service level management slm benefits
A service level management program ensures that all IT services offered to customers meet agreed-upon levels of quality. It involves ensuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are in place, being followed and that the quality of service are measured and reported on.
To achieve this, it is crucial to have the proper tools in place. Most often the systems and processes used to determine service levels are contracted out to third-party companies. It is essential to understand how to manage them within your own SLM process.
The first step to set up an SLM process is to determine the most essential services for the business and set reasonable metrics for success. This usually involves taking into consideration factors such as efficiency of the user base, as well as design considerations. It is important to choose the technology expertise and a firm that specializes in a specific platform may be able commit to higher levels of performance than a generalised service provider.
Once the SLA targets have been set teams must create a plan to ensure they are met. This will usually involve creating systems that track progress and alert the team of issues with meeting targets.
Furthermore, a strong SLM process will include continuous improvement processes. This will help teams take the information they collect, and identify ways of improving the processes that are causing them issues. If, for instance, the NOC service fails to meet its SLA of answering calls within 30 seconds, then it’s possible to identify the reason and fix it.