Experience isn’t just part of the service, it is the service
By Charlie Whitehead, Head of Operations Excellence, Computacenter
For years, the only method to evaluate IT service performance was through traditional SLAs – looking at how fast an issue gets resolved, if service interruptions happen often or how quickly a device can be delivered to a user.
But technical capability is no longer the differentiator it once was. Modern enterprises expect more than uptime – they expect outcomes. They expect services that don’t just function but empower. And that’s why the true competitive edge now lies in experience management.
This evolving expectation has driven a fundamental shift within Computacenter and across the IT service industry: moving from traditional SLA-driven operations – rooted in metrics like availability and resolution times – to Experience Level Agreements (XLAs), which measure what truly matters to the people using the technology every day.
But adopting XLAs isn’t simply about adding new dashboards or surveys. It requires a deeper transformation: a mindset shift from reactive to proactive, and from performance-driven to purpose-driven.
From fixing problems to preventing them
Across organisations, solutions are launching on time, platforms are stable, and performance indicators look “green”. And yet, something still feels off. Work is completed on time, but it doesn’t always feel easy. Tools are available but not always trusted. Nothing is obviously broken, so what is happening?
Users want issues prevented before they disrupt work. They want friction and frustration removed, not repaired. Service teams must evolve from firefighters to forecasters, using experience telemetry, sentiment data, and behavioural insights to intervene early and enhance productivity.
Continuous transformation becomes the default
Experience-led service introduces dynamic feedback loops in which insights drive improvement, improvement fuels experience, and experience fuels business performance. It’s not a one-off enhancement – it’s a cultural shift.
Data becomes the compass. Human sentiment becomes the North Star. And every service interaction becomes an opportunity to refine the journey rather than just close a ticket.
Enter the Experience Management Office (XMO). Born from the need to operationalise this new way of working, the XMO serves as the engine that turns continuous insight into continuous improvement. It brings structure, governance, and momentum to experience transformation, connecting rich data signals with human context to drive meaningful change.
The XMO doesn’t just observe experience; it orchestrates it.
It analyses patterns, anticipates needs, and ensures that proactive action becomes the standard rather than the exception. By unifying analytics, sentiment, operational expertise, and service design thinking, the XMO transforms raw information into better journeys, better outcomes, and ultimately, better business value.
In this model, experience isn’t left to chance.
It is managed, measured, and continuously elevated, powered by a dedicated transformation squad that keeps the entire organisation aligned on what truly matters: enabling people to thrive through technology.
A customer story: when “nothing is wrong” is not good enough
It started with a service desk that, on paper, looked like it was doing well.
This customer had stable operations. SLAs were consistently met. Survey scores weren’t alarming. Leadership wasn’t escalating problems, and the service desk wasn’t firefighting.
And yet, when we listened closely to agent feedback, user comments, and journey reviews, something was clear: the experience felt flat. People weren’t angry, but they weren’t happy either – just ok.
In other words, nothing looked broken, but the service wasn’t building confidence or ease. The desk was performing like a well-run ticket factory, not an experience engine.
The most powerful XMO stories aren’t the dramatic “we fixed a disaster” ones. They’re the quieter transformations where nothing was technically wrong, but the organization chose to define and deliver something better than “within SLAs”.
In my SDI Spark session, I will share how Computacenter has embraced this evolution, shifting from reactive support models to experience-focused, insight-driven service delivery. Attendees will hear about embedding experience as a core operational metric, aligning teams around user-centric goals, and demonstrating the tangible business value of exceptional experience.
Because at Computacenter, experience isn’t an addon, a metric, or an aspiration.
Experience is Everything.
