To understand why measuring and managing experience is so important, look to the watermelon.
Smooth, bright green, and gleaming on the outside. Cut it open and look inside? Red all the way through. While that's ideal for a summer picnic, it's the opposite of what you want in your organization!
"The watermelon effect" is what happens when service metrics appear to be "green" and on target, yet underneath the surface, it’s all red—indicating poor service and unhappy people. A customer experience nightmare.
The "watermelon effect" isn't unique to IT; it happens across all kinds of industries and organizations. This pesky problem can crop up for a few reasons:
When it comes to managed IT service, we often apply this concept while comparing the impact of service level agreements (SLAs) versus experience level agreements (XLAs).
SLAs are an important part of managed IT service: a straightforward document holding service providers accountable to deliver to their customers. SLAs include standard requirements such as how and when the IT team responds to incidents, and the expected response time for each level of service.
But too often, SLA metrics don't reveal the true quality of your service.
Say an employee has a critical error on their corporate-owned computer while working from home. They open a service ticket from their phone and wait for help.
The service provider responds within the appropriate time frame for a "low priority" issue, troubleshoots the problem, and eventually resolves the incident by ordering a replacement. At a glance, everything appears to be going well…but it’s not.
Had anyone asked, the employee might say that they didn’t feel fulfilled by the service. They felt frustrated by the process of opening a ticket and waiting. Responses were short and rude. The employee didn't receive tracking information for the new device and had to follow up for more information.
How could that have been avoided?
Remember: when business leaders ignore valuable perspectives, problems arise undetected, and you miss opportunities to provide better service. When measuring your managed IT service, you want the real story—seeds and all.