For decades, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have been the gold standard of performance metrics in IT and service delivery. They’ve told us how fast we resolve tickets, how often systems are available, and how efficiently we process requests. But why XLAs matter now more than ever? Here’s the catch—SLAs only tell half the story.
In a world transitioning to Industry 5.0, where experience, ethics, and empathy are central to how we define value, SLAs are simply no longer enough. They measure what happened—but not how it felt. Enter XLAs: Experience Level Agreements.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- The gap between SLAs and real-world experience
- Why XLAs are the new gold standard for Industry 5.0 service delivery
- How ITIL 4 enables this shift
- How PDCA Consulting helps organisations design and deliver experience-led services that stick
What’s Wrong with SLAs?
SLAs focus on operational performance. They measure things like:
- Uptime and availability
- Incident response time
- Ticket closure rates
- Mean time to resolution
Useful? Definitely. But they come with a problem—they don’t reflect user perception.
You could hit all your SLAs and still deliver a frustrating experience:
- Long wait times for first contact
- Unclear communication
- Robotic service delivery with no empathy
- Users solving their own problems after escalating three times
SLAs tell you if the system worked. They don’t tell you if the customer cared.
What Are XLAs? and Why XLAs Matter Now More Than Ever?
Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) pick up where SLAs leave off. They measure the emotional and contextual impact of a service on the user.
They focus on:
- Perception – How users felt during the service experience, enabled by Customer-Centric Design
- Value Realisation – How users define success in real terms
- Simplicity & Clarity – Whether the service was intuitive and accessible
- Trust – Whether the service built or broke user confidence
Example XLAs might include:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Customer Effort Score (CES)
- First-contact resolution satisfaction
- Real-time sentiment analysis via feedback forms
In short, XLAs don’t just track what your team did. They track whether it mattered.
Why Experience is the KPI of Industry 5.0
Industry 5.0 is about putting humans back at the centre of operations. It demands:
- Human-Centric Service Metrics that drive personalised, inclusive, ethical services.
- Transparent, trust-building experiences
- Sustainable outcomes that go beyond efficiency
XLAs support these principles by shifting the focus:
- From process to people
- From control to collaboration
- From outputs to outcomes
If Industry 4.0 asked, “How fast can we do this?”, Industry 5.0 asks, “How did we make people feel doing it?”
How ITIL 4 Enables XLAs
ITIL 4 provides a strong foundation for XLAs with its Service Value System (SVS) and Guiding Principles. These include:
- Focus on Value – Including stakeholder perception, not just Service Management KPIs
- Collaborate and Promote Visibility – Gathering feedback and insights across the service value chain
- Progress Iteratively with Feedback – Using experience metrics to drive meaningful improvements
Key practices like:
- Continual Improvement
- Service Desk
- Customer Engagement
- Measurement & Reporting
…are ideal starting points for embedding XLA-driven thinking.
SLA vs. XLA: A Real-World Contrast
Let’s break this down:
| Metric | SLA | XLA |
| Definition | Service Level Agreement | Experience Level Agreement |
| Focus | Operational performance | Human perception |
| Measures | Response time, uptime, closure rate | Satisfaction, effort, emotion |
| Goal | Minimise disruption | Maximise value |
| Source | Internal metrics | User feedback and analytics |
A service desk might close 90% of tickets in under 4 hours (great SLA!). But if the user had to chase, re-explain, or felt ignored—that SLA is meaningless. XLAs catch that nuance.
How PDCA Consulting Helps You Move from SLA to XLA
PDCA doesn’t just tell you to do XLAs—we help you embed them where they belong: in your culture, governance, and strategy.
Our approach includes:
- Experience Mapping Workshops – Understand where friction lives in your current services
- XLA Design Sessions – Define what really matters to your users—and how to measure it
- Governance Support – Update reporting dashboards and KPI structures to include sentiment
- Training for Service Teams – Shift the mindset from speed to value, from fixing to feeling
We’ve helped organisations in tech, manufacturing, and professional services move beyond the SLA comfort zone—and into experience-led differentiation.
Final Thoughts: XLAs Are Your Competitive Edge
In an Industry 5.0 world, where competition is fierce and user expectations are sky-high, XLAs give you an edge. They create:
- More loyal customers
- More engaged teams
- More sustainable value
SLAs will always matter—but if you stop there, you’re measuring the past. XLAs help you shape the future.
How PDCA Consulting Helps with the Transformation
PDCA Consulting empowers organisations to navigate Industry 5.0 by delivering:
- Coaching in ITIL 4
- Coaching in Prince2 7
- Training in ITIL 4
- Training in PRINCE2 7
- Experience-led metrics (XLAs) and service co-creation frameworks
- Governance design aligned with transparency and trust
- Human-first service workflows and cultural transformation
- Leadership development for empathy, ethics, and systemic change
From blueprinting to behavioural change, PDCA enables human-centric innovation—practically and sustainably.
To find out more about PDCA Consulting’s expert consulting services either:
- Complete the contact form
- Contact via Linkedin
- Call +49 172 579 4719
