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Understanding Service Level Agreements (SLA)

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Service Level Agreement between software company and customers
SLAs are a contract between customers and service providers.

Have you ever ordered from Amazon and been given the option of Amazon Prime shipping. This feature guarantees the speed of product delivery from Amazon to the customer. This is a prime (pun intended) example of a Customer Based Service Level Agreement, promising to uphold their delivery time quote.

However, if the company does not deliver at the intended time leaving the customer unsatisfied with their services, there may be a predetermined compensation or other offers if the mistake was due to internal efforts. This ensures that customers are more likely to continue using their company’s services in the case of an error.

What is an SLA

A Service Level Agreement is essentially a contract between the customer and business that defines the standard of the service provided. SLA’s ensure customer satisfaction as well as company success/reputability. It may outline the quality, physical properties, and timely nature of the product. SLA’s can be utilized by companies internally or externally:

  • Customer based SLA: This is a service level agreement between your company and an individual customer or a specific group of customers.  
  • Multi-level SLA: is a customized agreement split into different levels designed to fit the specific needs of multiple customers seeking the same services.
  • Internal SLA: involves an agreement among an organization and its internal employees service standard rather than customers. 

SLA’s in the Tech World

 In the Information Technology (IT) world SLA’s may be used to guarantee the quality, availability, and timeliness of the software provided to the customer. Although SLA’s can be used between the customer and company, they may also be used internally within a company or combined on multi-levels. Further we will discuss the different ways in which SLA’s can be utilized in your IT business:

When writing an SLA agreement it is important to incorporate all inclusions and exemptions in the contract. This ensures that each counterpart is working under the same impression, minimizing the risk of mis-communication as the contract provides clear expectations. However, if an issue arises, individuals may refer back to the contract to determine further action.

1. Customer based SLA

In a customer based SLA, the customer and service provider negotiate specific expectations of the services that will be provided. This type of service level agreement can vary from customer to customer accommodating to their individual needs. For example, a customer based SLA at a software company may define the specific amount of time required to respond and resolve any customer inquiries.

2. Multi-level SLA

Multi-level SLA’s are used for different customer groups with varying needs where each group is provided with the same level of service at different quantities. This type of SLA can be divided into different tiers including corporate level, customer level, service level, and issue based.  This allows customers to select the proper service plan based on their requirements. For example, an IT company providing a software service plan may have various groups of customers ranging in size. This means the company is providing the same software at different price points relative to the number of users at each company. SLA contracts may be vary based on the value of the customer.

3. Internal SLA

Internal SLA’s can be used within companies for purposes such as connecting teams to work cohesively towards improving company success. For example, this may be acquired by creating a contract agreement between the IT Department leaders and the internal customers they serve. Metrics that can be pre-defined are first time response once the service request has been submitted and total time to resolve the issue. These key performance indicators (KPI’s) are typically measured over a period of time and presented as a average. This ensures each counterpart is responsible for a specific service standard within the internal functions of the company. 

Important Factors to Include in an SLA

SLA’s must incorporate many different aspects into the agreement including a detailed description, exemptions, availability standard, service standard, penalties, and data handling method. It is important to the contracts viability to properly outline each, ensuring both parties hold up their end of the agreement.

 

Improving Customer Service

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How to keep customers coming back
Improve customer service because customers are everything for growing your business.

Consistently improving customer service skills is important for the whole team to succeed and ensure customers keep coming back. Customers are the core of every business and should always be the number one priority. If your company is selling a product or service this is the reason your business is growing. A single poor experience with a customer service representative can result in a lost customer forever. This is why keeping customers satisfied is so important for bringing in more business. Here are five strategies that will help you improve your customer service!

1. Know your Products and Services

To help the customer, your team members must have a deep knowledge of how your products and services work. Customers may come to you with all types of questions so it’s important your team members can answer these questions effectively. Ultimately your customers rely on you for your knowledge of your product and how quickly you can resolve their issues. 

2. Be Goal Oriented 

Setting a goal to improve customer satisfaction puts your team’s focus on providing consistent customer service experience. To be goal oriented focuses attention on desired outcomes and provides team members with motivation to accomplish tasks. In order to meet goals, employees must demonstrate certain skills such as effective time management, planning, and organization. 

3. Efficient Response Time

When customers have to wait lengthy periods for a response from the support team they can get agitated very quickly and left unsatisfied with your company. In turn they might seek out your competition. By providing customers with prompt responses they are much more likely to continue using your products and recommend your company to their peers.

4. Be Personable

Personalized interactions greatly improve customer service and let customers know that your company cares about them and their problems. When interacting with customers it’s important to have more meaningful conversations rather than your typical automated responses. This will help make their overall experience with your company more enjoyable. 

5. Be Engaging 

The simplest way to improve your customer service is to ask your customer for their feedback. Encourage your customers to share their experiences and pain points. This ensures that your customers feel valued and that their opinions are acknowledged.

Online Help Desk Support

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When customers need answers the online help desk is where they turn for support

Managing your business can be overwhelming at times. Especially when multiple customers are requiring attention simultaneously. You can organize messages, answer customer questions, and provide assistance in a timely manner using the help desk. This provides great customer support and keeps everyone happy!

Advantages of online help desk

Online help desk  software support customers that are expressing the need of technical assistance related to computer systems, hardware, and software. This online support is responsible for assistance in troubleshooting, answering questions and solving any problem users might be experiencing. The software works towards organizing questions and issues that may come up, in a nice organized list; making it much easier to manage and assess problems or questions. This allows the help desk operators to find quick solutions for problems that may be occurring and provide answers to the high frequency of questions directed towards them. Help desk operators can also assess these frequently asked questions and assign them to the correct department for answers. This can help distribute work amongst employees to ensure no individual is overwhelmed with questions or concerns. It is important to assign the right employee who can answer the customers questions effectively, to provide satisfaction.

Oftentimes customers have similar questions or concerns when browsing. Instead of answering each individual, help desk provides an option for immediate response to these users. This helps reduce the demand for answers to frequently asked questions while providing support in a quick and easy way. Customers that have unique questions require more than a quick and easy response. With help desk support these questions are organized and directed to an employee in the specific field the question falls under. This allows for proper analysis with the right person, giving the customer the best answer.

Assigning these tasks and problems to certain employees can help generate an effective workplace. The help desk provides a list of assigned problems that need to be completed. Using the list, managers are able to distribute tasks evenly to enhance efficiency. Employees have access to this organized list where they can browse commonly asked questions and unique questions that need answers. This creates a positive relationship between employees and customers. Help desk support is an important tool for businesses to keep your customers satisfied.

 

Everything You Need To Know About Customer Service

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“Hello! Welcome to our company, what can I do for you?” These few words of introduction, depending on how they are spoken, will either make a great first impression or a worst on the customer. Customer service is crucial if you want any business to thrive. It does not matter whether you are located online or in a store, the way you deal with customers will greatly impact your business. The only difference is for online, you’ll find yourself dealing with customers virtually, through email, or calling; as to the store where you’ll be face to face with a customer. No matter how you run your business, the same tactics for great customer service will apply!

In order to have solid customer service, you will need to acquire a few skills. Firstly, patience. There is nothing worse than talking to customers and not giving them the time and patience they deserve. There will always be the customers that are not always kind when dealing with employees. In some cases, customers may talk for a long period of time complaining or explaining their issue, which may become irritating to the employee. Now, taking the time to think about how to analyze the problem, can not only give the customer the feeling of being valued but also allows the employee to respond in a way that is beneficial to the business.

Another quality of good customer service is knowing your business. When a customer asks about a product or service that your company offers, there should not be any “I’m not sure” or clueless looks or silent air time. When talking about a big company that has multiple departments, transferring the customer to someone with the extensive knowledge will assure the customer is informed.

One of the most important skills is communication and positivity. A customer service team that shows great communication skills such as eye contact, gestures, good tone of voice and confidence, shows that you care about what the customer has and want to help. When speaking face to face, 55% of what you mean is in your body posture, 38% of what you mean is in your tone of voice and only 7% of what you mean is contained in words. Talking on the phone or in person; no matter which one it is, using different tones of voice shows you are interested in the conversation and shows value to the customer. Staying positive, even in tough situations, can relax the customer and settle them down. If you are in a situation where a customer is yelling or upset, keeping the conversation positive will help bring the issue down.

These skills come naturally to some people! Although, there is always room for improvement especially with customer service, which is why training and workshops can help boost your customer service at your company. Training sessions can help your employees learn what to do in difficult situations. As well teach/refresh them on the skills required to keep a high customer service. Workshops can set up real-life scenarios and help the employees feel and learn what it is like to be in very different situations. Investing in customer service training allows for better success in the future!

Lastly, companies can be overwhelmed by the number of customers. In these cases it usually takes more time to respond to customers, making them unhappy. Using customer service software can help dramatically organize the wave of customers. There are many software products now created to help companies manage customer service. Ticketing systems are one way that this software helps, by highlighting the key issues in an easily organized list. This helps employees and managers categorize issues and their significance for the business. These software applications can also provide calendars showing assigned tasks, and tasks needed to be completed; helping managers see who is dealing with what, and what other issues need to taken care of. Customers do not like to be kept waiting. Using ticketing software can help your employees stay on top of issues, and get to all their customers in an organized and quick manner.

Customer service is crucial from a business standpoint. Employees need to know how to engage properly and solve issues that may arise with customers. Training programs and workshops can help achieve this! Software apps are also offered that can assist the company with staying on top of issues, with an organized and less chaotic way. Treating your customers like gold will help keep your existing customers, but also bring in new ones. If a customer is satisfied with the way they were treated, they will talk about it and spread the word. Although, it can go the other way too as well. Let the word get around positively…and that can be done with the help of the assets mentioned throughout this article!

How to Apply Emphasis on Customer Engagement

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Living in a fast-paced 21st-century society can be overwhelming. Customers are constantly wanting new and improved products or services. Since our society is so fast-paced, we move quickly but we also get bored quickly. We want to experience bigger and better things. We get tired of the same old and desire change. From a company standpoint, this can be very difficult to deal with, especially when customers are constantly coming and going. As a company, you want to keep your customers loyal and engaged to the best of your abilities. Here’s how!

Build An Online Community

A community will allow customers and clients to feel like they’re appreciated and heard. It will give clients the ability to ask questions and give feedback about your business. If you’re customers have appropriate assistance that they’re satisfied with, they’ll be sure to remain engaged with your product or service. A community also allow your customers to have discussions with one another that is relevant to your industry. Many popular social media websites such as Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups and Google+ allow for the creation of communities. This is beneficial to you because many users are already on these social media networks, which makes it that much easier for you to make them part of your community.

Develop Emotional Connections

Once companies do this, there is a much greater chance a customer will stay loyal to you. Think about it this way, you purchase a company’s product or service. However, there’s no name or face attached to the company, just an anonymous source that you’re giving your money to. There is no personal connection with that interaction. Without a personal connection, a customer won’t feel as engaged as they would be if they put a face to the name. Most of the time, customers want to see who they’re dealing with, which allows for better engagement. Here’s how to build personal connections with customers,

  • Use images of your team members on social media- If your customers have a question about your product or service and they post this question to a social media page, having a team member with a profile picture of themselves is much more personal rather than having a photo of the companies brand name. The customer will most likely feel as if they are speaking to an actual person rather than a robot.
  • Introduce yourself- An introduction is the best way to grab a customers attention. For example, it can be as simple as reaching out to them when they give you a follow. Such as, “Hi (name)! Thanks for the follow! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us.” This is a personalized message that will stand out more to the customer.
  • Include biographies of the CEO and major employees- This allows your customers to develop an emotional connection because they can read about employees and make connections to similar lifestyles.

Host An Event

By hosting an event, you’re giving your customers a chance to meet you and your employees in person. It’s also a great way for your customers to interact with each other. This will further enhance the sense of community, therefore making the customers more engaged. An alternative to this is rather than hosting your own event, you can set up a booth for your company at a local trade show. This way, you can showcase your product or service while getting to meet your customers.

Keep Up With Conversations

Remaining in consistent conversation with customers is a successful approach that will leave your customers feeling appreciated and engaged. When questions and complications arise, you and your team need to remain consistent with addressing problems as soon as they are brought to your attention. This allows your customers to remain loyal to you because they will be reassured that whenever they have a question, they can always get an answer.

Conclusion

Although these concepts require a great amount of work to maintain, it is extremely beneficial to your company to have these connections with your clients or customers. Keeping them engaged will allow you to have more security knowing that your customers will be loyal to your product or service.

How SLAs Solve Business Issues

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We’re working together with a long-time user of TeamHeadquarters, who will be using SLAs to solve business issues and who has recently developed a business strategy that establishes IT as a core organizational competency.

The Business Issues

Internal business issues

The strategy of the company has software, databases, and processes that heavily rely on systems and IT personnel for high availability and accuracy.

Not all systems, software, processes and staff are equal — some are more critical than others. Applying an SLA to these essential services provides helpdesk operators and personnel the information they require to prioritize support activities and service requests.

Customer business issues

As I said, not all systems, software, processes, and staff are equally essential. Customers service requests receive a priority based on their essential nature and assigned the appropriate SLA. Now the client expectations are set. Providing the customer with the measurements, and access to their service request progress through the TeamHeadquarters portal aids in understanding the level of service they’re receiving and whether the SLA is being satisfied.

SLA Measures and KPIs

By setting SLAs on all services based on their essential nature, the client can focus the efforts of IT on high priority, strategy enabling activities.

For each SLA Measurements and KPIs have been declared and agreed upon by both customers and IT. The primary measure is time: time to resolve, and average time to close.

Factoring in weekends and off-hours into the SLA time measures was critical to the success of the strategy. If the “ball” is in the client’s court, the SLA clock stops; if the request arrives after hours, the clock doesn’t start until the beginning of the next business day. These types of rules are critical to the development of realistic expectations.

IT support staff are measured on their average time to close, the total time to close support requests, SLA violations. These statistics become tools to improve service delivery and train staff.

Customer Engagement through a Self-Serve Portal

Customers become aware of KPIs and the real measurement of support. Clients have access to Service Level KPIs which provides a perspective of the service they’re receiving.

The customer and their executive team determined that TeamHeadquarters is a critical system that supports the IT strategy of their organization. SLAs support both the client and the IT helpdesk.