Escalation Manager Responsibilities

Escalation management deals with incident and problem management system in an organization. It is managed by a different set of people who carries out the entire documented process for escalation management. This requires one to associate their work with service desk operators who works together in an escalation center.

Key Responsibilities of an Escalation Manager

The escalation management team deals with ordering, structuring, and bringing in the management's attention to a major incident or a problem, which has escalated beyond its limits.

They work in a team and their main responsibility is to provide assistance to the service engineer by prioritizing and reassigning their work in the most critical situation.

They analyze the current scenario of an organization, locate, and highlight certain issues which requires immediate response, and allows the organization to track that critical problem, monitor it appropriately, and manage the escalating situation.

The key responsibilities of an escalation manager comprise:

• Identifying, analyzing, and initiating the escalation process in an organization based on the escalation criteria specified by the organization

• Linking the escalation task with incident problem records, identifying suitable service provider contacts, and finding the appropriate customer management services qualified for the task

• Assembling the escalation management team which includes the incident owner, problem owner, and other professionals in the specified area of expertise

• Establishing accurate expectations from the escalating procedures, enforcing relief to the customers, and reviewing the situation appraisal formulated by the escalation team for ensuring the consumer satisfaction throughout the escalation process

• Coordinating with the customers for developing an escalation management plan as per their requirements, adding additional resources for escalation process if required, and developing a detailed technical plan accordingly

• Initiating hierarchical escalation process as per the incident management process, including senior authorities and asking for their support, if the need arises

• Updating and maintaining escalation process records at each stage, updating the same in management data, and reviewing and adjusting the escalation process accordingly

• Informing the customer about the escalation performance metrics, reviewing the root cause of escalation for improving the escalation procedures, and maintaining compliance with the corporate and regional escalation policies

• Assuring the team's availability if the problem arises during the monitoring period, closing the escalation process once the monitoring period is completed successfully, and ensuring customer satisfaction before closing the escalation

The main responsibility of an escalation manager is to bring order, structure, and focused management attention to the customer's problems in order to gain complete consumer satisfaction. The need for creating an escalation process is triggered by the organization when the customer complains about the urgency of resolution or when the organization perceives the loss of consumer base due to emergency situation.

Required Skills and Expertise Knowledge

The educational qualification requirement is not the basic criteria for obtaining a post in escalation management, though one has to be a minimum graduate in any relevant field for applying for this post.

Escalation management is based on task accomplishment in a critical situation, hence one has to show competitive skills for carrying out the task effectively within the scheduled time. Consumer satisfaction is the key element of escalation management program, hence one has to carry out all the tasks assigned effectively.

The key skill requirements for escalation management are mentioned below:

• Problem solving ability

• Meeting service level agreements

• Exceeding Initial Response (IR)

• Budget management

• Team management

• Expertise in staff handling

• Performance management

Apart from this, one also has to demonstrate certain skills which are gained by experiences.

Organizations prefers an experienced manager who is:

• Capable of handling escalation staff team of larger numbers
• Has previous experience in recruiting and retaining the staff
• Has proven track record in escalation management with defined operational procedures for increasing the efficiency of task accomplishment
• Capable of achieving results which depend on international collaboration

Salary Compensation

The average salary of an escalation manager falls in the range of $69,000 to $84,000 annually. The minimum salary offered for this position falls around $55,000, while the maximum salary offered comes up to $130,000 annually.

The job profile of an escalation manager is related to escalating the task accomplishment in critical situations and guaranteeing the customer satisfaction at the same time. This requires one to be fully accomplished for handling this role efficiently. The roles and responsibilities of an escalation manager give a thorough knowledge about the job profile and skills required for carrying out the task accordingly.