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IT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH,
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND CONSULTING
Executive Introduction
In Q4, 2009, ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES®
(EMA™) analysts worked with ASG to research how executives in
IT and within the lines of business use dashboards to gain holis-
tic insights into IT services as they impact business outcomes.
These impacts could reflect on performance, cost, utilization and
other issues that can impact business efficiencies in everything
from business productivity, to revenue generation, to bottom-line
expense management.
The research revealed strong
advantages including clear
financial benefits to Executive
Dashboard adoption in a
wide variety of areas, such as
overall operational efficiency.
The research revealed strong advantages including clear financial benefits to Executive Dashboard
adoption in a wide variety of areas, such as overall operational efficiency. The research also shed light
on how and why Executive Dashboards are being put to use today, and how their usage might most
productively be extended in the future.
This report offers highlights of the ASG/EMA research with an eye to helping IT and business execu-
tives plan more realistically for Executive Dashboard adoption. It will provide insights into:
• How and by whom Executive Dashboards are being used
• The most desired functions and design points
• Integration priorities
• Expected qualitative and quantitative benefits for Executive Dashboard deployments
The report’s actionable recommendations are derived from the research data, as well as years of indus-
try consulting experience, and are similarly targeted at optimizing technology and organizational and
communications-related considerations in elevating IT and business collaborations through Executive
Dashboard deployments.
Research Methodology
In November/December of 2009, EMA and ASG collaborated in researching Executive Dashboard
adoption among 107 respondents, primarily in the North American region. The research screened out
any respondents who were not in any way using or familiar with Executive Dashboards.
Strict priorities were placed on achieving a truly executive mix among respondents, which included
58% C-level respondents, including 32 CIOs; 18 CEOs, COOs, and CFOs; and 19 vice-president level
respondents (See Figure 1). A targeted balance between IT and non-IT respondents guaranteed that 29
respondents came from business rather than IT sectors.
Executive Dashboards: Optimizing IT Services to Empower Your Business
©2010 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1
IT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH,
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND CONSULTING
Which of the following best describes
your role in the organization?
CIO
30%
CEO/COO/CFO (Business Executive Management)
IT-related Director (or Equivalent)
IT-related Vice President (or Equivalent)
CTO
Corporate/Line of Business Manager/Supervisor
(or Equivalent)
Corporate/Line of Business Vice President
(VP/AVP/SVP/EVP)
Corporate/Line of Business Director (or
Equivalent)
IT-related Manager/Supervisor (or Equivalent)
0%
17%
16%
15%
11%
6%
3%
2%
1%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Figure 1: Research targeted truly executive-level respondents, including 58% C-
level respondents and a balance of 28% respondents outside of IT.
The research also targeted primarily mid-tier and enterprise-class businesses and organizations, exclud-
ing companies with fewer than 500 employees, but including 23 respondents between 500 and 999
employees for mid-tier insights. Nonetheless, 52% of the respondents came from companies with
more than 2,500 employees and 27% had more than 10,000. The respondents came from more than 10
different verticals, with manufacturing, financial services, retail, government and education represent-
ing the top 5 in that order.
Who’s Using Executive Dashboards and Why?
While there are many possible uses for Executive Dashboards, ranging from financial optimization to
managing partners and suppliers, to planning more effective criteria for IT infrastructure investments
as they impact business objectives, clearly the most prevalent usage today is directed at service level
management and IT service performance. Both IT and non-IT executives want immediate impact
analysis of IT service availability and performance on business outcomes. For instance, when asked
about reporting priorities, service level management analysis and line of business impact analysis were tied for
first place. (See Figure 2)
1. Service Level Management Analysis
2. Line of Business Impact Analysis
3. Query-based Report Generation
4. E-Business Impact Analysis
5. Currency of Real-time Insights
Figure 2: Top five reporting priorities for Executive Dashboards.
Executive Dashboards: Optimizing IT Services to Empower Your Business
©2010 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2
IT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH,
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND CONSULTING
This means two things for you in planning your Executive Dashboard deployment. First of all, under-
standing service impact in terms of performance and availability is the most mature market area and
one where you can most likely expect to achieve the most immediate value. But you might also want to
seek out Executive Dashboard solutions that can effectively support other areas for your deployment
objectives, such as financial planning and IT/enterprise asset management. We will look at some of
these areas more closely when we examine functional priorities and design points more closely later in
this report.
However, even given their fairly targeted focus on service impact, our respondents were very com-
mitted overall to Executive Dashboard usage. As you can see in Figure 3, when asked, “Do you depend
on an executive IT dashboard for your information about the business impact and overall performance of IT services?”
– 38% were completely dependent and an additional 43% were regularly dependent. Only 19% were just
partially dependent.
Do you depend on an executive IT dashboard for your information
about the business impact and overall performance of IT services?
Yes, completely
Yes, regularly
Yes, partially
0%
10%
38%
43%
19%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Column %
Figure 3: How dependent are you on your Executive Dashboard for business impact on IT services?
Correlating Dashboard Usage with Business Success
It is interesting to note that 86% of those with revenue growth depend on the executive dashboard “com-
pletely” or “regularly” versus 72% of those with revenue in decline. Conversely, only 13% with revenue
growth use the executive dashboard only “partially” versus 27% of those with revenue in decline. In
other words, there is a direct and meaningful correlation between executive dashboard usage and business success!
There are a number of reasons for this. For one, those con-
stituencies with more advanced dashboard usage are most likely
already further along in their commitment to improve the dialogue
between IT organizations and the businesses they serve. However
the capability of Executive Dashboards to effectively simplify and
communicate business impact on critical IT services no doubt also
comes into play.
There is a direct and
meaningful correlation between
executive dashboard usage
and business success!
Executive Dashboards: Optimizing IT Services to Empower Your Business
©2010 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Page 3
IT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH,
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS AND CONSULTING
Time Used and Information-sharing
Executive Dashboards don’t necessarily require a lot of time to bring value, especially when targeted
primarily at business/service impact versus more complex financial planning decision making. However,
there are some users who find their dashboards valuable as ongoing decision-making companions.
Some of the data highlights on usage are as follows:
• 39% use their Executive Dashboard every day, while an additional 33% use their dashboard at least
two times a week. Only 10% use it less than once a week.
• Among those who use their Executive Dashboards every day, 25% use it 30 minutes or less. But
conversely, 47% use it more than an hour a day, and 12% use it more than 4 hours a day!
What do these “heavy users” see in their dashboards that the others don’t? The research didn’t provide
quantitative answers to this, but consulting and individual dialogues suggest two things. First of all, for
some users both inside and outside of IT, the Executive Dashboard becomes an ongoing companion
to understanding if, when, and where critical areas of attention are emerging. Secondly, heavier dash-
board users often have found added areas of value, whether it’s more drill down for triage in IT, or
partner and supplier management and financial planning for business users.
Sharing and communicating information through Executive Dashboards is an important, but not yet
fully evolved option, at least among our respondents. Only 54% said that they wanted to share or
publish information from within their Executive Dashboards to others inside or outside of IT. Not
sharing information can limit value, since in EMA’s experience, breakdowns in communication can
become one of the top reasons why strategic planning and strategic initiatives are suboptimized. Not
surprisingly, however, titles do have something to do with willingness to share. CTOs and CIOs tend
to be the most communicative, whereas CEOs, COOs, and CFOs, tend to be least desirous of sharing
information. This may well change over time as business executives become more IT-aware.
Executive Dashboards: Optimizing IT Services to Empower Your Business
©2010 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Page 4
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