SLAs are very common in the IT world as companies often rely on external services such as cloud computing, hosting, etc. However, almost any business relationship can be regulated by a service level agreement. SLAs are common for a business when new customers are signed up. However, if there is one between sales and marketing departments, this agreement instead describes marketing goals such as the number of leads or the revenue pipeline. and the sales activities that follow and support them, such as.B. the inclusion of qualified leads by the marketing team. Include pricing models for each type of service with detailed specifications. If your service provider doesn`t meet their obligations, it can have a significant impact on your company`s reputation and bottom line. In your SLA, you must include the consequences if performance standards are not met. These fines can potentially help your organization when losses are incurred. It also protects your organization and holds your supplier accountable.
If the Service Provider is acquired by another company or merges with another company, the Customer may expect its SLA to remain in effect, but this may not be the case. The agreement may need to be renegotiated. Don`t make assumptions; Keep in mind, however, that the new owner does not want to alienate existing customers, so they can choose to abide by existing SLAs. However, a service level agreement can take the form of a legal or informal contract or be part of a contract. For this way, a service level agreement can be included in a contract, but a contract is not necessarily a service level agreement. Many companies prefer SLAs that are not part of the contract itself, as this allows for easier review. Depending on the service, the measures to be monitored may include: A set-off clause is an important provision in which the service provider undertakes to compensate the client company for breaches of its guarantees. Indemnification means that the supplier must pay the customer all legal fees of third parties resulting from the breach of warranties. If you are using a standard SLA provided by the service provider, it is likely that this provision is missing.
Ask your in-house counsel to draft a provision that is simple to include, although the service provider may wish for further negotiations on this point. My advice? Create one with this template and examples and consult your customers for perceived gaps. Since unforeseen cases are inevitable, you can re-examine and optimize the SLA if necessary. Choose measures that motivate good behavior. The first objective of each metric is to motivate the appropriate behavior on behalf of the customer and the service provider. Each side of the relationship will try to optimize its actions to achieve the performance objectives defined by the metrics. First, focus on the behavior you want to motivate. Then test your metrics by putting yourself in the place on the other side. .
