The one metric we're all looking for...

Our industry is packed full of efficiency metrics such as PUE, WUE, CUE, DCIE and more that I can't remember, haven't heard of or that haven't yet been 'invented / marketed' :-)

How about the one metric that very few people can measure or manage? The one major elephant in the room. The one Achilles heel that remains exposed. 

COST. 

Why is it the case, that in an industry that has achieved 'maturity', the hardest questions to answer still are these: 

What is the cost of delivering an individual service / client today?

What is the cost of delivering an individual service / client tomorrow?

How do my per service / per client costs change as new services or clients arrive or leave? 

Successful companies in mature industries such as manufacturing are successful because they truly, madly and very deeply understand and care about their unit costs and their marginal costs. 

After all, one of the parents of industrialisation is activity based accounting. 

I would argue that to achieve true maturity as a business, the basic finances have to be clear, understood and under control. And that's especially true for tomorrow's finances. After all, yesterday's money is already spent!

Arun Shenoy is Director of Sales at Romonet Ltd