Service Level Management (SLM), is a process that ensures services (and, therefore, service levels), are defined, negotiated and delivered.
It allows IT to be planned more accurately, which reduces costs while ensuring a better customer experience. Furthermore, regular reporting and KPIs make it possible to react quickly to irregularities that may arise.
SLM includes establishing service level agreements and metrics with the goal to set customer expectation that can be met. These can range from the amount of time it takes to respond to a ticket, through to the resolution of the issue.
A strong SLM culture is also dependent on the development and implementation of training materials. This includes identifying requirements for training and testing staff members in order to ensure that they are retained.
SLM includes monitoring performance and adapting service levels to satisfy customers. SLM allows companies to constantly improve their offerings, and build trust in their clients.
Improving customer satisfaction is also an important element of SLM, as it can lead to increased revenue and value for the company. Both the IT and business departments must constantly seek new ways to increase the customer’s satisfaction.
Service level is a complex, ongoing process that requires a strong team of professionals and a set of solid processes. It is important to have a team of experts who can be trusted and who can identify problems before they become critical. It’s important to have tools that can be used for managing SLAs or OLAs.