1

What is the general standard SLA in the IT industry.We have a client were trying to define the SLAs for them but they also want to know what is the industry standard unfortunatley I can’t find and information on that. I would like to know what do you guys use for SLA benchmark.

thanks

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2

I don’t know if there is a definitive standard. Usually as an MSP I’ve used the SLAs as a key pricing point. So the cost of the service was more or less depending on the SLA provided with various response times based on impact and severity of issue.

3

There isn’t one because SLA’s are kinda meaningless and it depends on what SLA you monitoring? From call to final fix or call to response?

If call to response then you have an auto responder email saying “We’ve received your ticket.” There, SLA met.

If it’s call to fix, well, how difficult is the call? A password reset is 2 minutes. A full blown DR could be days if not weeks.

So, what are you trying to wrap an SLA around?

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4

When I worked for an MSP, there was a standard SLA of response within 8 hours. urgent tickets had a response within 2 hours but cost the client something like three times the cost of a normal ticket.

5

Of the service providers I use that offer an SLA, most are 1-3 hours to first contact. I don’t think any of my providers promise a time to resolution. What kind of services are you thinking of offering an SLA on? What happens if you don’t meet the SLA?

6

Yeah, mine came in tiered pricing. The lowest tier had a 24 hour response time and the highest had a one hour response time. It was a good way to map out client priorities based on profitability. It worked well for me anyways.

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7

When i worked in tthat field, SLA was always based on price.

8

The price for the client would remain the same at this point. they are non-profit organization and i want to support them but they need something outlined for future support.

They need generally break fix support. they have two servers, 4 laptops, 7 desktops, 1 network printer and 6 local printer and 2 access spoints we support all of these

9

If you are a one-person operation, you can’t really offer an SLA imho. You could get sick or go on vacation or die, and who would uphold it?

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10

If you look at any RFPs from large organizations for IT support they usually outline the breakdown for SLA as a matrix with three different response times for stages of work on the issue and severity or impact. The stages assigned times are typically: Response, Action Plan or Work begun, and resolution. I know others have said that you can’t guarantee a resolution time but almost all large organizations will request this. And then severity: low, medium, high, critical.

So for example a low priority issue like one user being unable to print they would want to know: How long it will take you to respond to the client request for information gathering, how long before you have a plan in place to fix the problem, and how long till the issue should be resolved.

Just make sure you’re clear about what the metrics are for your levels if severity and impact. Base it on number of users effected and impact to business operations but be clear to the client what the threshold for each is. So low: single user and user is still able to work, Medium: Multiple users and they are still able to work, High: single user unable to work, Critical: multiple users unable to work. If you don’t have clearly defined service levels than you’re asking for a fight with your client.

11

Why are they even asking about an “industry standard SLA” in the first place? Did you fail to respond to them quickly and they got upset?

If this is a non-profit with 10 endpoints, it’s not like they can expect (or afford) the high up-time that comes with SLAs for things like Time to First Reply, RTO, RPO, etc.

I hope this doesn’t turn into a pain in the a** client for you - it sounds like they have high expectations/demands, but they’re on a break/fix budget.

12

So what are you after offering them? An SLA with a guaranteed fix? What’s the penalty for breaching the SLA?

Also, non-profit doesn’t mean no money. It means that they don’t make a profit. They still have cash…

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13

The services we offer them are not limited to only what im stating

Setting up desktops

Password resets

printer installation

managing servers

Creating, managing, removing AD and E-mail accounts

patch management

Live streaming suport

Trouble shooting desktops

Managing Access Point and Wi-Fi

Cabling and networking if needed

on-site support

Setting up digital signage boxes

website support (updating contents etc)

Backups for serverse and desktops

Installation of TVs if needed

order paper for them because i get cheaper price

Supporting applications which are no longer supported (simply accouting 2009)

Buy desktop / laptop for them

Find new solutions to whatever new problem they have

We provide them support during business hours and outside business hours weekends too.

My business moto is simple. If we think its related to IT we dont say no to our clients if were not loosing money, this allows us to build a deeper relation with our clients

I keep updating the list didnt realize how much we offer them compared to when we started working with them 5 years ago

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14

I’d agree with that motto. We’ve always responded by email or phone within 30 minutes and resolved 90% of the issues within an hour or two. Stick to your stated motto, keep that good relationship and never lose a client! Pretty simple if you have the right team and keeping their systems up and running as you should!