Service level agreements or "SLAs" can sometimes be
the forgotten sibling of ICT procurement. While the primary
contract (such as the services agreement) is fussed over by the
lawyers, and the requirements document fussed over by analysts and
procurement, the SLA can at times be an afterthought.
This in part can be due to the technical nature of service
levels, and the various metrics used to measure service level
performance – for example, availability, capacity, Quality of
Service or "QoS", response time, latency, loss, jitter,
etc!
The issue is amplified in cloud services, where customers are
often presented with generic, but seemingly impressive looking,
service levels. While businesses and government departments look to
the cloud as a means of achieving cost savings or efficiency gains
– the ultimate experience of the end users needs to also be
front of mind. The service level agreement is one of the primary
legal tools available to effect a "good" experience
