A service level management process ensures that all IT services offered to customers are in accordance with agreed-upon levels of quality. It involves ensuring Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place, that they are fulfilled and that service levels are monitored and reported on.
In order to accomplish this, it’s essential to have the necessary tools in place. Often, the systems and processes that define service levels are outsourced to third-party businesses. It is crucial to understand how to manage them within your own SLM process.
The first step to set up an SLM process is to determine what services are important to the company and establishing the appropriate metrics for the success of the process. This includes factors such as effectiveness, user base and design aspects. It is also essential to choose the right technology expert For instance a company that is specialised in a specific platform may be able to promise higher levels of performance than a generalized service provider.
After the SLA goals have been established and the teams have to put a plan in place to uphold them. This typically involves setting up systems that can track the progress of the team, and then automatically notify the team of issues with meeting targets.
In addition, a robust SLM procedure will include continuous improvement procedures. These will help teams to learn from the metrics they collect, and find ways to improve the processes that are causing them problems. If, for example, the NOC service fails to meet its SLA of responding to phone calls within 30 seconds, it is possible to pinpoint the cause and fix it.