Qualifying and Quantifying IT Services Added Values in Outsourcing Assignments—Service Value Agreement

Merat Ziyarazavi, Christer Magnusson, Torbjorn Tergesten

Department of Computer and System Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Managed Services and Transformation (Application Management and Application Service Management), Tieto, Stockholm, Sweden.

DOI: 10.4236/jssm.2012.54038                

Abstract

Traditionally, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) including service level metrics is used as an appendix in IT Service Management agreements to define the terms and conditions of delivery and set expectations. However, SLA neither implies nor guarantees the added values that are expected by the customer. Besides, due to the nature of IT services, there always exists uncertainty about the agreed services due to which the perceived risk for both customer and provider is high. Moreover, the quality and quantity of delivered values are mostly hidden by hazy marketing slogans. In order to guarantee the values of an offered service, the deliverable added values should be characterized properly, quantified by means of measurable metrics, and agreed upon between the two parties. Such comprehensive material, including the deliverable added values along with their measurable metrics, is called Service Value Agreement (SVA). This research proposes a platform for IT service offerings based on added values by identifying, as well as quantifying, an organization’s objectives in purchasing Application Management (AM) services from a provider firm.

Keywords

IT Outsourcing; Added Value; Global Delivery Model; Service Level Agreement; Service Value Agreement; Application Management Service; Information Technology Infrastructure Library

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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