Question

A managed service provider reports to its customer that all agreed service level targets were met for the past quarter: system availability was 99.9%, and the average incident resolution time was well within target. However, the customer's users are increasingly complaining that the service feels slow and frustrating to use, and the customer's executives are threatening to end the contract. Which situation does this best illustrate, and what should the service level manager do?

Accepted Answer

The 'watermelon effect' — the SLA looks green on the outside but is red inside; the manager should incorporate outcome- and experience-based metrics that reflect the customer's actual perception of the service.

Answer

A breach of warranty — the manager should immediately renegotiate the availability target upward to 99.99% to satisfy the users.

Answer

A problem management failure — the manager should open a problem record to find the root cause of every user complaint before reviewing the SLA.

Answer

Normal operation — since all agreed targets were met, no action is required and the customer's concerns are unfounded.