A senior leader asks: Customer response time is 42 minutes. Is that good or bad?
You have the data. But you don't have a target. This is where many analysts make an uncomfortable mistake: they create a benchmark and present it as if the business had already agreed to it.
That's not analysis. That's an assumption disguised as a number. Instead, clarify what the KPI is supposed to achieve.
Ask:
What outcome are we trying to protect? Customer satisfaction? Retention? SLA compliance? Cost efficiency?
Then ask: What does the business currently consider acceptable?
Suppose the leader says: Our customers are complaining, but reducing response time will require additional support capacity. Now the problem becomes more interesting. You could recommend reducing response time immediately. But that may increase cost.
You could maintain the current level. But customer dissatisfaction may continue. Or you could segment the KPI.
Perhaps urgent requests average 42 minutes while routine requests take 3 hours. Now the business may not need to reduce every response time. It may need to improve response time where it affects the customer most.
That is the analyst's real challenge. Not finding a target. Helping the business decide what the target should accomplish.
Analyst Under Pressure: When a KPI has no target, don't manufacture one.
Ask:
- What decision will this KPI support?
- What outcome matters most?
- What trade-off are we willing to accept?
- Where does performance actually create business impact?
Sometimes the strongest analytical answer isn't: Here is the target. It is: Before we set the target, we need to decide what we're optimising for.
You have the data. What do you do next?
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