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DR175
SERVICE MANAGEMENT IN COMPUTING AND
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
by Richard D. Hallows

"This practical introduction shows you how to provide consistent,
high-quality service that will keep your business competitive.

"Competition among service providers is fierce and only getting fiercer
customer loyalty is difficult to build and even harder to maintain over the long term.
How can you ensure that your business is providing the kind of consistent,
high-quality service that will keep it competitive?

"This practical guide enables you to provide exactly the kind of service that
bridges the wide gap between customers and information technology. The book
addresses crucial management considerations and other aspects of providing
technology-based services, helping you solve difficult business problems and showing
you how to best fulfill the needs of end users."

"This book is the result of ten years' personal experience working in various
aspects of the provision of public services with a variety of service providers. I am
not now, nor have I ever been, a consultant of any kind. Everything that has been
learned has been learned the hard way -- by doing it, or at least being around while
it was being done. Service management has grown in importance over that time,
and this will only accelerate in the future for a variety of reasons.

"Technical developments have changed the nature of the problems associated
with service provision over the years. It has taken away some of the emphasis on
systems management and placed increased importance on the management of the
service, particularly the management of the users of the service. The computing
power available is in some ways effectively infinite, as is digital storage, and if the
proponents of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) developments are to be believed,
so is network capacity in the future. Technical constraints on service capabilities are
rapidly disappearing.

"In the public arena this means that the basis of competition will change as
the networks and products being offered become increasingly similar in terms of
feature and function. The competitive battleground will be the management of the
service and the management of the customer. This is equally important in the
provision of private services internal to an organization, as the private service
provider is not going to be allowed to avoid the impacts of competition. Outsourcing
of data processing and networking capabilities to public operators is increasing in
frequency and scale. This potentially places the internal corporate information
technology and telecommunications managers in competition with public service
providers.

"The management of the service has a direct impact on success and revenue
generation in the public environment. A well-managed service should encourage
increased usage and should generate repeat business for the provider as well as
expand existing business. Management in the private service environment does the
same. It is true that service providers get the customers they deserve, in terms of
both number of customers and type. In fact it is possible to go even further and state
that service providers get the customers they create. Service management is a
technique for service providers to create the type of customer they want to use the
service.

"Equally it can be said that the users of the service get the service provider
they deserve, and the service provider they can help to create. Service management
is not necessarily a one-sided function, and the development of a partnership
between the services provider and the user community is an essential element of
ensuring the provision of quality services. Service management is important to
everyone, whether they provide or receive services, good, bad, or indifferent."

CONTENTS:

1 Introduction
2 What service is being provided?
Review of current service
Who are the customers and users of the service?
What are the users doing with the service?
What service performance parameters are being measured?
What service performance is being achieved?
What are the key groups involved in the delivery of the service?
Review of service specification
review of users' service expectations
review of users' perception of the service
conclusion

3 Defining and understanding customer requirements
problems in defining service requirements
questions about service requirements
user wants, needs and expectations
Defining User Communities
Understanding the Users' Business Needs
Understanding the Users' Business Processes
Translating Business Needs Into Service Requirements
Managing Conflicting Requirements

4 Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Talking to the Customer
Customer Expectations Versus Customer Experience
Setting Realistic Customer Expectations
Managing Customer Satisfaction
Methods of Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Conclusion

5 The Service Partnership
Basic Requirements of a Service Partnership
Mutual Acknowledgment of the Partnership
Mutual Trust
Rights and Responsibilities
6 Organization and Management Systems
Focusing the Whole Organization on Service Provision
Incentives
Roles and Responsibilities
job Objectives
Mission Statements
Assigning Service Provision to Certain Individuals
Combining the Two Approaches Effectively
Responsibility for the Provision of Quality Service
Accountability for Quality Service
Key Processes
Review and Approval Process
Issue Resolution
Service Delivery Structure
The Service Manager
Conclusion

7 Service Level Agreements
Setting SLA Objectives
Initial Definition of the SLA
Ensuring Measurable SLA Elements
Contractual Versus Advisory SLAs
The Service Delivery Agreement
Developing the SLA
Defining Objectives
Defining SLA Elements
Testing for Measurability
Setting Service Level Values
Defining Elements as Contractual or Advisory

8 Customer Assistance and Help Desks
Customer Assistance Requirements
Number of Users
Number of Services
Service Recipient Interface
Skill Levels
Resolving Problems on the First Call
Help Desk Tools
Help Desk Requirements
Initial Help Desk Contact
Fault Logging
Problem Diagnosis
Problem Closure
Help Desk Interface to Customers
Internal Help Desks
Direct Contact with the Help Desk
Proactive Help Desk Activity

9 Service Reporting
Key Principles of Reporting
The Appropriateness of Reporting
Measurement and Monitoring
Conclusion

10 Conflicting Service Requirements
Conflicts Between Service Recipients
Conflicts Between Service Providers
Conflicts Within the Service Provider
Managing Conflicts
Performance Impact of a Single User on Other Users
Enhancement and Stability
Cost and Quality

11 Implementing Quality Services
Steps Toward Achieving Quality Implementation
Implementation Planning
Service Testing Process
Problems with Testing Services
Resolving Problems
Customer Beta Test
Conclusion

12 Doing It Again Tomorrow

About the Author
Bibliography
Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"Richard Hallows is the general manager of application services at Cable &
Wireless Business Network, London, England. Prior to this he was a service
development manager for IBM Information Network. He earned his Bsc in
economics and politics from the University of Bristol."

DR175, 1995, 121 pp. $85.00
[SPECIAL ORDER ITEM - This popular book is no longer in print; Rothstein Catalog
On Disaster Recovery has arranged a limited reprinting.]

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