There’s no denying it: SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for outsourced IT services are often convoluted, confusing and misleading. Why? Because many service providers want it that way. For one thing, it allows them to advertise 100% uptime while delivering less.
Another reason is that there’s also a lack of awareness amongst customers of what to look for in SLAs – including potential traps to avoid – so that they know exactly what they are signing up for when outsourcing critical IT infrastructure or processes. This knowledge will also help current or prospective users of managed services to negotiate a better agreement. In the third of his columns for Outsource magazine, Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK, talks about what businesses need to be aware of when looking to outsource critical IT infrastructure or processes - so that they can get the SLA they need, rather than the one they are given.
When using a courier, you aren’t interested in guarantees about the state of repair of the bike, or the availability of spare tyres etc. You just want to know your delivery will get there by 9am the next day. Everything else... is irrelevant detail. This thinking can, and should, be applied to outsourced IT services.
Michel Robert, MD at Claranet UK
For the complete article, go to:
Article: Stop being a slave to SLAs
Source: Outsource magazine