Service Level Agreements Gone Bad?

Service Level Agreements, or SLA’s as they are often referred to in IT sectors, are the bread and butter of contracts between an IT services or software provider and their customers. In an ideal world, SLA’s help the vendors and customers:

1. Clearly communicate expectations.
2. Establish levels of responsibilities.
3. Defines roles for key stakeholders.
4. Defines corrective actions should service levels be compromised.

In the IT hardware, software, or consulting industries, SLA’s are very common. In the “copier industry” or those living in managed print services (MPS) organizations, service levels may or may not be the norm. I talk to various dealers and colleagues across many sectors in our respective industries. My discussions often leave me puzzled as I come away with so many variants of service levels – and most are informal.

A 4-hour response, for instance may be fairly normal, but most will guarantee an average 4-hour response as opposed to a ceiling of 4 hours, aside from those in major markets which are competitively pushed into offering hard service level ceilings.

Do You Trust Me?

While the bulk of the document might be terms and conditions, SLA’s beg a fundamental question, “Do we trust each other?”

We are human and humans are not necessarily the best at reading minds. So, formalized processes, like service contracts and SLA’s are either standard or becoming standards for this industry much like IT resellers are accustomed to. That is, the company is held to a higher level of scrutiny and is more at risk if service levels are not fulfilled.

So what is your risk mitigation strategy? Does your company’s commitments keep you up at night as an owner, investor, service manager, or operations director?

Because we live in a litigious society, SLA’s often slip into being a weapon with which to brow-beat the respective vendor or client. This is somewhat understandable when dealing with issues of known distrust. However, I urge you to look at the greater impact to your organization if you continue to do business with a respective vendor or a respective client who is punitively enforcing the SLA as opposed to seeking middle ground and identifying common goals.

Does Raising The White Flag Mean You Surrender?

Quite simply put, if at any time you feel your organization will be unable to fulfill the service level agreement with the partnership as your backdrop – or you believe the vendor or client will be unwilling to perform as a partner – then you should step away gracefully.

Not doing so will foster anger, and anger is like drinking poison and hoping the other person will die. If your organization is one of those “Good to Great” organizations, then you will approach every SLA with perspective and a heart of service.

Image courtesy of notsogoodphotography.

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting; To discover the many ways you may connect with him, visit him at DandyID.