Service Level Agreements

Service level agreement (SLA) is a written agreement that defines service levels in terms of type and quantity of work, quality, timeliness and remediation mechanism in case of shortcomings in quality or quantity of agreed services. SLAs are typically established in operational processes and systems across organizations. Furthermore, it is a contractual agreement between provider and customer that set the expectation of the customer for the minimum level of service they will receive.

Service level agreements (SLAs) are agreements between an organization and another entity such as service provider. Organizations enter into contract with third-party service providers to manage regular operations and functions. To establish a contractual agreement favorable for both parties in this sort of managed services arrangement, every party involved must clearly understand what is being requested, what is being delivered what the cost will be, and who is responsible for what functions. This is especially important in what could be considered the most popular current form of managed services such as cloud managed services, managed security service providers (MSSP), and security as a service (SECaaS). In managed service contracts, the service provider and service customer must determine the expected level of service. And the SLA is the contractual agreement that gives both involved parties the confidence to expect defined outcomes.