Industry Task Force - Service Level Agreements - Call for Members

As part of our new research agenda (see Research Webcast replay for more information) AFSMI is launching a new Industry Task Force to focus on Service Level Agreements. This is a hot topic for many AFSMI members as they attempt to meet customer expectations that are becoming increasingly challenging. Service Level Agreements, or SLAs, define the level of service that a customer can expect and they also frequently determine the financial compensation (and penalties) for the organization that is responsible for delivering service to the customer. To investigate current developments and their impact on performance management, AFSMI is calling for service industry participants to discuss current challenges, best practices and areas of common interest within this important topic.

Potential areas for research focus include:

Current SLA Trends - what kinds of agreements are companies offering today and how will those change in the next few years?
SLA Pricing & Perceived Value - define common practices for pricing different levels of service commitments
SLA Penalties and Incentives - does this model achieve the goal of aligning the interests of the customer and the service provider?
SLAs & Performance Management - how do you know when you are out of compliance with your SLAs? How can you anticipate and correct problems before they occur?
Customer Communication - what are the common techniques for communicating with customers about service levels

Role of the Task Force - Time Commitment: 5 to 10 hours per month, for 3 to 6 months

The role of the task force will be to define the scope the task force efforts (refining or replacing the potential areas for research listed above), and then to work collaboratively to; define key trends in this area, document common practices, identify questions that require further research and analysis. The task force will also agree on a list of outputs (e.g. white papers, research findings, etc.), if any, that will be developed.

Task force members will participate in regular conference calls (weekly to monthly, depending on task force needs) that will be coordinated and facilitated by AFSMI Staff. Face-to-face meetings may occasionally be scheduled to augment the task force's work, depending on the task force activities. From time to time, the task force may create working teams to focus on specific topics of interest or to request information from co-workers of task force members as well as from industry colleagues who are not part of the task force.

AFSMI will help guide the task force efforts, but we will ask one member of the task force to act as chairperson to help ensure that member needs are the focus of the activities.

Your participation on an AFSMI Research Task Force can have a significant impact, increasing operational excellence and promoting the use of new models and methodologies for the services industry as a whole. Task Force participants will also have a direct opportunity to shape the focus of the research in this area and will benefit from the exchange of ideas with other task force members.

Participants in the Service Level Agreement Task Force should have strong experience with the definition, pricing, compliance management or some other aspect of SLAs. If you are interested in joining the Service Level Agreement Task Force, click here to fill in and submit your application.

Industry Task Force Application

Industry Task Force - Service Level Agreements - Call for Members

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