The Service Level Agreement (SLA) Conundrum

Are service level agreements (SLAs) only for transactional measurement, or can they lead to transformational value and flexibility for the future? It's a matter of what you are measuring.

Measuring the wrong things or creating high-level, smoothed-out reports can make a business function appear to be meeting objectives even when it's not. Executives see cost efficiency, while those performing the work are quietly mired in ineffectiveness.

Some call this the "watermelon effect," and it can be detrimental to your business.

Using a utility company's outsourced call center as an example, this paper explains the importance of involving the right people and setting value-driven goals when designing what to measure in service level agreements.