Creating a service level agreement (SLA) is one of the most critical steps to aligning your business’s IT operations with an MSP’s capabilities.
Traditionally, an SLA defines exactly what a client will receive from a service provider. These agreements are crucial to building trust and ensuring satisfaction for both parties.
Service Level Agreement: The Basics
A service level agreement serve three primary functions:
- Expectation setting: Detailing client and MSP responsibilities
- Rule setting: Identifying the consequences if expectations aren’t met. This will include conditions of cancellation.
- Scorecard creation: Goal setting and performance requirements.
The SLA is a set of rules that help the client and MSP set goals and create agreements so both parties can be as successful as possible.
DRaaS SLA for Business Continuity Planning
A DRaaS SLA should reflect the requirements set out in the business continuity plan, especially those legally binding regulatory requirements.
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaas) solutions are designed to provide peace of mind. When disaster strikes, a business needs to know that their data is safe in the cloud. An SLA outlining the terms and conditions of recovery requirements ensures that all data recovery expectations will be met. If they aren’t, the consequences are evident.
A carefully negotiated SLA can reduce frustration and dissatisfaction, and support a healthy, productive business relationship. The SLA will address:
- Business continuity requirements
- Downtime
- Scalability
- Elasticity
- Data location
- Security
SLAs to Support Data Security
An service level agreement written to address security can help to minimize data leakage and theft. Many DRaaS SLAs include encryption keys and certifications to prevent security breaches and unauthorized data access. In the case of a security, compliance or privacy breach, the SLA promises prompt notification – and the ability to respond quickly and efficiently.
Supporting Business Growth
As your business changes and grows, so too should your DRaaS SLA. Changing strategic, operational and technical requirements should be reflected in Disaster Recovery planning and the SLA. That means the SLA must be treated as a living document and be reviewed periodically to ensure it reflects the realities of the business.
As a business grows, the allocated resources may not be able to respond to larger requirements. As a client, you must alert your MSP to your changing needs. The MSP will need to adapt resources so systems can be restored in the required period of time. For a DRaaS solution to be successful and robust, transparency between both parties is key.
Service Level Agreement Effectiveness
An SLA protects the interests of both the client and the Managed Service Provider.
By setting expectations in an SLA, the client and the MSP know exactly what to expect for post-disaster recovery. Both parties can rest assured knowing what steps must be taken to meet recovery time and recovery point objectives.
With this level of transparency, an MSP offering DRaaS can provide peace of mind that your business will never be without service.
At HostedBizz, we take data protection and site operation seriously. In the unfortunate case of disaster, our disaster recovery services retrieve and restore your data instantly from the cloud. Our service achieves bare metal recovery within minutes, ensuring uninterrupted service. Learn more about our DRaaS services and our approach to SLAs.