Spotlight #8 - Automated actions in SLAs

Spotlight #8 - Automated actions in SLAs



The earlier SLAs trigger standard emails and escalate them to the manager or the admin when the set time is crossed. With automated actions in SLAs, you can configure user-defined actions, including tasks, field updates, executing functions, webhook etc. This Spotlight discusses how automated actions in SLAs help prioritise sales opportunities that require a swift response. 

Automated actions in SLAs 

SLA stands for Service Level Agreement that lets you monitor records that lag in the sales process. SLAs trigger standard email alerts and escalate them to your manager or your admin, when it crosses the set time. In Blueprint, an email notification can be sent in the event of an SLA breach, but there is nothing automatic beyond that. One has to make other changes manually. With the automated actions, you can configure custom SLA actions such as tasks, field updates, functions, webhook etc.

Business use-case 

Let's consider Zylker's sales follow-up process. Like any other business, the sales team gathers the client requirements and analyses them carefully. Once suitable products are identified, a demo is set up for the client. Post the demo, if the client is happy, a quote is sent, after which the record enters the negotiation stage. When the client accepts the quote, the deal gets marked as Won. Let's say, Ross, a sales administrator, now has to send the quote but hasn't done it the last 5 days for an unavoidable reason. As the record has breached the SLA set by Ross for sending the quote, an escalation mail gets triggered. Ross makes use of the newly supported custom SLA actions to auto-update the record as escalated and assigns a task to one of the sales reps to check and send the quote to the customer on priority. This ensures that the Blueprint doesn't just stop with escalating about the SLA breach, but also auto-updates the field to earmark the record as escalated, and creates a task for the sales rep for immediate action. 

SLA vs Automatic Transition


SLA takes care of the records at the state level whereas, automatic transition tracks the records at the transition level and helps automate them.
 
In SLA, state change is not possible but, the automatic transition is used primarily for the state change. 
 
SLAs are designed to escalate and notify the records state, on the other hand, automatic transitions allow the records to proceed further without having to stop anywhere. 
 
Both support all the after transition actions. 
 
Now let us check out how to configure automated actions in SLAs
  • Select the state for which you want to configure the automated actions
  • Set a threshold time until which a record needs to be in that particular state. 
  • Choose when and whom to notify. 
  • Besides the standard escalation notification, set additional alerts to be sent before or after the SLA time limit



Now, let us see how it gets executed. Here is a record in the "Proposal/Price Quote" state, and on top of that, you can see "SLA Due in 5 days". If this record stays here for more than five days, it will be escalated, and the custom SLA actions get executed.




Leveraging automated actions in SLAs ensures that the wait time-elapsed records are automatically escalated, triggering the user-defined actions promptly. Which ensures you can prioritise sales opportunities that need immediate attention.


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