2 customisable OKR examples for It Costs

What are It Costs OKRs?

The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.

Formulating strong OKRs can be a complex endeavor, particularly for first-timers. Prioritizing outcomes over projects is crucial when developing your plans.

We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for It Costs to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

Building your own It Costs OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our customisable It Costs OKRs examples

You'll find below a list of Objectives and Key Results templates for It Costs. We also included strategic projects for each template to make it easier to understand the difference between key results and projects.

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1. OKRs to optimize IT costs by reducing expenses by 20%

Reduce IT expenses by 20%
Analyze previous quarter expenses and identify areas for cost reduction
Determine cost-saving opportunities
Identify spending patterns
Review expenses
Implement cost reduction measures
Educate employees on cost-saving practices and enforce IT policies
Regularly remind staff of cost-cutting policies
Contain training sessions for IT policy adoption
Monitor employee compliance with IT policies and address non-compliance
Hold information sessions about cost-saving practices
Negotiate with vendors for better pricing
Research vendor's competitors and their rates
Highlight your previous purchasing history with them
Offer to sign a long-term contract for a discount
Ask for a volume discount based on the forecasted quantity
Implement solutions and track savings
Identify opportunities for cost reduction
Implement cost-saving solutions
Track and report realized savings
Prioritize solutions based on potential savings

Implement this OKR

2. OKRs to efficiently eliminate the existing datacenter to minimize costs

Efficiently eliminate the existing datacenter to minimize costs
Reduce data center infrastructure costs by 20% through efficient decommissioning
Identify underutilized or outdated equipment for decommissioning
Evaluate effectiveness of current data center infrastructure
Implement efficient decommissioning processes to reduce costs
Achieve 30% cost savings by transitioning to cloud-based services
Analyze cost comparison between current and cloud-based services
Develop and implement transition plan to cloud services
Identify potential cloud-based service providers
Train IT team to manage new services, increasing operational efficiency by 25%
Evaluate performance improvements post-training
Identify necessary training for IT team for new services
Schedule and conduct IT training sessions

cloud-based-services datacenter-decommisioning it-managers cloud-service-providers it-infrastructure-team training-and-development-team

Implement this OKR

It Costs OKR best practices to boost success

Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.

Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇

Tip #1: Limit the number of key results

Having too many OKRs is the #1 mistake that teams make when adopting the framework. The problem with tracking too many competing goals is that it will be hard for your team to know what really matters.

We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.

Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Setting good goals can be challenging, but without regular check-ins, your team will struggle to make progress. We recommend that you track your OKRs weekly to get the full benefits from the framework.

Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.

Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row

Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.

As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.

Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.

How to turn your It Costs OKRs in a strategy map

Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly in order to get all the benefits of the OKRs framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:

It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
It will highlight poorly set OKRs
It will surface execution risks
It improves transparency and accountability

Most teams should start with a spreadsheet if they're using OKRs for the first time. Then, once you get comfortable you can graduate to a proper OKRs-tracking tool.

Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

More It Costs OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.

To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
Blog posts: ODT Blog
Success metrics: KPIs examples

What's next? Try Tability's goal-setting AI

You can create an iterate on your OKRs using Tability's unique goal-setting AI.

Watch the demo below, then hop on the platform for a free trial.

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