What Does a Director of Service Delivery Do?

A director of service delivery is responsible for ensuring that service level agreements are met. He or she makes sure that quality and performance standards are being achieved. Other responsibilities of a director of service delivery include retaining employees, analyzing reports and metrics, monitoring complaints, recommending improvements, and interacting as an intermediary between clients and internal departments.

Managing a team of employees from an operational standpoint is one of the primary duties of a director of service delivery. In a customer contact center the director may be the highest internal point of contact for a certain client or account. The director of service delivery regularly interacts with the client in this scenario to determine what service level and performance objectives his team is responsible for achieving. He will also report back to the client with regular updates regarding actual versus desired performance and steps that are being taken to improve results.

Besides interacting directly with a client, the director of service delivery is in charge of leading a team of supervisors and instilling a sense of motivation. He is responsible for communicating the performance standards and desired service objectives to the team of supervisors, who then pass these communications down to front-line representatives. There are times when the service delivery manager will communicate directly with the entire department to share new program initiatives and changes in direction.

A director of service delivery needs to consistently monitor actual performance. Generating and analyzing reports on attendance, service quality and other metrics is mandatory. If the service manager is unaware of what actual performance looks like, he will not be able to design approaches to correct deficiencies or disturbing trends. Report analysis also identifies the strengths of front-line teams, which can be investigated further to determine best practices for future.

Besides analyzing reports for internal use, the service director will generate reports for the client. The data in these reports will be regularly communicated to the client. Suggestions for improvement may be obtained directly from the client or come from the director.

Some of the director of service delivery's duties include deciding how to use the company's resources. For example, if the client wants to have a specific percentage of calls handled at all times, the service manager will need to determine appropriate corresponding staffing levels. He or she may come up with figures that determine initial and replacement hiring activity. The director of service delivery will also decide how many agents need to be covering the phone lines during different times of the day based upon projected and actual call volumes.