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What Are the Benefits of Service Level Management?

SLM benefits for facilities management

Each business takes a different approach to Service Level Management differently. There are a few standard best practices that can be used as a guide. They include: describing all services offered (including what’s not included, so that there is no room for confusion or assumptions made by either side) in identifying performance metrics; including the definition of measures and methods, including expected turnaround times as well as establishing the responsibilities, escalation processes as well as costs/service tradeoffs, and agreeing to dispute resolution procedures and indemnification clauses if there is a conflict.

SLM also ensures that everyone is on one team so departments don’t argue over who is accountable for what. This is particularly important when you are working with external vendors. Documenting SLAs can help avoid miscommunications that can lead you to delay delivery dates or metrics, and ultimately unhappy customers.

SLM can also assist you stay flexible by continuously monitoring and evaluating the service levels and services. You can then make rapid changes as needed.

It will also help you improve the quality of your service to ensure that you meet or even exceed your desired goals. For instance, you might would like to improve the speed of your website. You may not see any increase if you go above a certain threshold.

SLAs are usually a major attraction for prospective customers, because they present a clear picture of what their investment in your service will look like. Having a team dedicated to SLM can be a great idea because it means that their efforts won’t be overlooked or discarded particularly after a contract has been signed.