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Some service-focused technology companies are looking to make their service level agreements more customer-centric, adopting what industry watchers call “XLAs” “experience level” agreements. Such agreements are intended to reduce the need for transactions and create partnerships that are flexible to meet the unique and changing needs of our customers.
XLA’s goal is not just to update dry contract terminology to something “more attractive”. It is also about ensuring that customers receive true ongoing value and truly benefit from choosing specific services. It means evolving and improving both processes. Here, his 16 members of the Forbes Technology Council share effective ways to transform your SLA strategy into his XLA strategy and why customers love it.
1. Create contracts based on value delivered, not time spent
Customers choose the most efficient service provider for their needs. The ultimate value of a service company is not the amount of time the engineer spends doing the client’s work, but the amount of value the engineer provides. For example, consider a contract where a customer pays for each incident resolved, for each story point or user story developed, or for each number of new customers or dollars of revenue generated. – Valentin Klopov, N-iX
2. Invest in technology that reduces outages and service costs
Today, many service providers view SLA penalties as a cost of doing business and describe them in their cost line. But service providers that invest in technology that actually reduces outages and client service costs will eliminate up to half of the penalties built into the cost side of their budgets, resulting in better client experience, uptime and availability. We can provide. -Song Pang, NetBrain Technologies
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3. Track Your “Customer Effort Score”
Implement and track a “Customer Effort Score”. This metric reflects the effort customers put into using your product or service, finding the information they need, or solving their problem. Gain more insight into the overall customer experience than relying on ‘mean time to resolution’ or ‘first contact resolution’. – Logan Brown, Slalom
4. Involve the customer in contract development
Technology companies can update their SLA strategy by shifting the focus from uptime to customer experience and satisfaction. Adopt an “experience level” agreement that sets specific customer experience goals and engages customers in their development. This can demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and drive continuous improvement. See the customer as part of the development team. – Milan Doldevich, Proctorio Incorporated
5. Focus on recovering quickly from failures
Nothing is more important than the human experience (HX) of a project. When something goes wrong, end users don’t care about downtime, failure reasons, or loopholes that are inherent in all service contracts. Focusing on the experience of failure, we find that uptime is the least important aspect. It’s all about recovery. Creative ways to help clients regain control of their business mean more than that. – Tom Roberto, Core Technology Solutions
6. Identify critical areas for success before creating SLAs
Before setting service level agreements, it is important for technology companies to understand the requirements of their external customers. By taking the opportunity to identify key focus areas for your success, you can create service level agreements with your desired outcomes in mind. Being able to flexibly confirm contracts is equally important in today’s highly malleable world, ensuring contracts remain relevant. – Dax Grant, Global Transform
7. Offer a “choose your own path” experience
The future of SLAs is to deliver a “choose your path” type of experience that puts control back in the customer’s hands. Give them options (options you agree with) and let them piece together their experiences (aka agreements) themselves. Giving customers ownership of their experience is the future. – Jonathan Caldera, Ventive, LLC
8. Provide a credit note if the expected service level is not met
“Experience Level” agreements are a great way for service-focused technology companies to make their service level agreements more customer-centric. One effective way a tech company can update his SLA strategy is by offering credit notes to clients when expected service levels are not being met. This keeps service providers in check while ensuring customers get the best value for money. – Steve Yuma, NSIA INSURANCE LIMITED
9. Regularly analyze competition and customer satisfaction
An SLA can help you survive. XLA enables growth. XLA is a higher level not only to guarantee service availability and fulfillment of contractual declarations, but also to ensure customer satisfaction in the use of the service. We must regularly analyze the needs and satisfaction of our competitors and customers and improve where necessary. —Robert Strzelecki, Tender Hut
10. Automate and tune processes for employee experience
Moving from an SLA to an XLA strategy requires more than just establishing metrics that address user sentiment and device telemetry.Analyzing these metrics requires aggregating information from multiple systems that do not natively interact with each other When Act proactively on what the data tells you. Automating and aligning business processes with employee experience is critical. – Paul Duer, ReadyWorks
11. Set internal SLAs higher than your customers
Sometimes the most customer-centric SLAs are the ones you never tell. SLAs are important only when there is a risk of exceeding the limits set. Therefore, take steps to ensure that this danger occurs infrequently. So to the customer he gives one SLA and then locks her SLA in the company to a higher bar. This way you have a big buffer and customers don’t ask about her SLA. – Sterling Lanier, Turnkey
12. Create a process to track customer issues and enable employees to provide solutions
Make sure your customers feel valued. This starts with a clear understanding of how to identify and prioritize needs across the company. From there, it’s all about creating a process for tracking customer issues from initial contact to resolution. Tech companies also need to empower their employees and make them feel part of the solution, not another problem. – Leon Gordon, Pomerol Partners
13. Evolve SLAs into OKRs
Regarding “experience level” agreements, companies are now focused on aligning along an overall vision – a win-win scenario. Implementing goals and key outcomes mapped to a joint vision helps both sides understand the big picture. Customer-vendor relationships evolve into partnerships, and SLAs evolve into OKRs. – Hassan Abbas, Ericsson
14. Be mindful of blanket SLAs
Create only SLAs that apply to specific departments within your company. If you’re helping a company with multiple offices or departments, be careful drafting SLAs that apply to multiple locations. A blanket SLA may not justify the needs of each site if it is intended to serve many business units. – Chintan Shah, Brainvire InfoTech Inc.
15. Make sure your strategy is backed by quick wins for your customers
An SLA strategy is nothing without execution behind it. Most consumers are already skeptical of companies that say their business is important but put them on hold for hours or never respond to support emails. Once you lose customer trust in this way, you can never get it back. Customers want their opinions heard. Get results quickly to build trust. – Dan Branco, GSI Solutions
16. Include strategic goals in SLAs
Not all service level agreements should be designed around daily, weekly, and monthly availability and incidents. A holistic approach to a balanced set of SLAs should also include strategic goals. For example, we provide an annual product roadmap, participate in semi-annual engagements to review product usability, and hold annual meetings to align the strategies of both organizations. – Mark Schlesinger, Broadridge Financial Solutions
