Service Level Agreement (SLA)

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a managed service provider and a client that defines expected service delivery standards.

In Managed IT:

– SLAs establish metrics like uptime, responsiveness, reporting frequency, escalation matrices, etc. for various IT services delivered by MSPs.
– They provide measurable targets related to performance, availability and support response times for client infrastructure covered under a managed services contract.
– SLAs allow MSPs to set appropriate expectations around service delivery and give clients a means to hold them accountable.

Example:

An MSP’s SLA promises 99.5% uptime on a financial firm’s cloud-based servers and 15 mins response time for high priority support tickets related to the environment.

Key Takeaways:

– Well-defined IT service SLAs highlight commitments made by MSPs regarding quality of services delivered to clients.
– They give clients clarity around what to expect and the means to evaluate service quality.