Monitor your service level agreements (SLA) to succeed with your outsourcing project
According to Accenture more than 50% of all outsourcing projects in the Nordics are classified as failures.
The prime reason given for the failures is the differences of expectations between the customer and outsourcing partner. So, is there any way to manage the expectations? Yes, it is important that both parties have access to the same data when agreeing on and setting the levels for the service, writing the service level agreement (SLA). This is crucial to identify what key values to measure and what levels are acceptable for both parties to achieve a successful SLA monitoring.
SLA monitoring for outsourced services
The next issue is to make sure that the service levels are measured and monitored so that both parties can see how the outsourced services are performing and so that changes can be made in time by both parties. This process can be a time consuming and sometimes complex task. Most companies with outsourced IT services use multiple of outsourcing partners for different parts of the service process.
An example where a simple email service can be provided by:
- Actual email server at outsourcing partner 1
- Internet connections, outsourced to ISP i.e. outsourcing partner 2
- The authentication to access the email service is provided internally (for security reasons)
- The outgoing email gateway is a public service like smtp.gmail.com, i.e. outsourcing parter #3
- Last but not least, the internal infrastructure i.e. user switches etc
Create an automated process for follow up
The challenge is obvious. An automated process that easily measures the different outsourcing partners service deliveries can be of great value. The results should be presented in a easy to understand report scheduled to be automatically distributed to all parties. By having this process automated the efforts can be focused on improving the services quality and hence assuring that the projected cost savings and quality is achieved.
The Solution
op5 Monitor makes it easy to achieve SLA Monitoring. It's easy to install and is often used to measure the service deliveries from outsourcing partners. The solution benefits all parties in the outsourcing process and you as the customer can make sure you have access to all the facts so that you never again go in ”blind” to the monthly meeting with your outsourcing partner again. Assure that you get what you pay for and benchmark your service quality both internally and externally.
A smart investment
An investment in a op5 Monitor system is a fraction of the average outsourcing contract value, a small price to increase the chance for a successful outsourcing project. When problems occur you do not want to be caught in the ”blame game” when different parties start pointing fingers at each other. Contact us if you want to know more about how we can help you to monitor your outsourced IT and your SLA's.
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