Service Management

By Jeff Green (Perth, Western Australia, WA October 2006)

In providing services to our customers we rarely consider the management of our offering and the benefits that a structured approach can bring to our customers and our organisation. Even if you know the service level requirements of your customers, are your service level agreements in line with your capacity to supply.

The number one benefit of understanding and managing our service offerings is consistency. By offering a consistent service there are no surprises for our customers, they know what to expect every time. It is also easier for you to support a service that is known and has quantifiable components.

The benchmark for consistency is McDonalds, you can go into any store, anywhere in the world and you will know what you are going to get and how you are going to get it. I love McDonalds, not the food but the company. In fact I could devote a whole blurb to the company's strategies. How they reinvent their offerings to suit a changing, health aware, market. How they train their staff, they can turn a sulky, surly 15 year old, into a smiling, neat and helpful employee, that is really something else! Any way I digress.

The approach to service management I prefer is to look at service components. Basically any service has 3 measurable components, remember if you can't measure it you can't manage it. The components are Availability, Capacity and Performance. It does not matter if the service is a fileserver, software service desk or a shop front, it has these 3 components. Understanding how you make a service available, how many people can use the service (your capacity to supply) and what performance can be expected (response time) is the key to providing a consistent quality service to your customers.

A case study.

I had an opportunity to spend a few days at the new 6 star Empire resort in Brunei, The resort was fantastic with service and facilities that were out of this world. For example when you got out of the pool you were greeted with glasses of iced water and a plate of sliced oranges. True 6 star service.

Amid all this attentive service someone still managed to get it wrong. I called Room Service to ask for some ice, I was told that I would have to call Express service for Ice. The answer I expected was "Yes Sir, I will arrange for some ice to be sent to your room and did you know that you can call Express service for that. I will do that for you now." Anyway, I called Express Service and they told me no problem they would bring it straight away. Meanwhile, my wife happened to be checking the mini bar for mixers and found an ice bucket full of ice. How was that for Express service!

So the first lesson I learned; the answer should always be Yes never No. For example "Yes, I can help you with that as soon as I finish this job for the boss" instead of "No I can't help you, I'm doing a job for the boss."

Second lesson; understand your standard service offering. When a client asks for something that is already there, you will look pretty ordinary, if you're going off to find it for them.

So the answer should have been "Yes Sir, there should be a full bucket of ice on your bar but if you need more just call Express Service. Would you like me to wait while you check ?"