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Practice leader vs service delivery manager

The differences between practice leaders and service delivery managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a practice leader and a service delivery manager. Additionally, a practice leader has an average salary of $131,194, which is higher than the $102,213 average annual salary of a service delivery manager.

The top three skills for a practice leader include exceptional client, patients and business development. The most important skills for a service delivery manager are service delivery, project management, and cloud.

Practice leader vs service delivery manager overview

Practice LeaderService Delivery Manager
Yearly salary$131,194$102,213
Hourly rate$63.07$49.14
Growth rate16%16%
Number of jobs50,16471,475
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4747
Years of experience88

What does a practice leader do?

A project management specialist is responsible for overseeing different programs and projects within a company, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around identifying project needs, participating in setting goals and objectives, managing schedules and budgets, performing risk and cost assessments, and producing progress reports and presentations for the directors and other executives. Furthermore, a project management specialist may also perform research and analysis to find new business opportunities and liaise with clients to generate sales.

What does a service delivery manager do?

A service delivery manager is primarily responsible for overseeing department operations, ensuring everything is running smoothly and that all customers receive optimal services. They are also responsible for performing technical tasks such as addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, spearheading system repairs and maintenance, and performing corrective measures. They also have clerical duties such as producing progress reports and presentations, maintaining data and records, managing budgets and expenditures, setting goals, assessing workforce performance, and adhering to deadlines. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while prioritizing customer satisfaction.

Practice leader vs service delivery manager salary

Practice leaders and service delivery managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Practice LeaderService Delivery Manager
Average salary$131,194$102,213
Salary rangeBetween $92,000 And $185,000Between $74,000 And $140,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CAStamford, CT
Highest paying statePennsylvaniaConnecticut
Best paying companySAPMcKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industryTechnologyFinance

Differences between practice leader and service delivery manager education

There are a few differences between a practice leader and a service delivery manager in terms of educational background:

Practice LeaderService Delivery Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

Practice leader vs service delivery manager demographics

Here are the differences between practice leaders' and service delivery managers' demographics:

Practice LeaderService Delivery Manager
Average age4747
Gender ratioMale, 73.2% Female, 26.8%Male, 72.3% Female, 27.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between practice leader and service delivery manager duties and responsibilities

Practice leader example responsibilities.

  • Manage daily operations, set up new offices, supervise staff, implement new EMR and billing systems.
  • Save the NetSuite relationship and manage the ERP practice for this firm focuse on telephony, NetSuite ERP and systems integration.
  • Present vision, secure executive leadership approval and lead implementation of ITIL base processes.
  • Reconcile enterprise project portfolio, recommending high value-add opportunity areas to align with business needs and achieve strategic results.
  • Direct HIPAA data transactions infrastructure development, B2B implementation, and supporting organizational change, while achieving impossible regulatory deadline.
  • Provide operational and risk management oversight for research accomplish for government customers to verify delivery of on-time, on-budget products.
  • Show more

Service delivery manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage and maintain VCE Vblock, Cisco networking, EMC storage, and VMware server / desktop infrastructure.
  • Manage internal global IPVPN network services, comprise of approximately 1.6K routers / switches / Wi-Fi access points.
  • Manage the back office PBX for VoIP customers which includes porting of phones and ordering new hardware from 3rd party vendors.
  • Leverage the SDLC incremental release model to manage the design and implementation of a new integrate billing and check processing system.
  • Manage and execute ERP implementation and optimization work.
  • Manage virtualization of two data centers and 72 disparate satellite locations.
  • Show more

Practice leader vs service delivery manager skills

Common practice leader skills
  • Exceptional Client, 10%
  • Patients, 7%
  • Business Development, 6%
  • Customer Service, 5%
  • Infrastructure, 4%
  • Architecture, 4%
Common service delivery manager skills
  • Service Delivery, 16%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 5%
  • Client Facing, 4%

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