The whole "Service Delivery Executive" thing is a joke. These guys then think they are sales, and marginalize those in the sales teams who are actually out trying to meet the customer's needs.
They have no skin in the game (no quota), so they make commitments to customers they can't keep, and then just waltz away.
The whole structure sets sales and delivery up as adversaries - when they should be a team.
@NpBhU1w-wya, I think you mean 'dignify', but you wrote a response anyway...
If you found yourself in a room with an SDE and members of a large (e.g., ISP-sized) management team, you might notice they play nicely together. And 'throwing sales and IDTs (whatever that means) under the bus' is entirely consistent, in many cases, with giving the customers what they want.
Having experienced this firsthand on a number of occasions I can tell you it isn't BS.
One disclaimer - there is one guy who is doing a great job in this role - one guy!! He gets it and gives the customers the appropriate attention AND has the technical skills to do the job
I'm not even gonna qualify that with a response. Excellent interpersonal skills??? BS. These people escalate on the IDTs all the time and throw sales under the bus on a daily basis. SDEs are CAUSING messes, and then blaming them on sales when they scope only what they know and don't understand the tools or processes and REALLY don't have a clue when it comes to what the IDTs can and cannot do
@NpBhU1w-qkj didn't you just describe the function of an account manager? I guess on larger accounts people feel it's necessary to have a sales account manager AND a services account manager?
The SDE exists to schmooze with the client's management team, sometimes including the buy decision makers. They spend a lot of money on expensive meals at fine restaurants, typically including large amounts of top-shelf alcohol. They have excellent interpersonal skills, at least when meeting with the customer.
is there value in this job function? Someone thinks so.
In an engineering vs. customer situation, they are most definitely on the side of the customer. They are your best friend when things are running smoothly or when they want something. if they want something you cannot deliver, or you cannot deliver on the schedule they demand, you won't hear from them - you'll hear from your director or VP/GM.
obviously you are a sales weenie who cant carry his own weight and want to place blame for your shortcomings selling services. its really the opposite, SDE/DM come in to clean up the mess from sales.
you position poor solutions, then expect SDE or SIA to say yeah its great when it looks like your kid used a crayon to draw up your BOM. If SEs could carry their weight, Sales services would do something besides complaining to AS management, you might see the exception value of the experience they bring.