1
1
The exam
Dates :
• May 21
• May 28
• June 11
Starts at 4pm here at A318
Duration – 90’
Exam will be in the form of test & free form answers.
Section A – 15 questions each with only one unique
answer.
Section B – 5 questions with more than one correct
answer.
Section C – 3 questions with free form answers
Each question will have be rated with points which will be
then summed-up in sections, weighted per section and
the summ will give the result.
Do not forget!
Customer Services in ITSM
3
Why, how and what
An end-to-end refers to a complete sequence of activities, from initiation to outcome.
An end-to-end process involves the standard procedures a service or system follows
from beginning to end to deliver a complete outcome, often without a third-party
solution.In capturing an end-to-end process, a business owner or a project lead
monitors and analyzes every process or procedure the company makes to achieve a
complete outcome. Then, they decide how to make the entire process work in
maximum efficiency, be it to automate some of the work or standardize a particular
project flow.
4
Importance of Service Desk
• Start job for talents
• Helping people to find a path in IT
• Brewery for leadership and other paths
• Communication skills as basic tool of future
success
• Improvement of language skills
• Real experience
• Understanding the bigger picture
• Face of business
• Showplace for services
• Key component of E2E service
• E2E overlap
• Ideas for business improvement
• Center of success promotion
• Project support
For individuals For business
5
Purpose
Why
First line of contact for end users which directly resolves
customer queries or co-ordinates with other resolver
teams on behalf of the client.
SD unit is also a supporting source of information for
Service and Project management decision making.
How
• SLA’s set to measure main success criteria:
• First Call Resolution %
• Speed To Answer %
• Customer Satisfaction %
What
Fastest possible resolution to as many as possible
client’s IT requests and incidents with high Customer
Satisfaction.
Client
Service Mngmt
IT delivery teams
Project Mngmt
Service Desk
What are the common reasons why clients leave?
Imagine restaurant…
6
SERVICE DELIVERY TRIPOD
Common customer loss reasons
Cost
Quality Compliance
Existence
§ 1% of customers go out of business
§ 3% move to another location
§ 4% like to change suppliers
§ 5% change on a friend's advice
§ 9% buy it cheaper somewhere else
§ 10% are chronic complainers
§ 68% leave because the company
representatives they deal with are indifferent to
their needs
This model main problems?
Bottleneck. &. Cost
7
Traditional IT delivery structure
Service
Desk
Bottleneck & Cost
Simplified SD operations are highlighted in the chart on right. The model is focused
on automatized processing of as many incoming requests as possible. If not possible,
skilled CSR - Customer Service Representatives (Service Desk) will answer the
incoming query either via chat/phone/e-mail or self-service (web) request. Requests
that require involvement of other groups for resolution, will be transferred in form of
ticket further. The primary goal is to minimize need for involvement of other groups
and have queries resolved through automation (0 level) or at 1st
level (Service Desk).
Knowledge base is mostly personalized to each customer and can be either webbased
or database based for example in Lotus notes. It’s purpose is to help to resolve
customer’s query or provide appropriate process to achieve resolution (which specific
data are necessary to gather and where to look for further support).
As the CSR is speaking to the customer, he/she will also document the details of the
call in a ticketing system. Each ticket will contain some basic customer details,
machine information, problem/request classification and description, including steps
taken to resolve the query. There may be slight variations from client to client, but
the base remains the same.
8
Service Desk Strategy
Strategy is to get the things done
in more efficient way
Automation
Service DeskKB
Other units (including
vendors)
Phone/Chat
Phone calls and chat make usually the majority of incoming workload. To manage
them effectively, SDs develop workload arrival patterns through the use of historical
data. This shows the times when customers are most likely to call or chat – see the
chart on right as an example of single day data. This data is used to build the
necessary staffing schedules to ensure optimum number of staff available throughout
the day. While there is usually as well an optimum call length, CSR can’t dictate the
length of each call, but based on request classification can decide which cases are to
be considered out of it’s scope to achieve necessary availability (Example: reinstallation
with multiple steps and average length above 20 minutes will not be
carried out by the SD and will be transferred to another group. This is fundamental to
the principles of SD Operations.
As eventuality cannot be forecast (e.g. Network outage), there’s need for flexibility in
staff in order to immediately respond to changing call patterns (at any time slight
adjustments may need to be made as reaction to significant change in incoming
customer queries.
9
Service Desk Workload
Imagine challenge – how to properly prioritize web queue?
Service providers encourage the use of the web as a means of raising a query with
the SD. The web interface is often coupled with some self help options as these are
designed to encourage users to search for responses themselves before reaching the
SD.
The advantage of the web is that the SD Operation can respond to these queries
when there is a period of low phone call or chat volume. This means there are less
scheduling challenges. The disadvantage is that the CSR does not have the
opportunity to ask the customer detailed problem determination questions (as
he/she would over the phone) that may be required to resolve the issue. As a result,
there may be insufficient information available to the CSR to answer the query. The
net result of this is that the CSR may often be forced to get in contact with the
customer to clarify details before the problem can be resolved.
E-mails are broadly similar to web-based queries in terms of submission by the
customer and pickup by the CSR. The disadvantage is that while the web-based
solution can force the customer supply some critical information, the e-mail solution
rarely does so. Furthermore, it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of the SD
10
Service Desk Workload
Web (Self-service) E-mail
Operation in managing e-mail requests. Therefore, Service providers will try to
encourage customers to use a combination of Web and Phone for raising queries with
the SD. Modern trend is to automatically transform E-mails into Self-service tickets
through automation processes, that are based on contents of e-mail (key-words,
attachments, etc.) or remove email completely and use only webtickets.
10
CSRs are usually grouped into Teams which are approximately 15 in size, the
individual will perform most of his/her tasks alone. The call will be received, the CSR
will work with the customer 1:1 and query the knowledge base as appropriate to
retrieve the answers to customer queries. Should the query require the intervention
of another group, the ticket is usually transferred electronically by the CSR.
SD Operation is planned in great detail, punctuality is therefore of utmost importance
for all members.
SD is a fast paced, measurement driven environment. Each CSR will be measured
against multiple targets. These include punctuality, First-Call resolution, call
duration/hold time usage, call quality, ticket quality, Customer Satisfaction,
quantitative data as well. Given the nature of the business, data is available on a very
regular basis to track performance versus targets.
Each team will have a Team Leader who is responsible for the day-to-day
performance of the Team. As teams can be grouped based on language or product
support, they can be providing support for multiple clients/accounts. Clients are often
supported through multiple teams, therefore while Team-leader is responsible for
day-to-day team performance, under such circumstances there’s a need for Account
Leaders as well. Account Leaders are responsible for day-to-day performance cross
11
Roles and Responsibilities
Customer Service Representative / Technical support Team Leader/Account Leader/Service Desk Manager
teams for their clients and ensure the differences in teams performance is balanced
to deliver service within contractual targets.
Each SD Manager will have 2 – 3 teams reporting to him/her, while having ownership
of performance for some of the clients/accounts as well. While SD manager has
ultimate responsibility for the performance of the team, he/she is less likely to be
involved on the day-to-day management of the line and rather focus on long-term
planning and continuity of the service. The SD Manager owns the relationship with
the Customer and the Account leadership.
11
12
Roles and Responsibilities – organization chart
Glossary
SLA ::: Service Level Agreement - Contracted service level usually bound with
penalties (STA,CSAT…)
SLO ::: Service Level Objective - Commitment to maintain a particular state of the
service in a given period
KPI ::: Key Performance Indicator - KPI measurement may be functional to the
achievement of strategic goals, quality standards, or performance assessment against
any given factor
ASA ::: Average Speed of Answer - This is the average time it takes to pick up a
customer telephone call
STA ::: Speed to Answer - This is the percentage of calls taken within contracted time
CSAT ::: Customer Satisfaction - This is a measure of how satisfied customers are with
the service they have received from the SD.
SD ::: Service Desk - This is the formal title given to Helpdesks
CSR ::: Customer Service representative - This is the official title of the ‘agents’ who
work within the SD
KB ::: Knowledge Base – storage of specific client knowledge documentation
SPOC ::: Single point of contact – standard term for services were SD is the only
13
SD Measurements
Time metrics
AR (Abandon Rate) Example: AR <= 6%
Percentage of dropped calls over total offered (incoming) calls.
ASA (Average Speed to Answer) Example: ASA <= 20 sec
The average time (usually expressed in seconds) it takes for a
Service Desk to answer an incoming call.
STA (Speed To Answer) Example: STA => 80% in 20 sec.
The percentage of incoming calls answered within a given time
frame (usually expressed in seconds).
Email/Web Response Time Example: Email Resp. => 80%
in 2 hrs or Avg Email Resp. <= 2 hrs
Time taken to react to customer email request (can be response or
ticket creation). The calculation may be based on the same
principles applied to ASA or STA.
Quality metrics
FTF (First Time Fix), SDE (Service Desk Effectiveness) or
FCR (First Call Resolution)
FCR Example: FCR => 70%
Percentage of eligible requests resolved by the Service Desk with no
need for technical escalation.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) Example: CSAT >80%
The customers will be polled to measure their satisfaction with the
service provided. This is mostly done in an automated fashion
through a tool or alternatively can be done through a phone call to
the customer.
Given the nature of the SD business, performance data is being produced minute by minute throughout the day. The key
measurements are agreed with the customer in the contract.
Targets must be: attainable, repeatable, measurable, understandable, meaningful, controllable, affordable, mutually
acceptable
function communicating with client
13
14
Supportive
mechanisms
and tools
15
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
A SD operation will employ a complex system of tools in order to effectively manage the service it provides. These tools will
usually be divided into the following categories : Staffing & Personnel Management, Telephony, Call Handling and Reporting.
STAFFING MODULE ::: As previously mentioned in this package, it is critical
for the success of a SD Operation to have the correct number of people
staffed on the line through the day. This staffing is based on historical data
which can be used to predict the number of calls expected. This, in turn, is
used to calculate the associated number of people required to handle these
calls. The Staffing Module can be a complex tool which is integrated into the
phone system and extracts data on a real time basis while some SD
operations use more simplistic Spreadsheet based tools. Regardless of the
solution, the Staffing Module will be responsible for items such as scheduling,
vacation management, break management and training scheduling.
16
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
How would you ensure monitoring and SLA delivery?
TELEPHONY MODULE ::: The telephony module is the core of the SD
Operation. Without this, there is no Service Desk. These systems gives the
call centres their shape. All SDs will use a tool in order to monitor real time call
activity (how many calls in the queue, actual performance against targets etc).
These systems also allow the management to monitor CSR activity (how many
people are on calls, how many people are available to take calls etc). Such
tools are very powerful but need to be leveraged to ensure that all targets are
achieved. As a SD is a customer-focused service, the quality of each and
every call is of utmost importance to the Management. Therefore, it is
commonplace to deploy a system which can record a sample of the calls
received by the centre. These are then evaluated against a set of standards
and the individual CSR may receive coaching, as required.
17
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
How would you build a KB?
CALL HANDLING MODULE ::: Once a CSR has received a call, he/she is
required to document all customer interactions in a ticketing system. It is
important to carefully gather basic information about the customer’s issue as
these are essential for swift problem resolution. Furthermore, should the CSR
be unable to resolve the query, the information will be passed electronically
(though the ticketing system) to another group. These details will be by
required by this group also so they need to be clearly documented in the ticket.
In order to help the CSR with the resolution of the problem, he/she will use a
knowledge base of information. By asking the customer clear problem
determination questions and using this information to query the database, the
CSR will be able to find detailed, step-by-step instructions to resolve the
customer’s problem.
18
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
REPORTING MODULE ::: A SD operation is measured against a number of
key targets (STA, Abandonment Rate, First Call Resolution and Customer
Satisfaction). While the exact nature of the targets may vary from account to
account, the requirement to produce performance reports at regular intervals
does not. SD Operations often deploy automated tools to produce the required
customer reports. This can include a automated survey tool which sends an
electronic survey to customers and tabulates the responses or web based
solutions that report on the performance of the account versus telephony
metrics (ASA, Service Level and Abandonment Rate). Given the volume of
work handled by SD Operations, it is important to automate as much of the
reporting as possible as manual report generation is both time consuming and
prone to error.
19
TOOLS SUITE
STAFFING
MODULE
STAFFING /
PERSONNEL
AVAYA
LINE
MONITOR
TICKETING
CALL
QUALITY
MONITOR
KNOWLEDGE
BASE
REPORTING
MODULE
TELEPHONY
CALL
HANDLING
REPORTING
20
Example
Business setup
21
21
Kyndryl
Client Innovation Centres
aka
Collaboratives
Poland
Central Europe
Johannesburg
India
Costa Rica
Buenos Aires
Hortolandia
Malaysia
Philippines
China
22
22
Supporting more than 500 clients
Across all European regions as well as Global accounts
Range of services
Storage Management
Mainframe
Server Management
Data Management
Data Management
Distributed
Application Hosting
Server Management
Mobility & Workplace Platform Management
Mobility and Workplace
Mobility & Workplace Device Management
MWS Cross Service Line
Mobile Client Care Services – Service Desk
Automation
Network services
Incident, Problem & Change Management
Integrated Service Management
Incident, Problem & Change Coordination
Service Availability Managers
Delivery Project Executives
Service Support Management
RFS
T&T / Project Services
Transition and Transformation
Delivery Transformation
Project Office Management
Identity & Access / Infrastructure Protection
Security and Risk Management
Compliance & Regulatory Program Management
Security Operations Management
System Currency
Client Management
Asset Management
Language skills
English German French
Czech Russian Spanish
Dutch Italian Turkish
Hungarian Portuguese Polish
Greek Slovak Brazilian
23
Average of Female Graduate
from IT Universities is 10%
Other
43%Domestic
57%
Czech Republic
People Citizenship
Other
1%
Domestic
99%
Hungary
Kyndryl Collaboratives Brno
Employees Demographics & Diversity
Female
33%Male
67%
Czech Republic
Gender Diversity
Female
26%
Male
74%
Hungary
With
University
Degree…
Without
University
Degree…
Czech Republic
University Degree
With
University
Degree…
Without
University
Degree…
Hungary
§ 15 of the world’s largest Banks & Financial Companies
§ 11 of the world’s largest Industrial Products & Retail Companies
§ 11 of the world’s largest Media & Communication Companies
§ 9 of the world’s largest Insurance Companies
§ 9 of the world’s largest Healthcare and Life Sciences Companies
§ 8 of the world’s largest Electronics Companies
§ 8 of the world’s largest Automotive Companies
§ 5 of the world’s largest Airline Companies
AP Languages
Arabic Language
Chinese
Dutch, Flemish
Eastern European
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Nordics
Portuguese
Spanish
Designated MMS for Mac
Service Desk delivery site
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Dublin, Ireland
Brno, Czech Republic
Wroclaw, Poland
Cairo, Egypt
Johannesburg,
South Africa
Cyberjaya,
Malaysia
Manila, Philippines
Shenzhen, China
Dalian, China
Noida &
Gurgaon,
India
Bangalore,
Hyderabad
India
Hortolandia,
Brazil
Boulder,
USA
Kyndryl Service Desk – Global Footprint
Collaboratives Czech Republic (Brno)
Incoming contacts: 60,000 contacts/month
Languages: 16 languages
Supported countries: 50+ across all continents
Supported clients: 22 with individual requirements
Customer satisfaction: 90% average customer satisfaction
§ 15 of the world’s largest Banks & Financial Companies
§ 11 of the world’s largest Industrial Products & Retail Companies
§ 11 of the world’s largest Media & Communication Companies
§ 9 of the world’s largest Insurance Companies
§ 9 of the world’s largest Healthcare and Life Sciences Companies
§ 8 of the world’s largest Electronics Companies
§ 8 of the world’s largest Automotive Companies
§ 5 of the world’s largest Airline Companies
AP Languages
Arabic Language
Chinese
Dutch, Flemish
Eastern European
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Nordics
Portuguese
Spanish
Designated MMS for Mac
Service Desk delivery site
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Brno, Czech Republic
Wroclaw, Poland
Cairo, Egypt
Johannesburg,
South Africa
Cyberjaya,
Malaysia
Manila, Philippines
Shenzhen, China
Dalian, China
Noida &
Gurgaon,
India
Bangalore,
Hyderabad
India
Hortolandia,
Brazil
Boulder, USA
Kyndryl Service Desk – Global Footprint
Local management
Delivery Partner
Executive Client Executive
Local management
Service Desk
Director
Local Client Site
Leaders
Local Client Site
Leaders
Internal alignment and cross CIC cooperation
Executive
reporting and
communication
Optional specific
local operational
cooperation
Optional specific
local operational
cooperation
26
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
26
27
Delivery management
28
Analytics Right-2-Left
Regular checks on tickets
resolved by OSS with aim to find
remotely resolvable cases
improving reaction time, CSAT
and cost. Next each newly
identified case is recorded to
knowledge base. Activity is
driven by each account’s CTS
person. R2L is measured as
comparison of tickets closed by
SD, CTS and OSS.
Outputs are presented to clients.
Mis-assigned
Flagging system established
(tag or worklog type) on most
accounts. Supports
cooperation cross groups with
direct efficient focus on issue
fix and RCA targeting. Reaction
time to fix the flagged ticket is
only 1 day. Best practice cross
accounts, usually driven by
Service Leader or CTS.
Outputs are presented to
clients.
CSAT analysis
Each DSAT is analyzed by quality
team, each user is called or
emailed. Process is standard
with minimum account
deviations.
3 types of actions are derived
based on causing unit
SD caused – direct feedback
IBM caused – addressed to
account
Client help needed – addressed
to client or account team.
29
Escalation
process and
internal
reviews
Continuous
business review
Monthly review per team account
lead by Business Operations
Manager covering main topics in
the unit, team, account, unit
strategy, operational points,
people development…
Escalation
process
Account Customer care
mailboxes streamlining
escalation flow and prevent
fragmented communication.
Tickets flagged for easy
tracking and for daily overview
and speeding up of the
processing. Monthly overview
of escalated tickets to close
the loop can be created.
Count of TICKETID Month closed
Type 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 in progres being closed
Ticket chase out of SLA 10 23 45 32 35 35 25 28 31 42 41 9 8 2
Ticket chase in SLA 19 28 19 14 14 15 26 23 16 14 21 3 1
Escalation 8 9 11 9 12 12 2 25 11 13 7 2 2
Processed OK 1 3 1 1 3 4 1
Grand Total 38 63 76 55 61 63 56 76 62 70 69 14 11 2
Average age 13,5 9,8 10,8 23,5 15,4 21,7 25,8 19,5 13,5 15,1 14,3 7,1 14,4 3,0
Median age 4,2 4,6 8,1 7,2 9,8 12,6 6,1 7,8 5,0 5,9 8,7 5,3 8,4 3,0
O365 5 11 21 15 11 11 11 9 8 11 18 1 3
Phone 7 8 8 4 8 5 5 14 12 11 12 3 1 1
Network 3 4 9 4 5 6 8 2 9 12 8 1 2
Account 4 9 8 10 6 9 3 4 6 7 7
VPN 4 7 11 4 7 10 6 2 3 4 4 2 3
PC other 2 1 3 3 2 2 6 7 5 5 5 2 1 1
LN 3 2 2 3 4 1 5 7 2 6 4
Access 1 2 8 1 3 3 2 6 3 2 1
Drive 1 5 2 2 3 4 2 2 3 4 1
SAP 2 3 1 1 3 2 3 6 3 1 1 2
Printer 3 5 4 2 3 1 2 1 1
SLA-HOLD 15 1 2
Hardware 2 1 4 2 1 1 3 2 1
Voip 2 1 1 2 4 3 1
Security 1 1 3 1 2 1 1
Server 1 1 1 2 2 1
Restore 2 1
Win 10 migration 1 1
ICD 1 1
Grand Total 38 63 76 55 61 63 56 76 62 70 69 14 11 2
Escalations per type (based on closed month)
Detailed Split per type
Delivery
management
Live reporting
workloads visible to all people
Half-hourly reports for leaders
Daily Service Level and KPI
performance overview (risk
assessment and decision
making)
Regular cross geography
touchpoints for MTD results
(weekly in BAU)
30
External
quality
system
Interlocks
Weekly interlocks are serving
operational purposes, usually
excel AP
Monthly interlocks are designed
for service overview, results of
detailed analysis – eg.
misassigned, R2L, escalations,
call drivers, CSAT, progress of
bigger points of improvement,
SLA review…
Based on the size the account,
the pack varies.
Governance and
reporting
During initial phase, there is a
daily interlock with higher
amount of daily data.
In BAU, there is only weekly
and monthly interlock.
Each report must has a
specific purpose to measure
success of underlaying
actions, reports not driving
anything are not accepted or
cancelled.
Strategy planning
Strategic planning is ensuring
execution of meaningful longterm
plans. Creation of such plan
usually requires client visit and
ideally visit of IBM on client site
to gather the necessary feelings
and data to define matching
problem statements, objectives,
goals, tasks and measurements.
This is reviewed every month,
both IBM and client have usually
part of the actions to drive.
IBM helps to identify such cases
and provides best practices far
these.
We offer an integrated suite of capabilities designed to enhance employee
productivity, manage costs and deliver a superior personalised experience. As you can
see, the user can choose how they get the support they need. We will work with you
to define how this omni-channel approach looks and presents to end users.
The omni channel support service includes support via virtual agent, self-support
capabilities, live-agent assist through chat and phone, Level 1.5 support, deskside
support and client centres. All these are powered by IBM’s analytics capabilities.
31
Digital
Workplace
Support
An integrated,
omnichannel service
3
1
Digital Workplace Services
Self-enablement &
Virtual Support
LiveAgent Chat
LiveAgent
Phone
Level 1.5SupportDesksideSupportClient CenterEndPoint
Analytics
Incident
Management
Customer
Satisfaction
ServiceAnalytics
Customers
We appreciate that you may be in one of many stages in your Workplace
Transformation, and our objective is to work with you to ensure your service
transforms at a pace that drives the maximum return on investment for you, creates a
great user experience and isn’t disruptive to your end users.
The first part of this transformation is ensure that you have the right foundation from
which to transform your service; we first need to ensure we understand what types of
issues you have, drive process efficiencies, build user self-help content and use
simpler automation, such as automatic password reset, to ensure we hit a return on
investment quickly, and steer your transformation in the right direction. In the next
few slides, we will talk about our analytics, that will help create the insights we use.
Once we have a clear understanding of your users and their issues, we will implement
solutions that resonate with end users, empowering them to get their issues fixed
quicker. Here, though using AI and Automation will reduce the number of issues users
face, augment their channels of support and make these more personal, provide
immediate support for a range of issues, and create an overall superior user
experience.
Vendors works with clients to build a roadmap
for the future of their IT End User Support.
Automation and Cognitive Cognitive Support Productivity and Analytics Traditional
Semantic Ticket
Analytics
Self-Healing
Persona Driven
Support
Robotic Process
Automation
Digital Experience
Monitoring
Personalized
Support
Advanced
ITSM Tooling
Detailed User Facing
Knowledge Content
Multi-Channel
Support
Service Desk Efficiency
Optimization
Automated
Password Reset
Ticket Analysis and
Transformation
Single Point of
Contact
Level 2 Level 1
Virtual Personal
Assistant
I talked about the drivers that are shaping the way we are thinking and building the service desk of the future. Now, I want to touch on our
primary goals behind all of this work.
The three primary goals for our workplace support services are delivering a superior end user experience, lowering the total cost of ownership
and driving business outcomes. These three factors are interdependent and therefore cannot be looked at in isolation.
By focusing our solutions on providing a great end user experience, we aim to increase user satisfaction with our transformation. Creating a great
end user experience requires us to ensure the solutions we implement are of high quality, and are simple and effective for users to get benefit
from; this starts with driving problem avoidance and increasing the speed that users can get the support they need. This will increase user
productivity, these experience improvements are business outcome focused. To meet our objectives of being experience and business outcome
focused we leverage our analytics and cognitive systems to predict potential issues and stop them from occurring, and identifying issues in realtime
and proactively resolving them before they impact users*
At the same time, by creating a great end user experience, we improve the collaboration between end users and our Workplace Support Services,
and ensure our strategic initiatives provide visible value to end users. This increases users’ engagement with these initiatives, which increases the
utilization of our end user facing tools, adds value to the business and reduces the total cost of ownership.
As way of example, our Virtual Personal Assistant solution provides a one stop shop for a user’s to get immediate IT Support. As the Virtual
personal assistant enables users to get answers, automate fixes and raise tickets quickly, this improves user productivity (Business outcomes) and
delivers a great experience. This in turn drives adoption in self-service solutions, by empowering the user; which in turn drives significant
reduction in the total cost of ownership.
NOTE TO SPEAKER:
* This is a very important factor for us to get into, and I encourage when you are talking to a client to understand some of their pain points.
That is, understand what their industry is doing and some of the things that may be salient to them from a business outcomes perspective. Put
yourself in the shoes of some of the folks that are calling the service desk. Try to understand if they are client facing themselves. Try to
understand whether or not some of our proactive technologies could eliminate issues from ever occurring and/or help workers provide better
customer service for the company that they are representing. We want to be able to drive those business outcomes. For 2019, this the most
important focus point for us -- that we are developing and delivering technology that is bringing improved business outcomes.
**We want to really highlight the proactive and predictive capabilities through analytics and automation.
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The Workplace
Support
Services with
AI is focused
on transforming
IT support
Lower total cost of ownership
Drive business outcomes
Deliver a superior end-user
experience
– Automation and self-service provide
low- or no-touch problem resolution
– Enables workforce to become more
self sufficient and productive
– Ubiquitous, persona-driven
architecture enables a personalized
experience
– Maintains contact no matter the
device and enables “follow me”
support regardless of channel
– Predicatively or proactively
resolves issues
– Self healing drives down number
of incidents and reduces MTTR
What’s ITXM™ ?
Experience management is a practice that has been used in external customer
support and management – via the concept of customer experience (CX)
management – for well over a decade. Whereas in IT operations, IT service
management (ITSM) best practices have been employed for process operations and
wider management – but this has never focused on the delivered Experience or, more
specifically, held Experience as a critical outcome of the employed ITSM processes.
ITXM brings experience management principles into IT operations. This allows IT
teams to focus on the outcomes of their work and to provide data-informed insights
that fuel the continual improvement of those outcomes – including making end-users
happier with IT services and more productive in their daily work.
Importantly, ITXM applies to the whole IT organization, not just the IT service desk
and wider ITSM capabilities.
Using the ITXM™ Framework’s continuous cycle (as shown), end-user experiences are
measured and shared with various business stakeholders (including IT) and third
parties such as partners, vendors, and shareholders. Issues and opportunities are
identified using the real-time experience data, highlighting where people are
frustrated and losing the most productivity with IT services and support. This
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The IT Experience Management (ITXM) Framework
approach is in line with the DevOps “second way” of amplifying feedback loops such
that “corrections” can be continually made.
Finally, improvements are made, based on business value, such that IT operations and
outcomes start to bring more smiles and less wasted time for both end-users and IT
personnel in their daily work – which aligns well with the ITIL 4 Guiding Principle of
“focus on value.” As improvements are actioned, the measurement continues, and
both the absolute state and the achieved progress can now be shared – with an
organization continuing around the Framework cycle, tackling more end-user issues
and opportunities as the benefits of ITXM™ permeate the organization.
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What are XLAs?
Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) are a reimagining of SLAs that focus on what’s
most important to end-users. Within these, XLA targets are end-user-centric metrics
and key performance indicators (KPIs) that focus on the perceived quality of IT
services and support. They measure the performance of IT by quantifying the enduser
experience and IT service outcomes. Ultimately, XLAs measure performance in
outcome and value terms, whereas SLAs usually focus on operations and outputs.
SLAs measure the process or the completing of an objective. XLAs, on the other hand,
measure the outcome and the value of the service provided.
Currently, most organizations are using Service Level Agreements as their key
performance metrics. However, relying solely on SLAs can cause something called the
Watermelon Effect which is a common phenomenon in IT organizations where the
KPI's and Service Level Agreements indicates that everything is going well, but endusers
report they are having poor experiences with IT.
XLAs don’t have a universal formula that companies should follow. Instead, XLAs
should be tailored to an organization’s IT problem areas, and the outcome and value
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SLAs are a documented
agreement between the
service provider and the
customer that identifies the
services required and the
expected levels of service.
XLAs are a contract between a
service provider and a customer
founded on the quality of the
service experience with the
provider’s services.
Experience Level Agreements aka XLAs
they want to achieve.
We can use many UX metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure user
experience with quantitative methods. Some of the most common ones are:
•Happiness: This metric measures the user's satisfaction, enjoyment, and preference
for a product or service. It is usually collected via surveys that ask users to rate their
experience on a scale (e.g., 1–5 stars, 1–10 points, etc.). Some examples of happiness
metrics are Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and
Product Satisfaction Score (PSS).
•Engagement: This metric measures the user's involvement and interest in a product
or service. It is usually collected via analytics that track user behavior on a website or
app (e.g., page views, time spent, bounce rate, etc.). Some examples of engagement
metrics are Session Duration, Pages per Session, and Bounce Rate.
•Adoption: This metric measures the user's acquisition and adoption of a new
product or feature. It is usually collected via analytics that track user behavior on a
website or app (e.g., sign-ups, downloads, activations, etc.). Some examples of
adoption metrics are Conversion Rate, Activation Rate, and Feature Usage Rate.
•Retention: This metric measures the user's loyalty and retention of an existing
product or service. It is usually collected via analytics that track user behavior on a
website or app (e.g., return visits, churn rate, retention rate, etc.). Some examples of
retention metrics are Churn Rate, Retention Rate, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
•Task Success: This metric measures the user's efficiency, effectiveness, and error rate
when completing a specific task with a product or service. It is usually collected via
usability tests that observe user behavior on a website or app (e.g., task completion
rate, time on task, number of errors, etc.). Some examples of task success metrics are
Task Completion Rate (TCR), Time on Task (ToT), and Error Rate.
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XLA mistakes in comparison to SLAs
1. Avoid positioning XLAs in the same way as SLAs
The purpose of your SLAs may be wrong. You cannot measure experience with an SLA
metric, nor use it as a measurement for improvement. SLAs also may only be in an
organization because:
•ITIL says so
•IT departments use them to defend their performance to stakeholders
•They've been inherited from previous teams or tools
•IT believes “we need them” to be able to control our providers
Positioning SLAs this way creates no real direction for IT, won't create a positive
change for end-users or service desk agents, or give you a true insight into your IT
service experience.
Therefore, you also need to apply this to XLA positioning. Create a goal and meaning
behind each XLA you design and define how it's going to add value to your end-users.
Setting up an XLA just because industry experts (or this guide) say so, isn’t enough to
do it. Discover what you want to solve or improve for an end-user with XLAs before
you set them.
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SLA - Service Level Agreement XLA - Experience Level Agreement
Measures the output of IT. Measures the outcome of IT.
Measures the processes. Measures the added value and productivity of services.
SLAs focus on high level objectives, that can easily be
met. However, they don't paint an in-depth picture of
what is really happening within IT.
Brings focus directly to end-users' experience and
needs.
SLAs show if IT is delivering projects within the right
time frame and budget - ignoring the true success
measure(s) of projects.
With XLAs you can bring business value and increase
productivity of end-users.
Focus on sanctions. Focus on rewards.
Measurement stays the same. Measurement target levels constantly change.
SLA vs. XLA
You can still use SLAs in conjunction with XLAs, however, make sure you're measuring
the right things - i.e. XLAs to measure experiences and outcomes, SLAs to measure
outputs.
2. Avoid creating XLAs in the same way as SLAs
SLAs have likely had no, or barely any, involvement from end-users. This is one of the
biggest mistakes you can make when devising XLAs. Experience level agreements
should be directly linked to end-user experience, therefore it is pivotal that you
involve them in XLA discussions.
Another common mistake is using a “one-size fits all” approach, similar to what has
been found in SLA usage. XLAs need to be tailored to experience and an
organization’s problems or needs. Furthermore, SLAs focus on what you can
physically measure: time, budgets, tickets, etc. This completely misses the most
important thing - the end-user’s experience.
Make sure that XLAs are measuring the most important and valuable outcomes
instead of traditional operational data.
3. Don’t use XLAs the same way as SLAs
SLAs have traditionally been used to show targets being hit, not as an indicator for
improvement. This tends to be down to what SLAs are set to measure. XLAs should
be the driver for change and the springboard to act on your end-users’ pain points
within their service experiences.
Another negative use of SLAs has been that they've remained the same, measuring
the same outputs over time. This means they're rarely reviewed or updated to reflect
changing business needs and priorities. With XLAs, you need to be continuously
measuring your end-users experience and then updating your XLAs according to the
received experience data. End-users’ experiences will change over time, therefore
different goals and targets will need to be set in order to meet end-users’ needs.
It could even be said that the most important usage of XLAs or any experiencerelated
measurement is to identify areas to improve. SLAs might help you to
understand what is wrong with the process or service itself, but they can't be used to
determine where the experience is lacking.
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What will be next?
See you on May 14th