What is the Service Leadership Index® Ticker?

What are the metrics being displayed?

The Ticker displays the financial performance of the Solution Providers who attained Best-in-Class ("BIC") profitability during the quarter. Best-in-Class is defined as the profitability which would put you into the top 25% most profitable Solution Providers that quarter. For example, if the BIC profitability is shown as 13.4%, then one fourth of all Solution Providers attained that profitability or higher.

In addition, Median performance and Bottom 1/4 performance are also shown. Median profitability is the performance level at which half the Solution Providers are more profitable and half are less profitable. Bottom 1/4 profitability is the performance level at which 75% of Solution Providers are more profitable.

Of the 80+ critical operating metrics provided by the Service Leadership Index®, the Ticker displays six, explained in the table below:

Metric Description Value
EBITDA% Profitability, specifically, profits if the expenses associated with interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are added back. This metric is chosen because it is commonly used in assessing the ability of the organization to produce cash flow for growth and safety, and is also a primary determiner of stock value.
Quarter/Quarter Revenue Change What is the increase (decrease) in overall revenue of the Best-in-Class profitability Solution Providers from the previous quarter? This number is the average revenue change of all the Solution Providers who attained BIC profitability. The metric is repeated for the Median profitability and Bottom 1/4 profitability Solution Providers. Is the top-line revenue of the Solution Provider population increasing or decreasing? Are the BIC profitability companies growing faster or slower than the Median and Bottom 1/4 profitability companies?
Product GM% What is the gross margin of the product sales of the Best-in-Class profitability Solution Providers? This number is the average Product GM% of all the Solution Providers who attained BIC profitability. The metric is repeated for the Median profitability and Bottom 1/4 profitability Solution Providers. What gross margin are the BIC profitability companies attaining on their product sales, and how does that compare to less profitable companies?
Services GM% What is the gross margin of the services of the Best-in-Class profitability Solution Providers? This number is the average Services GM% of all the Solution providers who attained BIC profitability. The metric is repeated for the Median profitability and Bottom 1/4 profitability Solution Providers. What gross margin are the BIC profitability companies attaining on their services sales, and how does that compare to less profitable companies?
SG&A % What are the Solution Providers who are attaining Best-in-Class profitability, spending on Sales, General and Administrative expenses? This number is the average SG&A% of all the Solution Providers who attained BIC profitability. The metric is repeated for the Median profitability and Bottom 1/4 profitability Solution Providers. How do top profitability companies spend on SG&A as compared to less profitable companies?
Headcount Change What is the increase (decrease) in overall headcount of the Best-in-Class profitability Solution Providers from the previous quarter? This number is the average headcount change of all the Solution Providers who attained BIC profitability. The metric is repeated for the Median profitability and Bottom 1/4 profitability Solution Providers. Is the headcount of the Solution Provider population increasing or decreasing? Are the BIC profitability companies adding or decreasing headcount faster or slower than the Median and Bottom 1/4 profitability companies?

So the Ticker is all Solution Providers lumped together. What about those who have my business model?

Subscribers to the Service Leadership Index® gain access to the 80+ critical metrics for Solution Providers who have their specific business model. So the comparisons are directly applicable. Of course, subscribers also receive the same analysis for all Solution Providers (regardless of business model) so they can see how they compare to the general Solution Provider population at large.

What are the 80+ critical operating metrics?

Subscribers to the Service Leadership Index® gain access to all 80+ operating metrics which enable executives to diagnose profitability and growth problems based on objective analysis rather than guesswork. Below is a sample of the operating metrics.

  • Overall Gross Margin
    • Overall Gross Margin %
    • Hardware Resell % of Gross Margin
    • Software Licenses (Resell) % Gross Margin
    • Software Licenses (Own Software) % Gross Margin
    • Services Gross Margin %
  • Services GM % by Line of Business
    • Infrastructure Technical Services GM %
    • Infrastructure Professional (Project) GM%
    • Infrastructure Managed Services GM%
    • Shared Infrastructure Services GM%
    • All Infrastructure GM%
    • Applications Technical Services GM%
    • Application Professional (Project) GM%
    • Application Managed Services GM%
    • All Applications Services GM%
  • Services Realization
    • Infrastructure Technical Services Professionals by Dollars
    • Infrastructure Professional Services Professionals by Dollars
    • Infrastructure Managed Services Professionals by Dollars
    • All Billable Infrastructure Professionals (multiple of W2)
    • Applications Technical Services Professionals by Dollars
    • Applications Professional Services Professionals by Dollars
    • Applications Managed Services Professionals by Dollars
    • All Billable Applications Professionals (multiple of W2)
    • Combined All Services Professionals (multiple of W2)
  • Expenses as a % of Revenue
    • Sales Department Compensation
    • Services Direct Labor Compensation % of Services Revenue (does not include admin)
    • Management and Administrative Compensation
    • Total Overall Compensation
    • Occupancy Expense
    • Internal Training Expense
    • Voluntary Employee Benefits
    • All Other Operating Expenses
    • Total Overall Operating Expenses
  • Balance Sheet Ratios
    • Return on Assets (ROA) Annualized
    • Accounts Receivable Days Sales Outstanding
    • Total Inventory Days
    • Debt to Equity
  • Performance Summary
    • Total Revenue $
    • Total Gross Margin $
    • EBITDA $
    • EBITDA as a % of Revenue

So what now? How do I find out how to improve?

Join a Service Leadership Index® OML Progression Peer Group. A powerful advanced small group structured to drive Operational Maturity Level™ (OML™) to deliver optimal business growth through best-practice expertise and peer insight, action and accountability.

Quarterly Benchmark Compare your performance to Best in Class with the Service Leadership Index ® benchmark. Meet Engage with your peers and the experts from Service Leadership for one and a half days of insights, learning, actionable goal setting and recharging. Act!Execute on the insights you gained and the action commitments you made to drive results and get to the next level. Prepare to report on your progress at the next quarterly meeting. Industry Avg Best-In-Class Group Avg Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Gross Margin % Services GM % Services Realization Summary F14 Overall Gross Margin % F15 Hardware Resell % of Gross Margin F16 Software Licenses (Resell) % of Gross Margin 31.6% 17.5% 19.4% 31.4% 8.0% 23.2% 27.0% 13.9% 19.5% 25.8% 20.5% 7.8% 24.2% 13.6% 8.3% 18.7% 12.3% 21.6% 18.1% TR1 Total Revenue $ 5,050,808 $ 32,931,170 $ 12,314,437 $ 12,113,235 $ 22,807,045 $ 27,681,669 G15 Total Gross Margin $ 1,598,337 $ 9,000,174 $ 3,174,732 $ 2,931,506 $ 4,258,395 $ 4,996,462 11.1% 4.7% F19 Infrastructure Managed Services GM % F23 All Infrastructure GM% F25 Applications Technical Services GM % 61.1% 45.8% 27.5% 55.2% 52.4% 38.3% 44.7% 42.0% 29.6% 42.4% 32.3% 24.9% 45.0% 36.3% 26.6% 47.8% 36.7% 31.5% 48.5% 37.2% 29.0% SR2 Infrastructure Professional Services by Dollars SR5 All Infrastructure Professionals (Multiple of Labor) SR7 Applications Professional Services by Dollars $ 176,782 2.3 $ 277,723 $ 189,274 2.6 $ 259,259 $ 224,915 1.9 $ 485,183 $ 72,513 1.5 $ 163,046 $ 79,673 1.6 $ 94,656 $ 81,952 1.6 $ 75,698 $ 79,778 1.6 $ 80,953
JOIN A PEER GROUP
Follow US Contact Us