XLA’s. The Golden Ticket to an Experience Economy 

We are now a year on from launching our Experience Level Agreement (XLA) and it is for sure, dominating the market. The dialogues we are now having have definitely advanced and we have moved away from talking about what experience is. 

Instead, people know that they need to adopt user experience but they don’t quite know how to get there or how to best proceed.  

Our annual CIO Report plays a huge part in keeping up with user experience trends. It enables us to deep dive into common challenges around the user experience and monitor the progression. The answers are in the data. Awareness is only getting stronger and we are now very much part of an experience-led economy.  

Living in an Experience Economy 

After every conversation, transaction or interaction, experience is always naturally at the forefront. Many questions run through our minds about how we were left feeling. Were we disappointed, happy, content, or blown away? 

Businesses are recognising that employees are their biggest assets and if they aren’t receiving a good experience, talent may be at risk. This is why effectively measuring the user experience is increasingly becoming a top business priority. 

With the digital landscape evolving, traditional measurement of IT Service Delivery just doesn’t cut it anymore. We all want the latest technology implemented yesterday but is the user experience ever considered? Relying on IT Service Level Agreements (SLAs) as the sole measure is no longer a measure of success and instead, one of failure. 

Let’s dive into an example. Your computer crashes and an IT engineer brings it back to life within the agreed SLAs. The measurement is automatically graded green and never revisited. This has not, in any way, shape or form, evaluated how the user was feeling. We have all experienced a computer crash, and it is frustrating, irritating and inconvenient. This level of detail is missing with a traditional SLA.  

Enough is enough 

We swiftly realised that measuring the performance of our client’s technology wasn’t enough. There was something missing. There was an urgent need for a board-level, user-centred approach and we responded. We created our very own XLA correlating technical and user sentiment data to improve the overall experience.  

Combining the SLA with XLA provides actionable, meaningful data focusing on the people. With expectations heightening and staff needing to feel appreciated, valued and listened to, capturing invaluable data about their active interactions day to day can improve staff retention and workplace productivity.  

Many businesses are very quick to say that they are currently measuring the user experience and capturing sentiment. But how trustworthy is this? Adopting a user experience-led approach isn’t just a quick turnaround. It is a strategy that needs to be carefully introduced, monitored, analysed and continuously improved for the long haul. 

The proofs in the pudding

Every year, we provide real-time insights collated from IT Leaders across the UK to address the shifting priorities and shared challenges in today’s digital landscape.  

To no one’s surprise, the user experience is a key focus area of our report year after year. It is becoming clear that prioritising and measuring experience within the workplace has huge benefits in the long term and we want to observe the progress businesses are making. 

The data in our CIO Report 2023 suggests that

93% of organisations measure their users’ experience.

Data from IDG, Foundry, part of our 2023 CIO Report

Reflecting back on our 2022 report, this is significantly growing a year on. This is excellent, but we would be lying if we said alarm bells weren’t ringing. This raises many questions:  

1. Do companies understand what they are measuring?
2. What method are they using to collect the data, and are they doing it correctly? 
3. How are they actioning the insights they obtain?

You may think that we are being a little harsh. However, we’ve long championed the user experience as the most important measure of IT success, so we are passionate about ensuring companies do it correctly.  

If you are still feeling your way through the proactive approach, performance and experience of IT Service Management, we welcome any conversations to support developing your user experience adoption strategy and bringing it to life.