"Everything works fine, but it just doesn't feel right." A common remark from end users when the IT department is comfortably meeting its SLA's, yet the workforce is still frustrated. Reports show green, but the experience is red. This is the watermelon effect — green on the outside, red on the inside. And this is exactly where the story of XLA's begins.
Picture this: you start your workday and you have to wait for your laptop, your network stutters during a client call, and the service desk gives you the runaround. Everything is by the book, but you don't feel helped. And that feeling matters.
In today's experience economy, what counts is not just what you deliver, but how it is experienced. Experience is no longer a side issue. It is the reason employees are motivated — or decide to leave. Why customers come back — or walk away. And why IT is not a cost center, but a valuable link in the organization's success.
With the rise of the Experience Level Agreement (XLA), we go a step beyond the traditional Service Level Agreement (SLA). Where SLA's steer on technical performance such as uptime and response times, XLA's focus on the user's experience. In this way, XLA's smartly combine:
- X-data (eXperience data such as satisfaction and sentiment)
- O-data (operational metrics such as ticket resolution times)
- T-data (technical data such as availability)
This creates a complete picture of what is really going on. Not just whether IT works or how many questions the service desk answered on time, but far more importantly: how those users feel. Are they really hampered by a slow network? Or is the real problem that they were dealt with in an empathy-free way? The difference therefore lies in experience, not in technical performance.
Why do organizations choose XLA?
Companies that work with XLA's and experience management make a shift: from delivering to experiencing, from measuring to improving. Because it pays off!
- Companies with engaged employees perform 20% better (Gallup)
- 25% of employees consider quitting after poor IT experiences (Nexthink)
- Customer loyalty is increasingly determined by experience, not by product or price (Bain)
With XLA's, problems no longer become visible only in reports, but surface when they really matter: on the work floor, in customer contact, in the daily flow.
At BePresent, we have believed since our founding that technology should serve people. That IT systems should be user-friendly, productivity-enhancing, and give a feeling of "Hey, that's easy, that really helps me!" As the founder of BePresent, I still benefit daily from my experiences at Apple, once a pioneer in positive technology experiences, now a global player whose products almost everyone uses one or more of. With the arrival of XLA's, we see our vision confirmed: IT must not only function, IT must feel good. IT professionals who show that they understand your business and create fitting, good-feeling solutions for you.
That is why we develop and work with the Digital EXperience (DEX) Dashboard, which brings together operational IT data and experience data. This way we make the watermelon effect visible and help organizations improve proactively — not based on assumptions, but based on experience.
Ready for the first step? Experience is the new success factor. Do you want to know how your IT department can make the difference with XLA's? Schedule a free XLA exploration now and discover where user experience really begins. Because satisfied employees and customers don't come back because of technology — but because of a good experience.