You need to know how applications are behaving for users so that you can handle helpdesk calls or diagnose and resolve incidents. Can your systems handle traffic from coworkers at the new office? Is the new provider at fault? You need facts to target and prioritize IT investments. Did your optimizations improve things for everyone, or only at some locations? You want to be able to drill down to look inside why things went wrong.
Your job involves questions like these: Are visitors really spending more time on the new web page, and is it making a difference to business? Maybe you have a mobile app whose ratings took a nosedive. Why do users hate it now? You want to check whether a new feature is being used… and why are desktop users complaining, when mobile users are happy? Furthermore, competition is fierce. How do your digital services stack up against those of your competitors?
You need straight facts and figures to help you make the right decisions. Are online sales really getting worse everywhere, or only in some places at certain times? What about the new telephony/cloud/service provider – are they delivering the service they promised? You need to communicate about the ROI of your IT investments, and maybe target them better next time.
You need to keep an eye on the quality of service that you deliver. You want to understand how things are going for your customers and their end users. Is call quality really that bad on their side, or are websites really that slow? Sometimes you need outside help for objective proof and impartial analysis about the service levels you deliver, for a better relationship with your customers.