The satisfaction derived from the experience now holds more weight than the outcome.
From SLAs to XLAs
When considering the experience economy and XLAs, it is essential to revisit the concept of service level agreements (SLAs) to understand their significance. An SLA serves as a contractual agreement between a service provider and customer, outlining the expected outcomes of a particular service. Typically, three fundamental criteria are used to create an SLA:
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): These indicators set specific metrics to measure the success of the service.
- Measurement of KPIs: The means to evaluate whether the KPIs are achieved or not.
- Potential Penalties: In case the SLA is not adhered to, there may be penalties, although these are often associated with the service provider.
While these parameters seem logical for a contract, they may not fully capture the customer's experience and sentiment. Often, SLA metrics are met, yet the customer's perception of the service is negative. This is known as the "Watermelon Effect," where externally everything appears green, but internally, there are underlying issues (represented by red). These unanticipated negative aspects can lead to dissatisfaction among employees or customers and may even result in losing business to competitors, without the service provider identifying the reasons until it's too late.
Two major problems with SLAs emerge from this perspective:
- They are service-oriented and focus on aspects such as availability, incident response times, and recovery times, but they do not provide much insight into how well the service performed for the user.
- Most of the SLA metrics are assessed at a low level, which does not guarantee a high-quality experience for the user.
To address these challenges and create a more meaningful experience for users, it is imperative to consider a shift towards XLAs, where the focus is on delivering incomparable user experiences and aligning the service to meet the customer's actual needs and expectations.
What are XLAs?
Simply put: an Experience Level Agreement (XLA) serves as a metric to identify the disparity between the current experience an organisation delivers to its employees and customers and the desired experience it aims to provide.
In recent years, XLAs have emerged as a significant trend, continually gaining momentum. Experience Collab are committed to delivering value to customers and are eager to introduce the concept of XLAs and their potential impact on organisations. By implementing XLAs effectively, an organisation can enhance its employees' productivity, foster a positive and comfortable work experience, and ultimately increase the overall profitability.
Experience Collab XLA Certification and Training
The Experience Collab certification is designed to equip organisations with the knowledge and confidence to embark on a successful experience management journey. Through three comprehensive courses, participants will not only gain a profound understanding of the significance of experience but also learn best practices and frameworks for creating XLAs to effectively monitor and manage employee experiences.
The courses are strategically structured, building upon one another to progressively transform attendees from novices to experts in the field of experience. Throughout the training, practical exercises and engaging discussions reinforce the learning process, ensuring a thorough grasp of the concepts.
Experience Essentials
An interactive introduction to Experience Management
This course provides a lightbulb moment on the importance of experience in the contemporary work environment. Attendees will also gain knowledge about topics like the art and science of experience, the XLA stack™, the relationship between Experience and IT Service Management (ITSM), and the distinctions between XLAs and SLAs.
Experience Essentials does not include an exam; it is ideal for those who are aware of, but unacquainted with the subject of XLAs and the Experience Economy.
Browse the APMG Accredited Training Organisations (ATOs) to find an Essentials course.
Experience Foundation
Designed as the entry point for organisations to deliver Experience Management
This immersive course revolves around the Experience Optimisation Framework: a six-stage process that guides participants in understanding their current organisational sentiment before formulating and applying XLAs.
The course content also covers the correlation between the Optimisation framework and our Experience Management Framework, a lifecycle framework illustrating how XLAs function within an organisation.
Through dialogue and practical exercises, candidates will obtain the pertinent knowledge to lead their organisations in measuring and managing experiences.
Experience Foundation is suitable for those who are considering the adoption of experience metrics (XLMs/XLAs) but unsure of the approach.
- The Experience Optimization Framework and its phases
- How to inspire your ecosystem and innovate the experience delivered
- Concepts applied in creating and implementing XLAs
- Associated models, methods, tools and techniques
- 40 simple multiple-choice questions
- 50% pass mark (20+ of 40)
- 40 minutes duration
- Closed book
There are no pre-requisites for Experience Foundation, though we do recommend attendance on the Experience Essentials course to support your basic understanding.
Experience Practitioner
Equips attendees with the skills to design and manage XLAs effectively
As the final course following Experience Foundation, Experience Practitioner equips attendees with the skills to design and manage XLAs effectively. This hands-on and practical content delves into the XLA Design Methodology, a six-stage process that thoroughly explores best practices associated with each stage of XLA design.
Practical sessions at the end of each stage reinforce the learning process before attendees understand the management of XLAs through an Experience Management Office (XMO). Gaining a certification further cements a deeper understanding of experience management for attendees.
Experience Practitioner is suitable for those who are managing or conducting the implementation of experience metrics (XLMs/XLAs).
- The XLA Design Methodology and how to apply it
- How to develop, manage and analyse XLAs
- The importance of Experience Ambitions, Sentiment Indicators and XLA Scoring
- How to categorise and analyse data for maximum impact on experience
- The Experience Management Office (XMO)
- 75 Objective test, multiple-choice questions
- 67% pass mark (50+ of 75)
- 2 hour duration
- Closed book
Candidates must hold the Experience Foundation certification
