A service level agreement (SLA) is a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both the services required and the expected level of service. The agreement varies between suppliers, services and industries. In a service-based SLA, all customers who work with the service provider benefit from similar terms. For example, a cable TV provider indicates the services it offers to all its customers, as well as the additional services or channels available as part of the package. Overall, an SLA typically includes an explanation of the objectives, a list of services to be covered by the agreement, and a definition of the responsibilities of the service provider and the customer under the SLA. Keep in mind that an IT service provider promises to resolve any issues within 30 minutes of reporting. Without an SLA that clearly indicates the resolution time, they can claim that they never promised to fix the issues within 30 minutes. It is also possible that the customer requests that the problems be resolved within 10 minutes. When such conditions are clearly documented, both parties know what to expect and what to expect. If the required obligations are not fulfilled, both parties are also aware of the compensation. The SLA sales page should describe the speed and depth with which a salesperson should follow with marketing-generated leads. When determining this purpose of the SLA, consider these two sales statistics: The SLA should include a detailed description of the services.
Each individual service should be defined, i.e. there should be a description of what the service is, where it is to be provided, to whom it is to be provided and when it is needed. For example, if one of the services is the provision of a particular report, the corresponding provision of the SLA must describe the report, indicate what it should contain, specify its format (possibly in relation to a particular template), how it should be provided (by e.B. by e-mail), to whom, when and how often (e.B to the finance team every day at 10 am.m every day of the week). All questions relating to a particular service (in relation to the customer) can be covered. Applies to all customers using the same service, e.B the IT support services contract for anyone using a particular IP telephony provider. For the SLA to have a “bite”, not receiving service levels must have financial consequences for the service provider. This is most often achieved by incorporating a service credit system. Essentially, if the service provider does not meet the agreed performance standards, the service provider must pay or credit the customer with an agreed amount intended to serve as an incentive for performance improvement.
These service credits can be measured in several ways. For example, if the 99.5% level for reporting is not reached, the SLA could include a service credit where, for each performance degradation of 0.5% each week, some price reduction will be granted. .