Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Service level agreements (SLAs), if used correctly, can be one of the most important tools in a service-oriented organization. Done well, they communicate what’s expected of all parties and can go a long way to improving the relationship between the business and its IT organization. Some would even argue that good IT service management (ITSM) is built on a bedrock of SLAs (as well as continual improvement). Here are four tips for building more effective SLAs.

A stringent account lockout policy is vital to derail password guessing and brute-force attacks but it also runs the risk of locking out legitimate users costing businesses valuable time, money, and effort. With password reset requests accounting for almost 30% of the total IT help desk tickets, resolving frequent account lockouts becomes an indispensable part of a sysadmin’s job.

Running a customer contact center to meet the sky-high expectations of today’s customers is hard work. Success depends on having agents who can empathize with and advocate for your customers in order to give them satisfactory answers and resolutions. This is no small task, and the dynamic nature and complexity of all the factors involved make it even more difficult.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have realized the importance of proactively managing risk and security to build resilience and to emerge from a crisis stronger. These best practices and tools can help you shift your risk management program into high gear.

KPIs and Metrics are Essential Transformation Yardsticks—But So Is Experience. Although many IT leaders launch into projects with set goals, there’s no telling what sort of unexpected consequences will emerge. In episode 4 of The Change Makers podcast, you’ll see how you can plan and predict certain benefits, but several successful business outcomes arrive serendipitously. Take Lucy Hallam, Service Desk Manager at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust.