| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us | |
Custom Search
|
Article Surfing ArchiveThe Dark Side of Help Desk SLAs - Articles SurfingYou just signed a Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA) and now think things will get easier. However, you may soon be falling into one of these traps: 1) COVERING THE TRUTH WITH METRICS In some companies, those under the radar of SLA compliance may resort to doing the minimum instead of really solving the problem. This includes closing or reassigning customer tickets just to meet the ticket queue deadline. While a review of SLA monthly metrics may look like the help desk is meeting or exceeding metrics, in reality the quality of support had started a downward death spiral. 2) DOING ACTIVITIES JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE SLA When creating the SLA, the customer/management may ask for services and reports because "they are nice to have" and they perceive them as free. However, once the SLA is in force, the help desk staff discover that the customer/management rarely read the reports or utilize these services. But the staff is forced to keep doing them because they are in the SLA. 3) IGNORING ACTIVITIES NOT IN THE SLA Changes in current products, organizations, management, vendors, and users may require currently unsupported services to receive some level of support. Helpdesk staff are now faced trying to make both the SLA and non-SLA users happy. But picking the wrong choice may mean that you may be trading a happy today for a thousand unhappy tomorrows. In conclusion, take the time to create a realistic SLA that both and your management/customer can live with -- today and tomorrow. Schedule monthly reviews to see if the real needs are being met. Periodically sanity check the SLA and see which activities/reports should be dropped and which should in the short-term and mid-term. Good luck in your efforts!
RELATED SITES
Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved). |
ARTICLE CATEGORIES
Aging Arts and Crafts Auto and Trucks Automotive Business Business and Finance Cancer Survival Career Classifieds Computers and Internet Computers and Technology Cooking Culture Education Education #2 Entertainment Etiquette Family Finances Food and Drink Food and Drink B Gadgets and Gizmos Gardening Health Hobbies Home Improvement Home Management Humor Internet Jobs Kids and Teens Learning Languages Leadership Legal Legal B Marketing Marketing B Medical Business Medicines and Remedies Music and Movies Online Business Opinions Parenting Parenting B Pets Pets and Animals Poetry Politics Politics and Government Real Estate Recreation Recreation and Sports Science Self Help Self Improvement Short Stories Site Promotion Society Sports Travel and Leisure Travel Part B Web Development Wellness, Fitness and Diet World Affairs Writing Writing B |