When drafting or reviewing a service desk contract, it’s easy to overlook critical details, resulting in gaps that can significantly impact service quality and customer satisfaction. Below are some of the most commonly missed key points that should always be clearly documented in your service desk agreements:
1. Call Quality and Agent Performance Monitoring
Many contracts fail to explicitly allow clients visibility into call quality and agent performance. Ensure your contract clearly states that you have the right to monitor calls, review agent statistics, and enforce quality guidelines.
2. Detailed Ticket Handling Guidelines
Contracts often lack clarity regarding ticket handling expectations. Clearly define the templates to be used for incidents and requests, along with detailed resolution procedures, to maintain consistency and efficiency.
3. Outage and Priority Incident Procedures
During critical outages or Priority 1 (P1) incidents, ambiguity can be costly. Your contract must explicitly outline roles, responsibilities, and procedures to follow during these scenarios.
4. Clearly Defined SLAs
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) should be precise, covering both incidents and requests. Note that service desk SLAs typically focus on response times rather than resolution; both should be clearly distinguished and documented.
5. First Call Resolution (FCR) Expectations
Explicitly define what issues the service desk is expected to resolve on the first call, including a contractual percentage target for FCR. Incorporating a buffer allowance will help manage expectations realistically.
6. Staffing and Scheduling Requirements
Clearly document the required staffing levels for Level 1 and Level 2 agents. This ensures consistent coverage and prevents staffing concerns from becoming your responsibility.
7. Baseline Call Metrics
Contracts should set clear baselines for critical call metrics like Average Handle Time (AHT), Average Speed of Answer (ASA), and maximum hold times. This provides a measurable standard for performance evaluation.
8. Exclusive Level 2 Responsibilities
If your service desk (including internal Level 2 teams) is expected to handle specific issues exclusively—without escalation to your in-house Level 3—make sure this is explicitly stated in the contract.
9. Training Expectations and Responsibilities
Training quickly becomes outdated if left solely to the vendor. Clearly document training responsibilities, class duration, frequency, and content expectations to ensure new hires perform effectively.
10. Reporting and Analytics
Specify the exact reports and dashboards required, such as bouncing tickets, SLA compliance, and aging tickets. According to ITIL standards, your service desk is responsible for incident lifecycle management, and your reporting should reflect this.
11. Incident and Request Volume Projections
Include projected incident and request volumes in your contract, with a generous buffer to accommodate rapid growth and avoid unexpected staffing shortages.
12. Meeting and Communication Expectations
Clearly document expectations for meeting frequency, such as daily stand-ups or regular meetings to discuss critical ticket types. This ensures continuous alignment and proactive issue management.
13. Supported Applications and Systems
Explicitly document all supported applications and systems, including anticipated annual additions, to provide a clear growth buffer and avoid unforeseen costs.
14. Knowledge Management Support
Include expectations for ongoing assistance with knowledge management to ensure resources remain accurate, relevant, and useful. Both the client and vendor will always work together for knowledge on behalf of the overall support of the company. Ensure that knowledge is on a shared platform and there are frequent meetings around the articles and other self-help documentation.
15. Agent Access Requirements
Clearly specify the exact tools and systems your service desk agents require. This prevents delays and ensures agents have everything necessary to perform their roles effectively. If there are planned rollouts, document what those platforms MAY be in the future.
16. VIP Handling
Dedicated VIP support channels (phone, email, online) and their associated expectations should be clearly documented to ensure priority handling and responsiveness. Some companies have special processes for VIPs, such as automatic P1’s, or a special phone number.
17. Real-Time Communication Between Levels
Real-time communication between Level 1 agents and your internal Level 2 team significantly improves first-call resolution rates, reduces escalations, and facilitates real-time coaching. Ensure this expectation is clearly defined.
18. API Integrations and eBonding
If integrating systems (such as ServiceNow-to-ServiceNow), explicitly document integration requirements in detail. Include a buffer based on anticipated future needs to avoid unexpected additional charges.
19. Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Surveys are often overlooked but are crucial for continuous improvement. Clearly document survey responsibilities, frequency, methods (automated or manual), and how feedback will be collected and utilized.
By missing these items, surely additional and ongoing cost will come your way, especially before you are able to renegotiate. It is best to lay the cards on the table at once vs. having not only additional costs, but creating tension in the relationship and the pains of switching providers and starting all over when the contract ends.
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