The 12 Days of Benchmarking - Day 5
Solution delivery and innovations
So far in this series weâve looked at:
- how the business perceives digital technology
- whether value is actually realised
- how stakeholders experience the digital workplace
- and whether services meet agreed levels
Now we turn to something equally critical:
đ How effective is your organisation at delivering new digital solutions and innovation?
Because maintaining services is only half the story.
The other half is your ability to change, evolve, and improve.
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What this metric is
Management satisfaction with solution delivery measures how senior leaders perceive the organisationâs effectiveness in delivering new digital solutions and enabling innovation.
In simple terms:
Do business leaders feel that IT can successfully deliver the changes they need?
This is captured through a management survey, using a 1-5 satisfaction scale from executives, business unit heads, and key stakeholders.Â
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Why it matters
This metric reflects your organisationâs change capability.
In todayâs environment, organisations need to:
- launch new services quickly
- respond to regulatory change
- and continuously improve user experience
If leaders are not confident in your ability to deliver change, you will see:
- shadow initiatives or workarounds
- slower organisational transformation
- and missed opportunities for innovation
High satisfaction here tells you that IT is not just a service providerâŚ
âŚit is a strategic delivery partner.
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What good looks like in practice
High-performing organisations typically demonstrate:
- Reliable delivery of change
- Projects, products, and enhancements are delivered consistently and predictably
- Strong collaboration with the business
- Solutions are co-created with business stakeholders, not delivered in isolation
- Balance between stability and agility
- Core services remain stable while new capabilities are introduced safely
- Clear prioritisation and governance
- Work is aligned to strategic priorities, not just competing demands
- Leaders can see tangible improvements and new capabilities being delivered regularly
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What drives low satisfaction in this area
When management satisfaction with solution delivery is low, the causes are often familiar:
- Slow delivery cycles
Changes take too long to reach users
- Unclear prioritisation
Too many competing initiatives and no clear direction
- Weak engagement with stakeholders
Solutions donât fully meet business needs
- Poor communication and visibility
Leaders donât understand what is being delivered or when
- Innovation without outcomes
Lots of ideas⌠but limited tangible value
The PBM guidance encourages gathering qualitative insight alongside survey scores to understand these root causes in more detail.Â
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How to improve it
If you want to improve confidence in your solution delivery capability:
1. Strengthen demand and prioritisation
Align all change initiatives to clear strategic outcomes and value
2. Improve delivery models
Adopt delivery approaches that suit the work (agile, product-based, or hybrid)
3. Increase transparency
Provide clear roadmaps, delivery plans, and progress updates to stakeholders
4. Strengthen stakeholder engagement
Involve business leaders throughout the lifecycle, not just at the start and end
5. Focus on outcomes, not outputs
Measure success based on the value delivered, not just the number of projects completed
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A simple reflection
If your Executive Team were asked today:
âHow confident are you in our ability to deliver new digital solutions and innovation?â
What would they say?
And how quickly would they say it?
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Take part in the benchmarking
The ITIL Performance Benchmarking Model helps organisations understand how effectively they deliver change and innovation, not just how they run services.
By contributing your data, you can:
- benchmark your delivery capability against peers
- identify where confidence is low and why
- and strengthen your approach to digital transformation
đ Take part in the PBM survey and contribute your data - ITIL Performance Benchmarking Survey 2026ďťż ďťż
Tomorrowâs focus:
On-time project delivery - how reliably do you deliver digital initiatives when you say you will?
