Sentence:  Resolving <WSD>escalations</WSD> tends to require large amounts of time and energy from the support engineer working on an <WSD>escalation</WSD> and from the manager driving it. If those individuals are also required to attend to other issues, they will either neglect other customers (not good) or do a poor job of driving the <WSD>escalation</WSD> (very bad). 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The reassignment of a difficult customer problem to someone whose job is dedicated to handling such cases.