Since the introduction of the official NEN 8038 standard, XLA (Experience Level Agreement) is no longer merely a buzzword. It has grown into a professional, measurable method with which organizations truly put the user experience at the center of their service delivery. This standard provides structure, definitions, and guidelines to measure, manage, and improve the experience of end users in a consistent way — an important step in the professionalization of experience management.
NEN 8038 provides clear frameworks for how to apply XLA. Consider components such as:
- The way you define XLA objects (services or processes on which you measure experience);
- How you measure experiences structurally (X-data);
- How you make contractual agreements based on user experience;
- How you organize the dialogue about improvement actions.
By explicitly including these components in your way of working, quotes, or contracts, you demonstrate that you follow the standard.
The NEN 8038 standard for XLA is a guideline, not a certification standard. There is as yet no official accreditation or mark with which you can demonstrate that you are "certified" for NEN 8038, but you can demonstrate that you work according to the standard. If you want to know more about the NEN 8038 requirements, take a look for example at NEN.nl.
ISO standardization
The XLA Institute has published a "Standardizing Experience Level Agreements" article. The gist is that the consortium of 12 XLA partners that developed the NEN 8038 standard has submitted an application for an international ISO standard: Customer experience of a service management system (ISO/IEC 20000-18).
Ready for your own XLA implementation? We are certified XLA Experience Foundation consultants and would be glad to help you design your XLA management approach according to the NEN 8038 standard.