Implementing Service-Level Agreements 

This article is a guide for you to understand what Service Level Agreement (SLA) is and how its implementation in your organization can be beneficial for both the organization as well as the customers. Understanding SLA is important because it ensures that both the parties, the organization, and the customer, are on the same page regarding standards and service. 

Overview

What is Service Level Management 

Service Level Management is a mutual agreement of responsibility and commitment between the organization providing services and the customer. 

 

It is a technique for putting forward and implementing practical expectations between the company and the customers your company supports and provides services to. These methods and services are most often included in a document called a Service Level Agreement (SLA). 

What is the Objective of Implementation of a Service Level Agreement

Without SLA management, you are declaring to your consumers that you will deliver your services and support to them, irrespective of the time and situation, without any impediments to the systems and services they have. 

However, the worst part of this is that you may not be able to meet your customers’ expectations in this way because every customer has different expectations. That expectation will change every time they call for your services. 

The Benefits of Service-Level Agreements

Following are the benefits of Service Level Agreements (SLA).

 

Improves customer service 

• By implementing Service Level Agreement (SLA), you will see that cycle times, i.e., the time to resolve cases, dramatically decrease. 

 

Facilitates communication

• The IT service desk staff will be free to resolve and set customer anticipations (i.e., your employees) in two ways. Firstly, they can guide the SLA copy to explain how priorities are set. Secondly, they can supervise periodic execution reports to inform customers how the support association performs. 

 

Negotiated and mutually accepted 

• Since Service Level Agreement (SLA) is created by the consumers and the support center of an organization jointly, all the customers will more efficiently acknowledge and follow the SLA.

 

Defines procedures 

• Techniques should be defined and regarded by the IT service parties and employees (i.e., your customers). The  SLA can be used as a written contract when there is a disagreement or a question by any of the customers. 

 

Sets standards for customer service 

• SLA is a powerful tool. With the joint effort of the customers and the support, it establishes the standard for customer service making it easy to set the priorities for both parties. 

 

Identify participants 

• You can define all the stakeholders that should take part in the IT service supervision and management process. This includes your consumers, as well as any other internal/external associations that help the IT service desk in offering support to your customers. 

 

Team meeting 

• You must keep a project team meeting to illustrate the objective and determine tasks and timelines. These team meetings are helpful because many fears come in such meetings. 
• If a support group conveys that the IT service desk cannot precisely establish the priorities, ask them the following. 
• Ask them to develop a document or a detailed manuscript with the types of cases they normally come across, the type of inquiries and documentation they require, and the priorities. 
• This data will advise the IT service desk on setting priorities. 

Reasons why SLA may fail

So far, we have talked a lot about the numerous benefits SLA can provide to organizations, but SLA also has a few drawbacks that need to be assessed. 

 

• The system is a little Complex 

The most common pitfall is that the SLA documents are a little complex, especially if you’re new to this. These records should be brief and accurate in clarifying your services and the level of assistance you and your customers agree on. 

• No measurements

You need tools and technologies to track the information and report the timed-service events, but if you lack such tools and technologies, SLAs will fail. Without constant feedback on execution, the loop will be incomplete, and the SLAs will remain documents only and nothing more.

 

• Unrealistic management expectations 

Often management does not recognize the time required to execute service-level management, and therefore they do not staff it sufficiently. You need to know that this cannot be a part-time job! It must be managed full-time with full concentration. 

 

• Unrealistic objectives and goals

Frequently, IT management and customers set idealistic goals and purposes. This usually happens because there were ineffective measurements done preceding executing the SLA. It is essential to baseline the current service performance before starting up to reconcile the SLAs with customers.

 

• No existing Operational Level Agreements (OLA) in the IT department  

Some companies believe they can execute customer SLAs without having inaugurated their own internal IT support OLAs. OLAs are service-level agreements between each service group.

Some metrics that SLAs may specify include:

Here are some metrics that Service Level Agreements may specify: 

1.   What portion of the time will services be available? 
2.   The number of customers can be served simultaneously using the same tools.
3.   Typical performance standards to which actual execution will be occasionally compared.
4.   The plan for notification in advance of network changes that may affect the customers. 
5.   Assist desk response time for various classes of situations.
6.   Dial-in access availability.

 

Effectiveness can be assessed for both internal quality improvement purposes and external comparison ‘benchmarking.’  Internal evaluations deliver measurable ways of evaluating the improvement and advancement toward a distinct goal. External evaluations approximate a program’s consequence with the aggregate output of other programs.

 

It is recommended that companies adapt SLA within the organization itself; for example, two distinct units in the association script an SLA, with one unit being the consumer and another being the organization providing the service. This practice helps to conserve the same grade of service amongst different units in the association and also across multiple sites of the organization. 

The internal scripting of SLA also assists to correspond the quality of service between an in-house department and an external service provider.

 

In short, there is no doubt left that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) affirm clear allegiances and commitments between a service provider and a customer. SLA also assures that certain criteria will be upheld, which benefits both the customers and the organizations.