Having the right person in the right position is one of the goals of management. And that\u2019s logical \u2013 incompetent people lead to poor results, and every manager gives his best to avoid that. But, besides having competent people, there is one more important thing for every company \u2013 having satisfied customers. Well, that\u2019s usually not so easy. There are many parameters that influence customer satisfaction. But, let\u2019s focus on a service \u2013 particularly, on support once the service is in the live environment.<\/p>\n
I think we could agree \u2013 that\u2019s an important aspect of customer satisfaction. But, let\u2019s go one step further: the quality of the delivered service and the right people in the right place. Here I mean the person responsible for the quality of the delivered service \u2013 the Service Level Manager. That\u2019s the connection between service (quality) and personnel, i.e., the right person in the right place.<\/p>\n
To clarify the importance of the Service Level Manager role, let me show you the opposite, i.e., undesired scenario. One or more customers are using your services. But, no one knows whether the services are delivered according to the agreed service levels or how efficient the organization is on a support level (e.g., resolving incidents or fulfilling service-related service requests). The customer doesn\u2019t have a dedicated contact person, nor do they receive any reports. What do you think \u2013 how long will you keep this customer using your services? Not for long, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n
The customer is not the only one interested in the quality of the delivered service and achievement of agreed service levels. Don\u2019t even try to ask your own management about their interest \u2013 trust me, they care. Here I don\u2019t mean only top management, but managers on all levels. For example, the Incident Manager aims to resolve incidents<\/a>\u00a0within the agreed resolution time, the Change Manager is responsible for implementing changes<\/a>\u00a0as agreed with customers, the Business Relationship Manager would like to have customers\u2019 requirements implemented and make sure that relationships with the customers remain at the highest level at all times, etc. Here we can see that there are various teams involved in the delivery of a service. Therefore, it\u2019s very important to have someone with overall responsibility and coordination of all activities. The Service Level Manager is the right person.<\/p>\n ISO 20000<\/a>\u00a0sets requirements for the implementation of the Service Level Management (SLM) process, but it doesn\u2019t describe the characteristics of the Service Level Manager. ITIL<\/a>\u00a0provides you with SLM recommendations, and it gives some more details regarding the Service Level Manager. Let\u2019s see what the usual characteristics of the Service Level Manager are.
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