What is a Service Delivery Framework?
Corporate jargon, that’s what. (We’re kind of kidding).
If you deliver any type of professional services, you use a service delivery framework and a service delivery model. Even if it’s highly informal. In this article, we’ll look at the difference between a service delivery framework and a service delivery model and do a deep dive on what’s included in a service delivery framework.
What is the difference between a service delivery framework and a service delivery model?
In the simplest of terms, a service delivery framework is how you do the work (think your execution/delivery team) and the model determines who does the work and where that work is done.
Why do you need both? Isn’t this overcomplicating things?
The two work together like a cookbook and a kitchen. A cookbook has the recipes & techniques, the kitchen has the physical space & equipment to perform the cooking.
Another example since football season is upon us here in America - the framework is the rules (even if we don’t agree with them, ahem, roughing the passer, ahem), but the model is the stadium, training facilities, and budget.
What happens if you only have one?
Let’s look at it from both scenarios.
If you have a defined service delivery model, but no framework, you get a whole lot of chaos. This is super common in rapidly growing firms. There’s no standardization (the framework) so everyone performs the same task in different ways. Errors take much longer than necessary to rectify because there’s no escalation procedure or risk mitigation processes. The structure is sound, but the service delivery is unpredictable.
If you have a defined service delivery framework, but no model, everything sssssslllllllooooooowwwwwwssssss down. Slows down. A lot. No one is sure who owns the processes or who is responsible for what so work stalls. A common symptom is finger pointing or friction between teams. We’ll often come across firms who paid a company to produce 100 pages of SOPs, so they have great governance written down, but no structure around the rules, so it’s virtually meaningless.
What happens when you have both?
Consistency. Scalability.
Your service delivery model should ensure the right people in the right seats at the right point. Examples of popular service delivery models include EOS, OKRs, Scaling Up, GGOB. EOS is the most popular one we come across in firms. Or some type of hybrid EOS model.
The framework is how your team is able to perform their work consistently and efficiently. Let’s do a deeper dive into what’s included in a service delivery framework.
What is a Service Delivery Framework and What’s Included In It?
A service delivery framework is your company’s unique set of policies and procedures used to deliver your product or services. We’ll talk through two examples: a marketing agency and a hospital system.
There are five core competencies included in every Service Delivery Framework:
Governance: the rules your company defines around how work is expected to move through the company. They are intended to keep an organization compliant and aligned. If you’re a company that paid for a 100-page binder of SOPs, some of this governance might live in there and just need to be updated.
Marketing Agency: a policy stating that no paid ads campaigns can be pushed live until final approval has come from Marketing Manager & client
Hospital System: patient privacy policies that clearly list out who is allowed to view patient records, ensuring compliance with HIPAA regulations.
Processes & Lifecycles: these are your step-by-step guides that keep the output of work consistent across your company. It should make it very clear to your team how all services are planned, delivered, and improved.
Marketing Agency: a flowchart showing what happens after a client signs a new SOW all the way to 30 days in (the client onboarding process)
Hospital System: patient triage process, a checklist nurses must follow to appropriately triage any incoming patients based on clear, predefined criteria
Roles & Responsibilities: clear definitions of who owns, runs, and supports each step of the process and service delivery. This is the best way to mitigate confusion, dropped balls, and finger pointing. This step alone can completely shift a company culture for the better.
Marketing Agency: RACI matrixes for the different service lines. Who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed on Paid Ads versus Social Media versus Website Maintenance? For example, website maintenance, your Developer = Responsible, Account Manager = Accountable, Marketing Manager = Consulted, Client/any other teams that may be impacted by website changes = Informed.
Hospital System: Crystal clear job descriptions that outline responsibilities such as, nurses can prescribe medications but the physician must sign off on any surgical procedures
Technology & Tools: this is all of the platforms, tools, and systems your team leverages to execute their work. This includes any AI or automation software you may have recently implemented.
Marketing Agency: your project management platform, your CRM, your DAM, any reporting dashboards, etc.
Hospital System: EHRs, EMRs, Hospital Management System, Telehealth platforms, etc.
Performance Metrics: the precise targets you’re measuring the performance of service delivery against. These are so important. As you grow your company, your Service Delivery Model & Service Delivery Framework need to evolve with you. Having clear performance metrics and a process for measuring them is how you start to identify when the current framework is failing and needs to be tweaked.
Marketing Agency: SLAs (are first drafts of ad copy still being delivered within 3 business days yes or no), results (ROAS, CPL, CAC, organic traffic growth), etc.
Hospital System: Left Without Being Seen rate, 30 day readmission rate, average length of stay, discharge to lobby time, etc.
How do I find the right Service Delivery Model & Service Delivery Framework for my company?
We won’t sugarcoat it for you. This is a time, money, and effort investment. It’s why we’re in business, lol. It’s also why so many companies put off operations for a long time. And it’s a big reason why the highest rate of business bankruptcies happen when they start doing $3M-$5M ARR.
We can help you build this while you keep the ship moving forward. We’ve specifically designed our services to minimally disrupt your business, blend our team in as part of yours, and reduce change fatigue as much as possible.
The benefits of investing in this work (just to name a few):
Healthier profit margins
Reduced client churn
Reduced employee turnover
Predictable and consistent service delivery quality
Faster delivery
Cleaner data
Unlocked business scalability
Reduced risk & contractual safety
So here’s how it’s done.
Phase 1: Determining Your Model & Framework (2 weeks)
We come in and perform an audit. This includes a in-depth look at how work currently moves through your org and a qualitative 1on1 interviews with most of the org chart (30min per person for ICs, 60min for leadership. Not all ICs will be interviewed, but we’ll make sure we talk to key players on each team, any recently onboarded employees, and any company veterans).
That audit produces a roadmap. It’s your first week, first 30 days, 90 days, 6 months to value and beyond. Where we can immediately recapture margin and start working.
We figure out which Service Delivery Model is for you. There’s four main types, and we’ll use the audit and a structured session to determine which is best for you: centralized model, decentralized model, outsourced model, hybrid model.
Phase 2: Service Delivery Framework Development (Month 1-6)
We lead the development of your Service Delivery Framework. You call the shots, we do the work, you keep the profit. The core competencies we covered in this article? We lead the development of those, but we work with your team on a rolling basis to increase adoption and reduce change fatigue.
Phase 3: Adoption & Coaching (Month 6-18+)
We seamlessly pair your model and framework together into a self-sustaining system. We track team adoption metrics to ensure compliance with the new standard. We train your managers to recognize operational triggers; identifying exactly when a framework process or structural model needs to adapt to support new revenue tiers, new product lines, or market shifts.
Where can we start today if we aren’t ready to invest?
Take our free delivery self assessment. It will let you know where your service delivery currently sits on the maturity scale and give you some low hanging fruit to focus on if you’re not ready to invest in a transformation yet. When you are ready, give us a call.
