Beyond SLAs: How Experience-Level Agreements Are Changing Customer Experience in IT Services

Introduction

For many years, organizations have measured IT service performance through response times, system availability, and ticket resolution targets. These measurements are important, but they do not always explain whether employees and customers are satisfied with the services they receive. A technical issue may be resolved within the agreed timeframe while still creating frustration for the person experiencing it. This is why experience-level agreements are gaining attention in modern IT service management. They help organizations look beyond operational performance and focus on the overall experience, expectations, and value delivered through IT services.

1. Understanding Experience-Level Agreements in Modern IT Services

An experience-level agreement, commonly known as an XLA, measures the quality of a service from the user's point of view. Unlike traditional agreements that primarily focus on technical performance, XLAs examine how people feel about the services they use and whether those services meet their expectations.

For example, an IT department may resolve every support ticket within its agreed response time. However, employees may still experience repeated interruptions, confusing communication, or complicated troubleshooting procedures.

Traditional performance measurements may show that the support team is meeting its targets, but users may have a different opinion.

This is where experience-focused measurement becomes valuable.

What Makes an XLA Different?

An XLA considers several aspects of the service experience, including:

• Ease of accessing IT support.
• Employee satisfaction with technical assistance.
• Quality of communication during incidents.
• Reliability of business applications.
• Time and effort required to complete service requests.
• Overall experience when interacting with IT teams.

These factors help organizations understand whether technology services are genuinely supporting the people who depend on them.

Why Organizations Are Moving Beyond Traditional Measurements

Modern workplaces depend on multiple digital services, including cloud applications, collaboration platforms, communication systems, and remote working tools.

When these services do not work smoothly, employees may lose productivity even if technical teams meet their contractual targets.

For instance, a video conferencing application may technically achieve its availability target but regularly experience audio delays and connection problems.

An XLA-based approach considers the impact of these problems on the people using the application.

The main objective is to connect service performance with real user experiences rather than relying exclusively on technical measurements.

2. Difference Between SLAs and XLAs: Understanding the Changing Measurement Approach

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have traditionally been used to define the expected performance of IT services. They establish measurable commitments between service providers and customers.

Common SLA measurements include response times, resolution times, availability percentages, and service support hours.

Although these measurements remain important, they do not always reflect the complete service experience.

Understanding the difference between SLAs and XLAs helps organizations recognize why both approaches are useful.

What Are Service Level Agreements?

An SLA defines the service expectations agreed upon between a provider and a customer.

For example, an IT support agreement may specify:

• Critical incidents must receive an initial response within 15 minutes.
• Standard support requests must be addressed within an agreed period.
• Business applications must maintain a defined availability percentage.
• Service providers must follow established escalation procedures.

These targets help organizations measure whether technical and contractual commitments are being met.

What Are Experience-Level Agreements?

An XLA focuses on how effectively the service meets user expectations.

It examines the quality of the experience rather than only the technical delivery process.

For example, an employee may receive a response to a support ticket within 10 minutes but wait several hours for a practical solution.

An SLA may show that the initial response target was achieved. An experience-focused measurement may reveal that the overall support journey was frustrating.

Key Differences Between SLAs and XLAs

Measurement Area	Service Level Agreement (SLA)	Experience-Level Agreement (XLA)
Main focus	Technical service performance	Overall user experience
Measurement	Response time, resolution time, availability	Satisfaction, effort, ease of use
Perspective	Service provider and contractual commitments	Customer and employee experience
Data sources	Monitoring systems and service desk reports	Surveys, feedback, analytics, user interactions
Main objective	Meet agreed service targets	Improve perceived service quality
Success indicator	Achievement of performance commitments	Positive and consistent user experience

Why Both Approaches Matter

XLAs are not designed to eliminate SLAs. Instead, they complement traditional service measurements.

A successful IT service environment needs both reliable technical performance and positive user experiences.

SLAs help establish service standards, while XLAs help determine whether those standards are translating into meaningful value for customers and employees.

3. How Experience-Level Agreements Improve Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is influenced by more than the technical outcome of a service request. Communication, accessibility, convenience, and consistency also affect how customers evaluate an IT service.

Organizations that understand these factors can create better support experiences and strengthen their relationships with users.

Reducing Customer Effort

Customers generally expect IT services to be simple and accessible.

Complicated request forms, repeated information requirements, and unclear support instructions can create unnecessary frustration.

An experience-focused approach identifies these difficulties and encourages organizations to simplify service interactions.

For example, an employee requesting access to a business application should not need to contact several departments or submit the same information repeatedly.

Improving the process reduces effort and creates a smoother experience.

Improving Communication During Incidents

Communication plays an important role when IT services experience interruptions.

Customers may become frustrated when they do not know:

• What caused the issue.
• Which services are affected.
• Whether the IT team is investigating.
• When the next update will be provided.
• What steps they should take while waiting.

Organizations can use experience measurements to evaluate communication quality and identify areas that need improvement.

Providing More Personalized Support

Different users may have different service requirements.

A finance department may depend on uninterrupted access to financial applications, while a sales team may prioritize customer management systems.

Understanding these differences allows IT departments to organize support around actual business needs.

How Experience-Level Agreements Improve Customer Satisfaction

A practical XLA program can improve satisfaction by:

1. Collecting feedback after important service interactions.
2. Identifying repeated sources of user frustration.
3. Measuring the effort required to complete common requests.
4. Improving communication and support procedures.
5. Reviewing whether implemented changes produce better experiences.

The purpose is to make service improvements based on actual user needs rather than assumptions made by technical teams.

4. The Role of Customer Journey Mapping in IT Service Management

A customer journey represents the different stages a person experiences while interacting with a service.

In IT environments, the journey may begin when an employee encounters a technical problem and continue through ticket submission, troubleshooting, communication, resolution, and feedback.

Customer journey mapping in ITSM helps organizations understand these interactions from the user's perspective.

Identifying the Main Stages of a Service Journey

A typical IT support journey includes several stages:

1. Identifying a problem

An employee notices that an application is unavailable or a device is not working correctly.

2. Requesting assistance

The employee contacts the service desk through a portal, email, phone call, or virtual assistant.

3. Receiving support

The service desk reviews the issue, provides instructions, or assigns it to a technical specialist.

4. Tracking progress

The employee receives updates about the investigation and expected resolution.

5. Completing the request

The technical issue is resolved and the service becomes available again.

6. Providing feedback

The employee may be asked to rate the experience or share suggestions for improvement.

Identifying Experience Gaps

Journey mapping helps identify problems that may not appear in standard service reports.

For example, a ticket may be resolved within the required timeframe, but the employee may have experienced:

• A complicated submission process.
• Repeated requests for the same information.
• Poor communication between support teams.
• Unclear troubleshooting instructions.
• No confirmation that the issue was fully resolved.

These details help IT managers understand where the service experience needs attention.

Using Journey Mapping to Improve IT Services

Organizations can use journey maps to prioritize improvements based on user impact.

Common improvements include:

• Simplifying service request forms.
• Improving self-service knowledge portals.
• Providing automatic status notifications.
• Reducing unnecessary ticket transfers.
• Creating clearer escalation procedures.
• Collecting feedback at important interaction points.

When journey mapping is combined with experience measurements, IT teams gain a better understanding of how service processes affect everyday work.

5. How ITIL 4 DSV Supports Stakeholder Value and Service Relationships

Modern service management requires organizations to understand the expectations of customers, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

ITIL 4 Drive Stakeholder Value (DSV) focuses on creating meaningful relationships between service providers and stakeholders throughout the service journey.

ITIL 4 DSV is part of the ITIL 4 Managing Professional framework. It provides guidance on understanding customer needs, managing service relationships, improving customer journeys, and supporting value creation.

Understanding Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement involves communicating and collaborating with individuals or groups who influence or are affected by a service.

In IT service management, stakeholders may include:

• Business customers.
• Employees and end users.
• IT service providers.
• Business managers.
• Technology suppliers.
• External partners.

Each group may have different expectations.

For example, business managers may focus on service reliability and operational costs, while employees may prioritize convenience and quick assistance.

Understanding these expectations helps IT departments make better service decisions.

Managing IT Service Relationships

IT service relationships involve the interactions and cooperation between service providers and service consumers.

Strong relationships depend on trust, communication, shared expectations, and continuous feedback.

Organizations can strengthen these relationships by:

• Understanding stakeholder requirements.
• Setting clear service expectations.
• Communicating service changes.
• Reviewing customer feedback.
• Resolving recurring service concerns.
• Measuring the value created through IT services.

Connecting ITIL 4 DSV With Experience-Level Agreements

Experience-focused measurement supports the objectives of stakeholder value management.

For example, an organization may introduce an XLA to measure employee satisfaction with its internal IT support service.

The results can help service managers understand whether support processes are meeting stakeholder expectations and where improvements are needed.

Developing Professional Knowledge

Professionals responsible for customer experience, service delivery, and IT relationship management benefit from understanding structured service management practices.

Sterling Next provides ITIL 4 Drive Stakeholder Value certification training for professionals interested in developing their knowledge of stakeholder relationships and customer-focused service management.

Course link: ITIL Specialist Drive Stakeholder Value Certification Training

This knowledge can help professionals understand how service relationships, customer journeys, and value creation contribute to effective IT service management.

6. Measuring IT Service Experience Through Customer Feedback and Performance Data

An organization cannot improve service experience effectively without understanding how users evaluate its services.

Traditional IT reports provide useful information about system performance, but experience measurement requires additional data about customer expectations and satisfaction.

Important Service Experience Measurements

Several indicators can help organizations understand service quality.

Metric	What It Measures	Why It Matters
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)	How satisfied users are with a service interaction	Identifies satisfaction levels
Net Promoter Score (NPS)	Willingness to recommend a service	Provides insight into overall loyalty
Customer Effort Score (CES)	How easy it was to complete a task	Identifies unnecessary user effort
First Contact Resolution (FCR)	Percentage of issues resolved during the first interaction	Evaluates support effectiveness
Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)	Average time taken to resolve incidents	Measures operational efficiency
Service Availability	Percentage of time a service remains available	Evaluates technical reliability
Feedback Response Rate	Percentage of users providing feedback	Indicates participation in feedback activities

The Importance of Customer Feedback Management

Customer feedback management involves collecting, organizing, analyzing, and acting on information provided by service users.

Feedback may come from surveys, support tickets, interviews, service reviews, and digital interaction data.

For example, employees may repeatedly report difficulty accessing a particular application.

Although monitoring tools show that the application is functioning correctly, feedback may reveal that its login process is confusing or that authentication takes too long.

This information helps IT teams investigate the actual source of dissatisfaction.

Combining Technical and Experience Data

Organizations should connect operational performance information with user feedback.

For instance:

• Availability data explains whether a system was operational.
• Incident records explain what technical issues occurred.
• Satisfaction surveys indicate how users experienced those issues.
• Effort measurements show how difficult it was to obtain support.

Combining these sources provides a more complete understanding of service quality.

7. Implementing Experience-Level Agreements Across IT Service Teams

Introducing XLAs requires coordination between service managers, technical teams, business stakeholders, and service providers.

A successful implementation should begin with clear objectives and a practical understanding of existing service experiences.

Step 1: Identify Important Stakeholders

Determine which individuals and departments use or depend on the IT services being measured.

Their expectations should guide the design of the experience measurement process.

Step 2: Define Experience Objectives

Organizations should identify what a positive service experience means in their environment.

Examples include:

• Easy access to technical support.
• Clear communication during incidents.
• Reliable access to business applications.
• Fewer repeated service requests.
• Simple and convenient service processes.

Step 3: Select Suitable Measurements

Choose measurements that reflect the actual experience being evaluated.

A self-service portal, for example, may require measurements related to ease of use, task completion, and customer effort.

Step 4: Establish a Feedback Process

Create regular opportunities for users to share their experiences.

Feedback collection should be simple and relevant. Excessive surveys may reduce participation and create unnecessary inconvenience.

Step 5: Review and Improve Results

Analyze the collected information, identify common problems, and assign improvement responsibilities.

Teams should also communicate the actions taken so stakeholders can see that their feedback has practical value.

Common Implementation Challenges

Organizations may encounter several difficulties:

• Unclear experience objectives.
• Low participation in feedback surveys.
• Different expectations across stakeholder groups.
• Difficulty connecting experience data with technical reports.
• Lack of ownership for improvement activities.
• Overdependence on a single satisfaction metric.

Addressing these challenges requires leadership support, clear responsibilities, and regular performance reviews.

8. The Future of Experience-Level Agreements in AI-Driven IT Services

Artificial intelligence is creating new opportunities to understand and improve service experiences.

Organizations can now analyze larger amounts of feedback, recognize patterns in user interactions, and identify service issues that may otherwise remain unnoticed.

AI-Powered Customer Feedback Analysis

AI tools can analyze feedback from surveys, support conversations, and service desk records.

Natural language processing can identify recurring themes, such as complaints about slow responses, confusing instructions, or application performance.

This allows service managers to understand common concerns more efficiently.

Predicting Experience Problems

AI-powered analytics can combine system performance information with historical customer feedback.

For example, repeated performance warnings may indicate that an application is likely to create difficulties for users during peak business hours.

IT teams can investigate these warning signs and take preventive action.

More Personalized Service Experiences

AI assistants may provide support based on approved user information, service history, and business requirements.

This can make troubleshooting instructions more relevant and reduce the effort required to obtain assistance.

Greater Focus on Human Experience

Technology can measure patterns and automate analysis, but it cannot fully replace human understanding.

IT professionals must still consider individual circumstances, business priorities, and the wider impact of service decisions.

The future of service management will depend on combining technical reliability, intelligent analytics, and meaningful stakeholder relationships.

Conclusion

The growing focus on experience-level agreements reflects an important change in how organizations evaluate IT services. Traditional SLAs remain necessary for measuring technical performance, but they do not always explain whether customers and employees receive a positive service experience. XLAs help close this gap by measuring satisfaction, effort, communication, and the overall quality of service interactions.

By combining experience measurements with customer journey mapping, feedback management, and ITIL 4 DSV practices, organizations can build stronger stakeholder relationships and deliver services that create meaningful value. As AI becomes more widely adopted, IT teams will have additional opportunities to understand user expectations and improve service experiences continuously.