Why should SLA be managed?

The SLA, Service Level Agreement, is one of the most important documents for the provision of services between two companies. It doesn’t matter if you’re hiring or being hired, this document is crucial to clearly define the responsibilities of each one. However, it is important that it is not forgotten during the provision of the service, which means that you must manage the SLA.

That’s what we’re going to talk about in this post. Read on to better understand what SLA management is and why it’s so important.

What is SLA management?#

A well-written agreement is essential for a good relationship between the service provider and the contractor. After all, its sole purpose is to establish trust and transparency between both parties. That’s why it’s so important to manage SLA.

This process begins even before the contract is signed. It defines the priorities of the service, the metrics that will be used to measure it, and also those responsible for each of them. It is these indicators, which must be very clear in the agreement, that will be used to manage the SLA. It’s similar to quality management.

How does SLA management work?#

Once the metrics have been identified, it is necessary to adjust them according to the needs of each business. For example, an extremely common metric is system availability during business hours. For this reason, it is also necessary to delimit the time for resolving accidents during this period. One point to make clear is the responsibility of the contracted company if it becomes dependent on services managed by third parties.

That’s the crux of SLA management. Be aware of all the metrics discussed and present in the agreement during the provision of the service, in order to ensure that they are fulfilled and realistic. It is possible that managers, on both sides, do not get it right at first, due to the peculiarities of each business. Depending on the complexity of the system, and the tools used, the time for problem resolution may not be realistic.

This must be adjusted and discussed in the SLA. The contracting company must describe the minimum acceptable service, that is, how much of the system needs to work minimally so that the business is not harmed. Thus, the contractor can work to achieve this objective.

Why is it important to manage SLA?#

The management of the SLA, as mentioned above, is important to bring more reliability and transparency in the provision of services. Normally, it’s a simple miscommunication and a break in expectations that creates problems. In certain cases, this mistaken expectation may come from the public, but it may also be an unrealistic promise on the part of the supplier.

That’s why SLA management is so important as it protects both. It is a mutually constructed agreement, which already generates a rapprochement. In addition, it also practically eliminates any conflict, since expectations are very well aligned. The same applies to obligations, since the agreement makes clear what each one’s responsibilities are.

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