Measuring Business Outcomes with ServiceNow CCM

Kieron Dean · ‎10-18-2024

Measuring Business Outcomes with ServiceNow CCM

So, you’re using ServiceNow Cloud Cost Management (CCM) to manage your cloud resources to reduce spend and minimize risk, all from a single platform, and you’d like to know how to get maximum value out of the product? Let’s delve into strategies for identifying, prioritizing, and measuring business outcomes.

1. Define Clear Objectives:

Start by understanding the specific business outcomes you want to achieve. These could include:

Consolidate spend across different cloud providers
Gain complete visibility into total public cloud spend and take steps to prevent cloud waste
Reduce manual processes by automating cloud tasks - from provisioning to retirement

Once you know where you want to focus your effort, collaborate with your stakeholders to define clear and measurable goals. For example:

10% increase in FinOps practitioner efficiency
10% reduction in idle virtual machines
10% reduction in underutilized virtual machines
10% reduction in underutilized cloud storage instances
10% reduction in underutilized cloud database instances
10% reduction in virtual machines operating outside of business hours
5% reduction in spend tied to unreserved instances
5% reduction in spend covered by BYOL, but not used

These goals will guide your KPI (Key Performance Indicators) selection, so make sure you are all aligned before moving forward.

2. Select Relevant KPIs:

Now that you know what you want to accomplish and when, identify and select KPIs that directly align with those goals so that you can track your progress. Here are some relevant Cloud Cost management KPIs:

Total Cloud Spend: The overall cost of all cloud services and resources
% of Unused Resources: Percentage of unused cloud resources
% of Underutilized Resources: Percentage of underutilized cloud resources
Cost Optimization Opportunities: The number of opportunities identified (and acted on) to optimize cloud spending (e.g., rightsizing, removing unused resources)
Reserved Instance Utilization: The percentage of reserved instances being used compared to what was purchased.

Be sure to prioritize KPIs based on their impact on the overall business outcomes. Measuring everything is not as important as measuring specifically what helps you achieve your goals.

3. Measure and Review performance:

Now that you know what you need to track, you can use the Cloud Cost Management workspace to track the progress of your Cloud Cost Management (CCM) KPIs. You can also use the Asset Management Executive dashboard to gain visibility into critical KPIs for the Cloud Cost Management application, via a single dashboard.

Be sure to regularly track and monitor your KPIs and use historical data to identify trends and areas for improvement. Also, ensure your data is accurate and consistent so you know you are making well-informed decisions.

4. Benchmark and Compare:

Benchmark your KPIs against industry standards and best practices. Understand what success looks like in your domain.

Compare your performance over time, against your competitors (if possible), and identify gaps and opportunities.

There are various organizations that offer resources to help benchmark and compare your progress against others like you: Gartner, Forrester, etc. Use all available resources to help you get a sense of where you stand.

5. Iterate and Improve:

Continuously iterate on your strategies. Focus on your goals and if a KPI is not driving the desired results, adjust your approach – stay agile.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address bottlenecks and optimize processes. Use the skills and expertise of others to work together and find solutions.

Regularly communicate progress and insights to your stakeholders, good or bad. It’s important to keep everyone informed and on the same page. They’ll appreciate the transparency and might even have suggestions to help get things back on track.

In Summary

Remember that effective measurement and optimization of ServiceNow CCM outcomes require a comprehensive approach, involving people, processes, and technology. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to helping you get the most out of your purchase, but there are plenty of resources and people that can help you along this journey.

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Have a question about measuring CCM value? Something you think we missed? Add a comment below to keep the discussion going!