My role as a Service Delivery Manager

“So, what do you actually do?”

I’d love to be able to sum up what a typical day looks like for me, but the truth is that every day is different, and that’s why I enjoy my role so much!

As Service Delivery Manager, I act as the link between our customers, TSG’s operational teams and our third-parties; I provide a point of contact and escalation. I’m the person who ensures that services are delivered and supported to the agreed service levels and expectations so that our customers can achieve their business goals.

I’m involved across the lifecycle from that initial engagement and planning, through design and transition into delivery and support. I work with customers operating in a range of industries, each with their own objectives and specific requirements. And that’s what makes my role so varied!

Currently, I’m working with a customer that is looking to modernise its infrastructure and consolidate its line of business (LOB) applications, so we’re in that engagement and planning phase; understanding the business needs and requirements to ensure we can map a service that is the right fit.

I’ve engaged the relevant technical experts within TSG to audit the customer’s setup and we’ve worked with the customer, and its users, to understand the business objectives and current processes. This means we can offer the customer a service that is tailored to its requirements, and that is critical to what we do here; anyone can promise you the latest technology at the cheapest price, but at TSG we’re only ever going to implement what is right for you. And in any case, cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean better!

With another client, we’ve gone through the design phase and are currently migrating services over to TSG’s platforms and getting ready for service commencement. This requires regular checkpoint reviews with the customer, our operational teams and our suppliers to assess our readiness for go-live: ensuring that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in the delivery of the service, confirming that processes are embedded and making sure that the technology we use (think service management toolsets, monitoring systems, communication methods) is configured appropriately to support delivery.

With the other customers I’m responsible for, the focus is on delivery and support: ensuring that services are delivered to the agreed levels, whether that’s incidents or requests being resolved within the appropriate timeframe or services being available at the agreed times.

It’s also my responsibility to manage any operational risks; mitigating any threats to service by proactive containment and ensuring workable continuity plans are in place should those risks be realised. For one client, we’ve recently completed our annual disaster recovery testing, so we are as confident as we can be that the customer won’t face too much disruption to its business should the worst happen!

More than just addressing day-to-day issues, however, I need to maintain a proactive and forward-thinking relationship with my customers; I need to always be looking to identify and recommend service improvements. This can range from streamlining our own internal processes to working with our Solution Architects to assess the long-term requirements of our customers so that our service evolves with their needs and objectives. After all, what’s required currently might not be appropriate for that customer in five years’ time… or even one year from now.

I also produce service reports that not only keep stakeholders fully appraised of service performance, but also have an eye on the future to ensure our customers are fully aware of what’s coming, not just what’s been happening. Our service reports typically demonstrate our performance against the agreed SLA, provide analysis of any major or high priority incidents and problems, detail any completed or forthcoming changes, highlight any risks that we’re managing and outline the status of any service improvements or recommendations that we’ve identified. The contents of the service report form the agenda for service reviews with my customers.

Sometimes I feel a bit like Chandler Bing from Friends – nobody quite knows what I do; I’m not a Project Manager, I’m not an IT Manager, and I’m not a Transponster (that’s not even a word!) but hopefully this gives you a measure of what I do as one of TSG’s Service Delivery Managers. It’s a really varied role and I get to interact with our customers on throughout their entire journey with TSG. Ultimately, it’s my job to enable our customers to succeed and achieve their business goals through the use of IT services and technology.

Interested in finding out how managed IT services can help you achieve your business goals? Get in touch with us today.