Service delivery is a business framework that provides services from a provider to a client. It aims to provide increased value to clients through standards, policies, and quality customer interactions. Some key types of service delivery include IT, local government, health, legal, real estate, and consulting services. To ensure quality service delivery, companies should communicate effectively with customers, define expectations clearly, use automation when possible, and track resources. Common service failures relate to delays, high costs for poor service, unresolved issues, and unmet brand promises. Effective customer recovery after failures includes offering apologies, understanding complaints, fixing issues, following up with clients, and documenting incidents.

1. Service Delivery
• What is Service Delivery?
• Service delivery is a business framework that supplies services from a provider to a
client. It also includes the constant interaction between the two parties during the
duration of the time in which the provider supplies the service and the customer
purchases it.
• Service delivery processes typically aim to provide the client with increased value by
setting standards, policies, principles and constraints to guide all aspects of their
business and customer interactions. Sometimes service delivery may involve a third-
party or outsourced supplier besides the provider and the client.

2. • Why is Service Delivery Important?
• Service delivery is important because it helps provide people with amenities they want
or need by linking them to an organization with the resources to provide those services.
Companies can tailor service delivery to meet the specific needs of their customers
through function or price. Engaging in thoughtful, customer-focused service delivery may
also help distinguish an organization from its competitors by providing higher quality
service.
• What is the difference between Service Delivery and service management?
• Service delivery focuses on service quality, such as if customers are getting the amenities
they're paying for and if they're happy with the product. It is one of two components of
service management, which is a larger process of its own.
• In contrast, service management is about how the provider company operates and how
it can improve those methods and processes. While quality is one focus of service
management, it's not the only focus. Service management also looks at things like daily
operations and business expansion.

3. Types of Service Delivery
• There are a variety of industries that provide different types of service delivery that cover
a range of products. Some of them include:
• 1. Information Technology Infrastructure library (ITIL) services
• ITIL service providers focus on supplying customers with technological and
communication resources such as cable, internet, mobile phone service, streaming
services and other related hardware, software, systems or infrastructures.
• In this framework, providers define the services, roles and responsibilities of the
company and its users to set quality expectations and availability benchmarks. ITIL
companies may use tools like help desks, service catalogs, configuration management,
databases and performance logs to provide service delivery and track its usefulness.
This type is one of the most common for a lot of provider organizations. For that reason,
ITIL has its own set of standard delivery practices to use in corporate business around the
country and around the world.

4. • 2. Local services
• States, cities and municipalities often offer multiple types of service delivery for
residents and business owners within their districts. These options could include things
like healthcare, education, regulation of administrative proceedings, garbage collection
or other related amenities.
• With local service delivery, the provider is the government organization, and the client is
its citizens or business owners. In this instance, the customers seek data from or provide
data to the provider to handle their personal or corporate duties.
• 3. Health services
• Health service providers use service delivery to ensure that patients receive the medical
treatment and supplies they need and those that they deserve under their specific
coverage.
• In a health services situation, the patients are the customers and the medical
professionals, health institutions and insurance companies are the providers.

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• 4. Legal services
• Legal service providers help businesses and individuals understand the terminology and processes
of certain situations under local, state and federal law. In this type, customers or clients are those
seeking legal advice or assistance and the providers are law firms or other organizations. Two of
the most common types of legal service providers are law firms and alternative legal service
providers (ALSP).
• Attorneys typically own and direct law firms and focus on legal proceedings while anyone related
to the law business can run an ALSP that focuses on functions or tasks. ALSPs may work on
projects like document reviews, legal research and contract management. Law firms can give legal
advice and represent people in court proceedings in addition to conducting many services
provided by ALSPs.
• 5. Real estate services
• Real estate services can include things like helping people look for a property to buy, finding
purchasers for a property on the market, coordinating inspections and appraisals and working
with legal service providers to create contracts. In this type, the customers are those buying or
selling property and the providers are agents or organizations facilitating the sale.
• 6. Consulting services
• Consulting service delivery can be a broad term for any consulting firm that offers a solution that
an organization doesn't have the volume or knowledge of staff to complete internally. Consulting
firms can specialize in almost any area of business, such as writing, content creation, human
resources or finance.

6. Actions to be taken by Company / Business Owner to provide its clients with
quality service delivery:
• Communicate with Customers
• Keeping clients informed about their services and any important company updates can
help increase customer satisfaction.
• The timeliness, context and identification of value can all help you communicate most
effectively with clients so that they feel you're being transparent with them.
• Choosing which information is most important to customers and when to deliver that
information can help shape your brand as helpful but not intrusive.
• Set Clear Definitions
• Because service delivery is part of greater service management, making sure both the
provider and the client know exactly what to expect from their service offerings can
make for more honest and authentic interactions and partnerships.
• You can define terms like features, eligibility, cost and customer support. This helps
customers enter transparent agreements and team members understand the
expectations of their working relationships with clients.

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• Use Automation
• There are steps within the service delivery process that you can automate to make it
easier for team members to conduct the most important daily tasks.
• Automation can also be more convenient for customers who want a quick and simple
answer.
• Some types of processes that may benefit from automation include frequently asked
question response emails or confirmation messages.
• Track your Resources
• Tracking your resources can help you find areas where you can anticipate future
fluctuations in service demands and prepare for them.
• This may include monitoring employee schedules for things like staffing the help desk or
providing more customer service options.
• Resources can fluctuate based on specific projects, sales or other related factors.

8. Service Failure
Service delivery failures arise when service delivery performance does not meet the
expectations of customers
Common Customer Service Failures
• Not Arriving or Delivering Within Stated Time Window
• If a customer is told that a service agent will help within a three hour time window, but it
takes four hours for the agent to get a chance to help, then that customer will most likely
feel disappointed.
• High Charges for Bad or Slow Service
• When customers are hit with a large bill for service that was either very slow or just plain
bad, they feel like the service wasn’t worth the cost. This is never what a customer wants
to feel and good service is worth every cent.
• Repeated Repair Visits
• Customers would prefer that when they bring a problem to a customer service team,
that the agent assigned to them will be able to help them solve the issue the first time
around.

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• Not Delivering on Brand Promises
• If a brand has a reputation of creating easy-to-use products that have a 12-hours of
battery life, imagine how a customer would feel once they got an item home only to
discover that it’s difficult to use and the battery dies in one hour. Customer satisfaction
will be non-existent; they’ll think they’ve been duped or sold a faulty product.
• Overpromising, but Underdelivering
• Any customer would love to hear that it will take less than an hour and a mere $20 to fix
their broken television. However, promising a fast fix at a bargain price then having the
repair take much longer and be much more expensive is just as bad as selling a customer
a product that doesn’t deliver.
• Poorly Trained Customer Service Team Members
• Many customer experience problems can be avoided by ensuring your customer service
team is well trained. Customer service agents who aren’t knowledgeable about the
product, service , or processes can cause customers to question whether the agents on
your team are capable of helping them with their problems.

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• Poorly Equipped Customer Service Agents
• If customer service agents don’t have the correct equipment to complete the job when
heading out to a service call, chances are they won’t get the job done correctly,
efficiently, or quickly.
• The Wrong People on Your Team
• Great customer service starts with recruiting the right people to your team. Customer
service agents should be patient, kind, and knowledgeable about your product. One way
to build a great team is to offer your customers a service community filled with
knowledgeable and passionate people, in addition to traditional customer service.
• Inconsistent Service
• When a customer has one or more positive experiences with your brand, they will expect
the same high-level of service if and when they have another problem. All it takes is one
negative customer service encounter to ruin your customer relationship, and have that
customer considering other providers

11. Customer Service Recovery is the process used to "recover" dissatisfied or lost
members or patients by identifying and fixing the problem or making amends for
the failure in customer or clinical service.
Research has shown that resolving the problems effectively has a strong impact on
the customer satisfaction, loyalty, and bottom-line performance. Customers who
experience service failures, but are ultimately satisfied based on recovery efforts by the
firm, will be more loyal.

12. Steps for Customer Recovery after Service Failure
• 1. Offer a Sincere Apology
• The apology is the first step and one of the most important. Even if the company
operates a call center with employees working from a script, its apology should not
sound forced, scripted or insincere. Working with customers, it might be following
established guidelines and procedures, but the employee must make an effort to speak
candidly and genuinely.
• 2. Review and Understand the Complaint
• After asking for forgiveness, the employee needs to make sure they are familiar with the
specific details of the complaint so that they can identify the core issue. Sometimes,
customers will send in multiple queries and complaints regarding the same problem.
• 3. Fix the Issue
• When you are working with a customer, the employee should try to resolve the issue in
quickly. The helpdesk professional, should find the quickest possible solution without
sacrificing quality. The customer is already upset at this point, so it is advisable to deliver
the best customer service possible to retain the client.

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• 4. Follow Up With the Client
• Many systems can help to effectively follow up with clients and claims. A cloud help
desk allows customers to take a more active role in the process. They can log onto an
accessible interface and track the progress of their ticket. Regardless, customer service
professionals must make the effort to show the client that they are still concerned with
the client’s satisfaction after the resolution.
• 5. Document the Incident
• There are several reasons to document every customer service incident and complaint.
With the right customer service software, the company can analyze the complaints to
see how long average tickets take, what are the common businesses problems and what
trends are affecting its market. Furthermore, if a customer contacts the company for
support, it will have a full record of its relationship with its enterprise, which can help it
work more effectively with the client.

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• 6. Consistently Communicate With Your Team
• The client is always right and sometimes, the employees will not appreciate the company
siding with a customer. As a customer service supervisor, make sure the team members
know that empathizing, listening and understanding the client are keys to finding an
effective resolution that will not alienate the consumer. Let them know apologizing to
the customer does not necessarily indicate that their work is unsatisfactory.