Estrategia de monitoreo y control de la calidad de servicio brindado por un ISP: un caso aplicado

Los Proveedores de Servicio de Internet (ISP) están cada vez más atentos a la Calidad del Servicio ofrecido como elemento distintivo ante sus competidores. Este trabajo surge ante la necesidad de Aguas del Colorado S.A.P.E.M. -un ISP del estado que brinda servicio al 90% de la provincia de La Pampa- de contar con un sistema de alarmas que, a partir de una estrategia de medición, evaluación, monitoreo y control interprete los datos brindados por su herramienta de monitoreo de red referidos a la disponibilidad del servicio y performance de sus proveedores. La rápida interpretación de la situación actual y la solución de incidentes antes de que aparezcan los reclamos del cliente permiten minimizar las consecuencias de los incidentes y garantizar mayor calidad del servicio brindado.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Outsourcing IT Services and service level agreements in South Africa's retail sector

Bibliography: leaves 81-88.This research project is an attempt at examining the state of outsourcing IT services and the use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) amongst the large retailers of South Africa. Questionnaires were sent to all the large retailers, and various respondents from these organisations provided information regarding their involvement with outsourcing IT services and experience with the use of SLAs. The hypotheses for this research aimed to investigate the following; • Which IT services were outsourced, and which were most likely to be outsourced amongst large South African retailers; • Whether outsourcing IT services has given South African retailers a competitive advantage; • Whether SLAs have been used in conjunction with outsourcing IT Services; and • What changes should be made to SLAs to make them more useful when outsourcing IT Services. The findings from this research suggest that 94% of the large retailers in South Africa were involved in outsourcing parts of their IT services. These services were mainly deployment and management of networks, application development and systems maintenance, and support/helpdesk services. Thirty six percent of respondents believed outsourcing had given them a slight competitive edge, while 6% had experienced a substantial competitive advantage. Furthermore, more than 50% of the large retailers used Service Level Agreements (SLAs) when outsourcing their IT services. The most significant change suggested for SLAs is to have better measurement metrics, so as to provide a clearer understanding of what services has been performed by the parties involved

A model for the development of service agreements in the Information and Communication Technology sector

SAs are documents that specify the business relationship between stakeholders to an outsourcing agreement. SAs specify this relationship in a legally binding manner that assists in managing expectations of the stakeholders about the service provision. According to Verma (1999), an SA is a precise statement of the expectations and obligations that exist in a business relationship between two organisation: the service provider and the client. In order for organizations to have successful outsourcing partnerships, they need well crafted methods of developing Service Agreements (SAs). Successful methods will produce a conclusive contract that will act as a working document that details the spirit of cooperation between the service provider and the service recipient. This research investigates the development of SAs in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, and proposes a model for their development. A number of models for SA development have been analysed. Models are analysed from leading researchers in the area, from software houses such as Microsoft and from international standards organisations such as the BS15000 which stipulates the ITIL framework. Eight development principles are identified and explored. An investigation into SAs and their development is conducted. A model is proposed that is composed of the development principles. The development of SAs was explored in an empirical study by means of a survey administered to industry practitioners and a series of interviews with managers in the ICT industry. The results of the study indicate varying levels of support for the development principles and limited relationship between the development principles and the success of the SA, as defined by the number of changes made to the SA after it is completed