The key to Service Delivery: The CPF approach

We all are (one way or another) part of the Service Delivery process of organizations. Either because we play part in delivering services to customers (as a project manager, Engineer, pre-sales or Service Desk professional) or because we are ordering services, either as a company or as a private person. Think for instance of the process if you order a new internet line at home, or even order a new TV at a store, whether online of traditional Brick & mortar store).

And let's face it, the service delivery process largely impacts the way we feel about an organization. Whether positive, because your expectations were met or even exceeded, or negatively because of issues. And even if issues arise (let's face it, the chance they do always exists), it's the way the organization deals with the issues that (again) impact the way you feel about the organization.

So what exactly are some golden rules to abide by when delivering services?

Communication

It first and foremost starts with communication. Communications is essential in any customer contact, but certainly so in Service delivery. It starts of course with the order confirmation. This is in fact the first contact that the customer has with the organization after it has decided to place trust in the company by ordering goods or services. The essential step here is to affirm this trust was justified. The proper way to do this is by ensuring the following information is at a minimum shared with the customer in the order confirmation:

• The steps that the delivery process entails
• The expected delivery date
• Any information /cooperation which is needed from the customer and interaction moments with the client
• The importance of filling out the questionary at the end of the delivery process

By carefully crafting the communication throughout the Service Delivery process, one can already create expectations as well as ensuring the Service Delivery process is customer centric.

Process

Regarding the process, it is important that it is well defined, eliminates risks and enables predictability. Documenting a process is important for many reasons, the most important of them being auditability (think of ISO9001 and 27001 and / or NIS2), training of new staff, creating visibility of potential bottlenecks & interfaces with other departments / processes and last but not least, consistency in service delivery.

In IT related projects, the ITIL framework gives a good overview of how different processes can be designed in order to effectively work together.

ITIL is structured around the service lifecycle: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement. It promotes a process-based approach, including incident, problem, change, and service level management. ITIL helps organizations enhance efficiency, manage risk, and deliver consistent, customer-focused services. It's widely used across industries to support digital transformation and ensure reliable, scalable IT service delivery.

Feedback

Feedback is also essential throughout the whole service delivery cycle, but if it is not in a structured manner, this is labeled under the communication part, as discussed in the first point.

In this item we are focusing on a structured approach regarding feedback, which is linked to the Continuous Improvement cycle. Best way to organize this part of the process is through Customer Surveys.

In order to maximize the information gathered and being able to use it as a Key performance Indicator (KPI) and track changes throughout the years, it is important to ensure the answers can be compared.

Now, which questions should a Customer Survey focus on? Of course, the specific questions will depend on the service or hardware which was delivered, but the nature of the questions should primarily be focused on areas of influence such as:

• The way the customer was informed on the expected delivery time and process steps
• The communication during the delivery process
• If all agreements and expectations as communicated immediately after the order was confirmed were met and if not, how changes were communicated
• The friendliness, competency and professionalism of the people involved in the service delivery process

If you have any requests regarding these matters, feel free to reach out to us for assistance