When issues associated with requests are not resolved in a manner that is satisfactory to the Requester of the issue, an escalation may be initiated resulting in senior executives and multiple people being unnecessarily involved. How the escalation is responded to and acted upon can have a significant impact on the client relationship.

Consumers of the IT service will inevitably raise issues regarding the quality of the service or misalignment with the expectations. Regardless of the type of issue that is raised or by whom, how the IT teams respond to the issue will determine if an escalation is generated.

Escalations can come from many sources, for various issues, and at any time of the day. Having an issues and escalation management system that is defined, agreed to by all parties, well understood, and executed as per the design, will ensure that not only real escalations are raised and sent to the right person/group to act upon, but that unnecessary time and effort is not wasted dealing with the escalation versus resolving the issue.

For example, escalating that a request is not responded to or resolved in a particular amount of time, when the SLA may indicate that the response and resolve times are within the contractual levels. Alternatively, sending an escalation to a C-level executive when the escalation path could be four levels below that.

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Escalations may result from various types of issues such as:

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• Issues surrounding response times to requests (Not responding quickly)

• Issues with resolution times for requests (Taking too long)

• Issues with the quality of work

• Issues with the final deliverable

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The Objective of the process:

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• Document the escalation management process and ensure all involved parties agree and understand the process.

• Ensure handling of various types of escalations is documented.

• Ensure contact lists are specified and the path that needs to be taken for various kinds of escalations is understood.

• Ensure escalations are tracked, trended and acted on

• Ensure escalations are being resolved in a timely and satisfactorily manner

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A sample list of benefits:

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• Remove false escalations

• Engage the right people and avoid bypasses to senior executives

• Improve resolution times

• Improve Client relationship

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A sample list of observations:

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• Escalations are being sent to senior executives directly, bypassing numerous levels of resources which will ultimately be responsible for the escalation.

• Escalations are not clear or fact-based.

• Escalations are being raised for issues that are non-issues. Lack of understanding of the contract and deliverables.

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A sample list of recommendations:

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• As part of the intake process, ensure the escalation that is being raised falls within the escalation management process.

• Ensure that the escalation is acted on and keep the requester of the escalation informed of all actions and activities.

• Review the escalations on a monthly basis as part of MOR/Governance meetings to track and trend the escalations and address false perception issues.

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Assessment Questions:

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1. Do you have a documented escalation management process?

2. Are you and your client aware of this process?

3. Is the process being followed?

4. Do you have details about the types of escalations that can be raised?

5. Do you have contact lists identified for the types of escalations?

6. Do you have the response and resolution times defined for the types of escalations?

7. Do you track and trend the escalations?

8. Do you review the escalations as part of monthly operational meetings or governance meetings?

9. Do you find your client is bypassing the documented escalation process?

10. Do you have a good enough relationship with the client that you can bring this up to them?

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