The full form of KPI is Key performance indicator is a quantifiable measure of performance used to ascertain a company’s overall long-term performance over time for a particular objective. KPI helps to determine a company's strategic, financial, and operational achievements, especially compared to those of other businesses within the same sector. KPIs are a collection of quantifiable indicators that encourage the organization’s strategic goals and enable you to put efforts toward achieving your progress over a period of time.
KPI varies from organization to organization, it is based on business priorities. For example, one of the key performance indicators for a public company is likely to be its stock price, whereas a KPI for a private start-up might be the number of new customers added each and every quarter.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are called business metrics used by corporate managers to analyse factors which deem crucial to the success of an organization. KPIs put efforts to focus on business processes and functions.
Here are some of the reasons which define the need for key performance indicators.
Keep teams lined up: Measuring project success or employee performance, keeps teams moving in the same direction.
Give a health check: Key performance indicators provide you with a realistic look at the health of your organization.
Keep your teams accountable: Key performance indicators that assist employees track their performance and help managers move things.
The standard KPIs can be categorized as,
They represent data in numeric values such as percentages, ratios, whole numbers or fractions to show ratings, scores, counts and finances etc.
These indicators are expressed in textual data like surveys, opinions, multiple answer questionnaires, etc.
Input indicators help analyze the required resources to produce the desired results. For example, how much additional staff is needed to deal with additional customer footfall during the festival period, or how many more machines to double the production.
As the name suggests, these indicators reflect the final result, which in turn suggests the success or failure of a business process, such as revenue growth, number of customer acquisitions, review score, etc.
They communicate how well a business process is running and how effective they are in fulfilling its purpose.
They are comparative indicators of a company’s performance concerning its competitors.
They mainly question the purpose of a company’s existing processes with regular feedback and observations.
They help reflect an organization’s ability to implement change, whether it is operational, cultural or political.
As the name suggests, they show a business’s financial stability and growth. When coupled with other metrics, these indicators suggest detailed financial sustainability.
They help identify if the business and/or its specific processes are meeting its objectives in the short and long term.