The specificity of service agreements should be dynamic and adaptable, reflecting the evolving nature of the relationship between the service provider and the customer in terms of value maturity.
Service agreements may also need to satisfy a diverse audience, from non-technical executives to highly specialized technical, legal, financial, and other stakeholders.
Clear definitions of services and support characterized by functionality and functioning lay the groundwork for a service agreement that is not only robust and adaptable but also responsive to the ever-changing landscape of customer and provider dynamics.
This approach creates a collaborative and customer-focused environment, promoting a partnership that evolves with the needs of all stakeholders involved. But it’s important to understand where you and your customers are in terms of value maturity.
So— perhaps in anticipation of St Patrick’s Day— I’ve developed the ‘Co-Create-O-Meter‘ 😉
The Co-Create-O-Meter is based on the Value Maturity Model as outlined in the eBook, Demystifying the term MATURITY. For a quick overview of the Value Maturity Model, see the USM Wiki.
“…maturity in terms of value creation does not only relate to the position of the provider, but also to that of the customer. If there are major differences in maturity between provider and customer, it is necessary to take this into account in order to avoid conflicts of thinking, policies and mutual expectations. The customer and provider must therefore be at a somewhat equivalent level, or act on it, to achieve successful cooperation.” – The USM Wiki
If the service provider and the customer are at significantly different levels of value creation maturity, co-creation will be difficult at best. Worse, attempting to co-create value under these conditions could pose significant risks to the relationship.
All the ‘Co-Create-O-Meter‘ does is show this in a different way…
…showing that co-creation opportunities require the customer and provider to be at similar levels of value maturity.
Maturity is a slippery slope
Achieving and staying at different levels of maturity is a very slippery slope. Both the customer and the provider can slide down the hill at different times. When you add multiple customer/provider relationships in a service ecosystem the likelihood of being able to “co-create” across the entire service ecosystem seems pretty small (and is likely fleeting as well).
Achieving a universal service agreement that accommodates SLA, OLA, UC, XLA, Master Agreement, and other requirements is not likely to happen anytime soon. But achieving a unified definition of service can lay the foundation for unified service agreements of all types.
From abstract vision to decomposed reality: Value Maturity and the Service Ecosystem
Any service has to have some understanding or agreement between the customer and the provider. This starts with understanding customer needs, translating them into functional specifications and then translating the functional specifications into technical specifications.
These cycles of abstracting the customer’s vision for the service into a decomposed operational reality are iterative and ongoing.
These customer/provider relationships are repeated across the service ecosystem. This means that a service agreement that’s appropriate for one link in the service chain, may not be appropriate for another.
This can lead to highly fragmented and complex agreements that are increasingly difficult to adapt to rapidly changing customer and provider requirements.
Unifying Service Agreements
The Unified Service Management (USM) method addresses this through a universal definition of a service as a supported facility and an integrated process model that accommodates all links in a service supply chain.
Regardless of where along the SLA, OLA, UC, Master Agreement, XLA, et al spectrum of service agreements your requirements are, the USM method establishes a clear definition of a service as supported facilities characterized by functionality and functioning.
This lays the groundwork for any service agreement that is not only robust and adaptable but also responsive to the ever-changing landscape of customer and provider dynamics.
What to hear more? Stay tuned for a Rolling Uphill video on or before St Patrick’s day. Subscribe to the Rolling Uphill blog or the Rolling Uphill YouTube site to get the announcement.