Service delivery managers play an important role in any organisation. They are usually put in charge of keeping clients happy with the services that they receive from the company. Service delivery managers work across a wide range of industries and in different types of businesses to keep the relationship between the clients and the organisation strong. 

Service Delivery Summary:

As the name suggests, service delivery is about the delivery of service to a company’s clients. The overall duty of a service manager may be different depending on the type of company that they work for. For example, a service delivery supervisor or manager who is in charge of retail logistics might spend more time working on supply chain analysis and inventory checks compared to a service delivery manager who works for a SaaS company. Regardless of the industry that they are working in, a service delivery manager is a professional who can build and maintain meaningful, strong, and positive relationships with their clients and everybody on their team. They will put client satisfaction first and are dedicated to improving the reputation of the company that they work for. 

Service Delivery Manager Job Description:

A service delivery manager is a professional who is responsible for ensuring that services are seamlessly delivered to the company’s clients. They will be in charge of a range of different tasks including tracking KPIs, monitoring progress, correcting reliability issues, leading project teams, managing budgets, and more. The service delivery manager is somebody who has an essential role in improving the user and customer experience by ensuring the smooth delivery of high-quality services that go above and beyond customer demands and expectations. 

The service delivery manager’s role is typically entirely customer-facing. They will usually oversee a wide range of different functions to make sure that the end-users are provided with superior and high-quality services. They work to ensure that service delivery and the service support processes in place are set to consistently deliver a high level of client service in a manner that is both cost-effective and consistent. 

The role of the service delivery manager is usually full-time. In this role, they are expected to identify the needs and issues of customers by building and maintaining an excellent relationship with the clients and end-users. The service delivery manager role is best suited for professionals who thrive in both technical and administrative roles. It is an ideal position for somebody who is skilled and hard-working with excellent interpersonal and leadership skills. This role tends to attract professionals who are passionate about delivering the best quality, customer-driven solutions. 

Service Delivery Supervisor Job Description:

The role of a service delivery supervisor is often the same as a service delivery supervisor. In some larger companies, a service delivery supervisor may be hired alongside a manager to support the manager in their work, help with decision making, and running the team. Like the service delivery manager, the main role of the service delivery supervisor is to focus on maintaining strong relationships with clients and improving the services that the company offers to keep clients satisfied. A supervisor might be more hands-on with the team and is usually somebody with excellent leadership, teamwork, communication, and interpersonal skills. 

Service Delivery Manager Roles and Responsibilities:

With competition higher than ever before, service delivery managers are finding that the requirements of their career are rising across all industries. Today, almost every industry around the world requires service delivery managers to ensure that the demands of the end-user are met, customer problems are solved, and that clients are satisfied with the service that they receive. A service delivery manager has a variety of different roles and responsibilities that might vary depending on the industry and the business that they work in. Some of the day to day tasks of a service delivery manager include:

  • Providing the company with a service plan to manage and aggregate all relevant services
  • Managing and leading the improvement team for delivery infrastructure
  • Leading the delivery service team, ensuring that tasks and processes are completed efficiently, and managing conflicts
  • Managing budgets and finances
  • Identifying customer needs and overseeing service delivery within the context of the company to build and maintain positive client relationships
  • Coming up with cost-reducing strategies that do not sacrifice customer or client satisfaction
  • Assessing and analysing customer feedback and using this to establish, refine and improve services
  • Liaising with other team leaders and building strategic partnerships to determine company services, delivery criteria, and solutions for any potential issues
  • Management and monitoring of desktop support and other support functions to ensure optimal service
  • Maintaining a high level of performance for all service-related processes
  • Ensuring that the correct procedures, systems, and methods are in place to support and facilitate outstanding delivery of service
  • Taking accountability for the performance of service delivery

Service Delivery Manager Skills:

A career as a service delivery manager is often best-suited to individuals who have a distinct skill-set and a passion for maintaining strong client relationships and delivering quality service. Some of the main skills that are required for a successful career as a service delivery manager include:

  • Experience leading both physical and virtual teams
  • Experience dealing with third-party provided services
  • Exceptional customer service and customer-facing skills
  • Experience working in a large-scale, diverse environment
  • ITIL principles skills
  • Strong organisational skills
  • Solid knowledge of incident management, escalation procedures, and other service delivery disciplines
  • Ability to efficiently manage and prioritise tasks
  • Excellent problem-solving and resource planning skills
  • Proactive attitude
  • Expertise in leadership and excellent interpersonal skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills 

Service Delivery Manager Interview Questions:

If you are interested in a career as a service delivery manager, it’s important to know what to expect at the interview for this position. Some of the most commonly asked service delivery manager interview questions include:

  • Why Do You Want a Role as a Service Delivery Manager?

In this question, employers are looking for the candidate to provide more information about their ambition, motive, and how they feel they will benefit the company. Most of the time, employers are looking for candidates who will use this opportunity to speak about their skills and career achievements in terms of experience, rather than their qualifications. It’s also a great chance to demonstrate to your potential future employer why you want this job and why you are passionate about great service. 

  • Why Do You Want to Work as a Manager in This Company?

This question is often designed for employers to find out if the candidate has done their due diligence when it comes to researching the company and what it offers. Employers want to hire service managers who are passionate about the company that they work for, and a candidate who has already done a lot of research into the services that they offer and can provide further information on why they would like to ensure the quality delivery of these services will always stand out. 

  • How Would You Make Sure That You Meet the Needs of Both Clients and Co-Workers?

With this question, employers are often looking to learn more about the candidate’s communication skills. They are often expecting an answer where the candidate will place a lot of value on the role of communication when it comes to finding out more about the needs of both clients and co-workers and coming up with a way to ensure that both are accommodated when it comes to meeting needs. This is also an ideal question for those who have worked in a similar role in the past to demonstrate their experience and expertise in ensuring that all needs are met using their skill-set. You may also use this opportunity to talk more about your skills and who you would like to work with. 

  • How Would You Deal With Issues in the Role?

This question is often to find out more about how the candidate is prepared to deal with issues and problems that might arise during the role and the skills that they possess and can draw upon to solve these. Communication issues are not uncommon in service delivery manager roles since they will often find that there are differences in language and communication between them and other professionals, such as programmers. Again, this is a question that allows the candidate to present their skills and provide examples of how they have used them in the past to get over this kind of issue. 

  • Why Do You Think You Would Be a Good Service Delivery Manager?

With this question, the employer is looking to find out more about the specific skills and experience of the candidate that is likely to make them a good fit for this position. When you are being interviewed, this is a good chance to speak about what you could bring to the table and how you plan to benefit the company should you end up working in this role. 

With increasing competition across all industries, the role of a service delivery manager is becoming more and more important today.