IT Service Improvement Checklist

Getting the most out of your IT vendors and service providers rarely happens by accident. It requires intentional engagement, clear expectations, and a disciplined approach to accountability. Whether you're dealing with an enterprise software vendor, a managed service provider, or a SaaS platform, the following checklist gives you a concrete starting point for driving meaningful service improvements.

Viewpoint Analysis works with companies around the world to help them improve vendor performance. Acting as a 'Technology Matchmaker' we sit between the IT buyers and IT vendors - a unique position.

Work through these 15 action items and you'll be in a much stronger position to hold providers accountable - and to get the service level your organization actually needs.

1.    Define and Document Your Service Expectations

Before you can improve service, you need clarity on what "good" looks like. Document your minimum acceptable standards for response times, uptime, issue resolution, and communication. If those expectations aren't written down and shared with the provider, you're negotiating in the dark.

2.    Review Your Current SLA Coverage

Pull out your Service Level Agreement and read it carefully. Many IT teams sign SLAs at contract time and never revisit them. Check whether the commitments still match your current business needs, and identify any gaps or vague language that gives the provider too much wiggle room.

3.    Establish a Regular Service Review Cadence

Ad hoc conversations aren't enough. Set up monthly or quarterly business reviews with your provider - structured meetings that cover performance metrics, open issues, roadmap updates, and any areas of concern. Consistency signals to the provider that you're actively managing the relationship.

Good vendors will be providing these as a business-as-usual event. However, we find that in some cases, the reviews were stopped at some point and never started again. If they are offered - make sure to do them.

4.    Track and Share Performance Data

Bring data to every service conversation. Log ticket volumes, resolution times, repeat incidents, and user complaints on your side. Don't rely solely on the provider's own reporting - their dashboards may not tell the full story from your users' perspective.

5.    Assign a Dedicated Relationship Owner

Vendor relationships drift when ownership is unclear. Assign a specific person on your team to own each key provider relationship. This person is responsible for escalations, contract renewals, and keeping communication channels open - not just logging tickets.

When a new contract is originally signed, there is almost always a senior-level contact assigned from both sides - some call it an Executive Sponsor. It's common that those individuals will change roles or leave their company - and when this happens, a crucial 'owner' is lost. Try to keep on top of this.

6.    Formalise Your Escalation Paths

Know exactly who to call when things go wrong - and make sure that information is documented and accessible. An escalation path should include named contacts at the provider, expected response windows at each tier, and the threshold for escalating to executive level. Test it before you need it.

7.    Conduct a User Satisfaction Survey

Your end users experience the service daily. Run a short, structured satisfaction survey at least twice a year to capture their perspective on quality, usability, and responsiveness. Use the results as objective evidence in your service review conversations.

Viewpoint Analysis run this for some customers - we interview the executive sponsor, the product or service owner, and the users - it's a great way to bring feedback together. Take a look at our IT Service Improvement area for more information.

8.    Document Recurring Issues and Push for Root Cause Analysis

If the same problem keeps surfacing, a ticket-by-ticket fix isn't enough. Keep a log of recurring issues and formally request a root cause analysis from your provider. A provider who can't explain why a problem keeps happening is a provider who can't prevent it.

9.    Get Visibility Into the Product Roadmap

You shouldn't be surprised by major product changes, deprecations, or new feature releases. Ask your provider for access to their roadmap (even a high-level version) and request advance notice of anything that will affect your environment. Staying ahead of change is far less costly than reacting to it.

10. Benchmark Against Peer Organisations

Are you getting a typical level of service for your contract tier and industry, or are you being underserved? Talk to peers at similar organisations, join user groups, and attend vendor user conferences. Knowing what others are experiencing gives you leverage and context in provider discussions.

11. Clarify and Streamline the Support Request Process

Slow or inconsistent support often has an internal cause: unclear guidance on how to raise a ticket, incorrect priority classifications, or requests being raised through the wrong channel. Audit your own process first. Make sure your team knows how to log issues correctly so that provider response times aren't impacted by avoidable delays on your side.

12. Negotiate Outcome-Based SLAs at Renewal

Traditional SLAs measure inputs (e.g. response time) rather than outcomes (e.g. resolution rate, user productivity). At your next contract renewal, push for metrics that reflect real business impact. Providers who are confident in their service will accept outcome-oriented commitments; those who resist may be telling you something important.

13. Establish a Training and Enablement Plan

Poor service sometimes reflects under-utilisation rather than provider failure. Ensure your team and your end users are properly trained on the tools and platforms in use. Ask the provider what training resources, certifications, or enablement programmes are available - especially following new releases or system updates.

14. Assess the Financial and Operational Impact of Service Failures

Quantify what poor service actually costs your organisation. Downtime, workarounds, lost productivity, and staff frustration all have measurable price tags. When you can demonstrate the financial impact of service failures, your improvement requests become harder to dismiss - and easier to escalate internally if needed.

15. Know Your Exit Options

Understanding your alternatives is one of the most powerful levers you have in any vendor relationship. Keep an eye on the competitive landscape, understand your contract exit clauses, and periodically evaluate whether the market has better options. You don't need to switch providers to benefit from this knowledge - but you do need to have it.

Service Improvement Checklist Order

Not all 15 items will be equally urgent for your organisation. A good starting point is to score each item (red, amber, or green) based on your current state. Any area you can't confidently mark green is an opportunity worth pursuing.

Focus first on the fundamentals: clear expectations, defined SLAs, regular review meetings, and a dedicated relationship owner. Get those in place and the rest becomes much easier to manage.

If you're working through a broader technology review or evaluating whether your current providers are still the right fit, Viewpoint Analysis can help. We work with IT teams to assess vendor performance, structure better supplier relationships, and identify where change may be needed.

IT Service Improvement Options

If all (or most) of the items on this checklist have been completed and things still don't improve, there are a few more options that we can help with:

IT Service Improvement Service - as a Technology Matchmaker sitting between the vendor and customer, it enables us to act as an impartial go-between. Our IT Service Improvement Service is a classic example of how our position can be a real advantage. It sees us interview your team, then speak to the vendor and share the information, before bringing both parties together for a Fix Meeting.

Invariably, we find that the vendor / service provider wants to do all they can to get things back on track.

Stick or Switch Review - when the service has become really challenging, it's often an idea to look at the alternative options. The Stick or Switch Review does just what it says on the tin - we work with your team to force a decision - either to stick with the current situation, or to change to a new partner. We look at how to fix the current situation - giving the incumbent a chance to improve - and we look at the market, asking alternatives to show us what they can do.

IT Mediation - and when things have hit the wall - we offer an IT Mediation Service - the last step before the plug is pulled or the legal teams get involved.

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Let us know how you found the 15 action items. Hopefully, they help to get the service back on track.