar retention is an important statistic. For me, and I think for many other tech leaders and their investors, NDR is the ultimate indicator of business health. If I have 30 seconds to update an investor, sharing our NDR helps them understand customer behavior in terms of retention and churn and provides a quick, holistic view of the company. – Ganesh Shankar, Responsive
4. Customer Successes
Focus on how well you help your customers thrive. I avoid getting overly distracted by cool tech, including AI. Our job as tech leaders is to innovate on behalf of our customers to create impact. Ideally, I can use real-time data to see our customer’s successes and failures through our product flows. Tech should be transformative for businesses and help them succeed in ways they didn’t expect. – Ken Moss, BILL
5. Employee Retention
Employee retention is big. People, not products, are our greatest asset. Great people build great businesses. As tech leaders, we must pay attention to what our people want, listen to their requests and understand their likes and dislikes. Our primary investment should always be our people, followed by programs to grow their skill sets. This improves retention and aids in customer satisfaction. – Randall Ward, Appfire
6. Digital Asset Metrics
One potentially surprising KPI area tech leaders should focus on is digital asset metrics, which can help us better understand prospect and customer engagement. Analytics such as page views, click-through rates and social media interactions reveal what content resonates most with your target audience. Tying marketing strategies to the content people care about builds trust and shapes your brand. – Andrew Fingerman, PhotoShelter
7. Customer Satisfaction
As a tech leader, I prioritize customer satisfaction. Happy customers are loyal customers, fueling long-term growth through repeat business and positive word-of-mouth. Customer satisfaction also guides product improvement and boosts team morale. – Prem Naraindas, Katonic AI
8. Adoption
Adoption is a critical metric in today’s world because, typically, the buyer is different from the user. If users do not adopt the technology, it becomes a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. For B2C companies, daily, weekly and monthly active users—in addition to session length and user growth—are among key metrics. – Ashish Agrawal, Cicero Technologies Inc.
9. ROI From Technology Solutions
The return on investment from a technology solution is crucial. In this competitive technology industry, company leaders need to justify their investments to stakeholders, including investors and management. Knowing the ROI helps demonstrate the financial benefits of a tech project or investment and allows leaders to course-correct to improve profitability as needed. It enables leaders to strategically align with the company’s long-term goals. – Alexander Clausbruch, Radix
10. Customer Lifetime Value
As a product executive, delivering value to both my customers and the business is paramount. One crucial metric I focus on is customer lifetime value. This metric guides me in making informed business decisions while keeping customer needs at the forefront. – Su Belagodu, Prendio-BioProcure
11. Business Impact From Supported Tech Tools
I focus on metrics specific to the teams we support and those that drive business impact. For example, we monitor the “deflection rate” for our GenAI-powered customer service application, which is the number of inquiries resolved through self-service channels. This measures our AI’s effectiveness, highlights optimization areas and informs data-driven decisions to streamline operations and customer satisfaction. – Tiago Azevedo, OutSystems
12. Net Promoter Score
I look most at our Net Promoter Score. No one metric, or even a collection of metrics, can properly convey the health of a business by itself, and metrics must always be viewed in context. But as metrics go, NPS is the best leading indicator of future growth or churn. – Graham Stanton, Avise
13. Percentage Of Active Projects Deployed
As a leader in an enterprise AI team, the metric I monitor most closely is the percentage of AI projects that have been deployed among total active AI projects. This number is an indication of the pace of implementation of our company’s innovations and how well we are doing in terms of the adoption of our technology. – Ambica Rajagopal, Michelin
14. Revenue
In a transaction business like ours, revenue is paramount. Strong revenue enables us to enhance products, improve services, invest in our team and broaden our influence. It reflects user satisfaction and market acceptance, affirming our strategy for sustainable growth and customer-centric innovation. – Edul Patel, Mudrex
15. User Acceptance
In the field of wearable devices, user acceptance is one of the most important metrics. Any device or application has to fulfill the user’s expectations and perceived usefulness, so it is crucial to consider these aspects in the development of new technologies. If not considered properly, it might lead to the failure of very promising technical solutions. – Mattia Lucchini, Daetwyler Switzerland Inc.
16. Team Well-Being
As a tech leader, I focus on team well-being as a key metric. High well-being drives productivity and innovation (people). Satisfied teams lead to better performance and lower turnover, enhancing profitability (profit). A supportive culture fosters sustainability and corporate responsibility (planet). – Chaitra Vedullapalli, Women in Cloud
17. CSAT Scores
As a CEO in the laboratory information systems sector, one business metric I prioritize is customer satisfaction. In the lab industry, where precision, reliability and efficiency are crucial, high CSAT scores are vital. They correlate with client retention and loyalty and drive our ability to innovate effectively. CSAT reflects our dedication to creating exceptional value and strong client relationships. – Promise Okeke, NovoPath
18. Number Of Active Users
The number of active users is a key metric for tech leaders. It measures engagement and usage of a digital product, influencing product development. It offers insights into performance, aids in optimizing user experiences and informs growth strategies, contributing to customer satisfaction and success. – Stefan Pampulov, BOSSCAT Home Services and Technology
19. Cost, Lead Time And Performance
Tech leaders in the new product development field must focus on the main program KPIs, including cost, lead time and performance of a new product, since as technical development leads, we will drive those measures to success. All of these metrics are part of the complex task of developing new technology while managing risk to achieve the best possible results. – Rosalba Carandente, Baker Hughes
20. Customer-Found Defects
As a tech leader, I prioritize customer-found defects because they directly reflect the quality of our solutions and processes. This metric is crucial for ensuring customer satisfaction, maintaining high discipline standards and upholding accountability within the team. Reducing CFDs leads to better product reliability and trust with our clients. – Evan Schwartz, AMCS Group