The truth is simple and uncomfortable: Service providers must evolve. Technical excellence alone is no longer enough. Customers expect contextual understanding, proactive prevention, and genuine ownership. They no longer tolerate providers who simply respond to tickets and showcase green SLA dashboards.To survive and thrive in the modern outsourced ecosystem, providers must shift from SLA-centric to business-centric operating models. This requires changes across culture, training, operational design, tooling, collaboration, and governance.
Let’s break down the specific changes providers must embrace.
1. Shift From Technical Training to Business Context Training
Most engineers are technically sound but contextually blind. They know how a system works, but not the business consequences if it fails.
Providers must create structured, ongoing training on:
- The customer’s industry
- Key business processes
- Application value chains
- Regulatory obligations
- Seasonal patterns (financial close, holiday sales, tax cycles)
- Business-critical applications vs. normal ones
Engineers should know things like:
- “This server runs the payment gateway—any issue here is P1 by default.”
- “This shared database supports 8 applications. A change here has downstream implications.”
- “Quarter-end is peak load. No changes allowed.”
This sort of knowledge transforms reactive troubleshooting into preventative, intelligent operations.
2. Build Cross-Functional Squads Instead of Siloed Teams
Traditional domain silos are the enemy of fast issue resolution.
Instead of rigid structures like:
- Network team
- Database team
- Cloud team
- Storage team
- Windows team
Providers should move toward cross-functional, application-aligned squads, such as:
- Payments Squad
- CRM Squad
- Digital Channels Squad
- Retail POS Squad
Each squad would contain a blend of relevant domain experts, enabling:
- Faster root cause identification
- End-to-end ownership
- Better knowledge of application chains
- Improved collaboration
- Reduced finger-pointing
This is how modern digital organisations—Amazon, Netflix, Uber—operate. Managed services should follow suit.
3. Prioritise Based on Business Impact, Not Just Severity Codes
Most providers use generic severity matrices. But a P2 on an internal tool might be less critical than a P3 on a revenue-facing system during peak hours.
Providers must create business impact tiers such as:
- Tier 0: Compliance or safety risks
- Tier 1: Revenue-generating processes
- Tier 2: Customer-facing internal systems
- Tier 3: Internal tools and shared infrastructure
This allows intelligent prioritisation. Instead of the SLA dictating urgency, the business impact does.
Example:
- A CPU alert on the eCommerce checkout database MUST be handled as a potential P1.
- The same CPU alert on a dev server may not need immediate action.
Context matters.
4. Proactive Operations: AIOps and Business-Aware Monitoring
Most providers still rely on reactive monitoring—alerts fire, engineers respond. This reactive posture amplifies customer dissatisfaction.
Instead, providers should adopt:
- Predictive monitoring: Identify anomalies before they cause incidents.
- Business activity monitoring: Track user transactions, not just CPU and RAM.
- Dependency mapping: Understand how one failure impacts others.
- Automated anomaly detection: Noticing unusual behaviours before they escalate.
A payment gateway failure should be predicted through early signals, not discovered through customer complaints.
5. Evolve Knowledge Management Into “Living Intelligence”
KT documents, SOPs, and run-books are NOT enough. They often:
- get outdated,
- are unclear,
- are not followed,
- do not represent evolving environments.
Providers must create "living knowledge," meaning:
- real-time dependency maps,
- automated CMDB updates,
- continual SME workshops,
- structured onboarding for new engineers,
- business-driven “Day-in-the-Life-of-User” simulations.
The goal is ongoing contextual awareness—not a one-time transfer of information.
6. Assign Business Relationship Managers (BRMs)
A BRM is the bridge between operations and business. They:
- translate business pain into technical priorities,
- anticipate upcoming business events,
- guide operations planning,
- help align technical investments with business value.
Every major customer should have a BRM who participates in:
- sprint reviews,
- CABs,
- planning of seasonal events,
- improvement roadmaps,
- quarterly business reviews.
BRMs prevent surprises. And surprises are the biggest source of escalations.
7. Expand SLAs to XLAs (Experience Level Agreements)
SLAs measure uptime.
XLAs measure experience.
For example:
- “95% of transactions should complete under X seconds.”
- “User login success rate must remain above 98%.”
- “High-priority incidents must not exceed Y volume per month.”
XLAs quantify what the business actually feels. Providers who embrace XLAs elevate themselves from vendors to partners.
8. Shift the Culture From “Not My Problem” to “We Own the Outcome.”
Too often, engineers fall back on:
- “My logs are clean.”
- “Not from my system.”
- “Looks like an app issue.”
This attitude kills trust.
Providers must emphasise:
- joint RCA, not defensive RCA,
- collaborative war rooms,
- shared responsibility models,
- empathic communication,
- an ownership culture.
Even if the root cause lies with a third party, the customer should feel supported—not redirected.
9. Build Credibility Through Communication Excellence
Customers value clarity, not jargon.
Providers must train engineers in:
- concise updates,
- structured communication formats,
- timely escalation management,
- transparent reporting,
- next-step clarity,
- empathy.
A technically competent engineer who communicates poorly creates more dissatisfaction than a moderately skilled engineer who communicates exceptionally well.
10. Lead With Continuous Improvement (CI) Initiatives
The best providers never settle into routine operations. They constantly seek:
- automation opportunities,
- cost efficiency recommendations,
- performance optimisation,
- better observability,
- process simplification.
Customers perceive this as value creation, not just maintenance.
Conclusion: The New Managed Services Identity
Service providers must evolve from:
- Ticket Responders → Business Enablers
- Domain Silos → Cross-Functional Squads
- SLA Mindset → Outcome & Experience Mindset
- KT-Dependent → Context-Aware
- Technical Service → Business Partnership
The market is quietly shifting. Providers who cling to old models will become commodities. Providers who embrace business alignment will dominate the next decade of outsourcing.
Cirvesh
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