6 SLA best practices for more reliable IT services

Delivering consistent IT services is non-negotiable for your IT department. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are the cornerstone of reliable IT support, bridging the gap between service providers and their customers. But crafting effective SLAs isn’t just about ticking boxes—it’s about creating a partnership that benefits everyone involved. In this blog, we’ll delve into ten SLA best practices that drive performance, enhance transparency, and empower both your IT department and your end users to achieve their goals. Whether you’re looking to refine your SLA approach or start from scratch, read on to discover how the right SLAs can transform your IT services.

Understanding Service Level Agreements (SLAs): the essentials

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly are Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?

ITIL 4 gives the following definition: a documented agreement between a service provider and a customer that identifies both services required and the expected level of service.

Picture Service Level Agreements as the bridge between you and your end users, clearly defining the level of service you promise to deliver. They cover vital elements such as response times and service availability, ensuring clarity and accountability for both parties.

But most importantly, SLAs aren’t static; they're dynamic tools. Adhering to SLA best practices is crucial to make sure your services are not only effective but also live up to the expectations of your end users. But as customer expectations evolve, regular updates to your SLAs are necessary. Keeping your SLAs agile makes sure your Service Level Agreements are aligned with business goals and customer needs.

Why follow SLA best practices?

Has your organization put its employees through ITIL training, resulting in a frenzied amount of ITIL best practice adoption? If so, introducing SLA best practices and creating multiple Service Level Agreements (SLAs) was probably part of this frenzy.

What happened to your precious SLAs after that? Were they “put on a shelf” and then forgotten about? Perhaps only to be pulled down to point out that some party isn’t doing or delivering what they should? Or maybe those SLAs have been consistently used, but never updated to reflect the changing times in terms of service construction, industry benchmarks, or – most importantly – customer needs?

If you step back and look at your organization’s SLAs, are you pleased with what you see? Or is there room for improvement? In particular in how you create, use, and continually improve SLAs? Incorporating SLA best practices can significantly improve your approach to service level management, from SLAs being a simple box that needs to be ticked off to becoming crucial for better IT support.

The benefits of SLA best practices for your IT department

Implementing SLAs and adopting SLA best practices has significant benefits for IT departments and IT Service Management (ITSM) operations:

Clear service desk KPIs: SLAs set measurable targets for service delivery, making it easier to track and improve IT performance.

Faster incident resolution: SLAs establish response and resolution times, ensuring quicker handling of technical issues and minimizing downtime.

Improved service transparency: SLAs provide clarity for both IT teams and end users about what to expect, reducing confusion and aligning expectations.

Stronger collaboration: SLAs promote better communication between IT teams and other departments, fostering a more collaborative environment.

Proactive problem management: With SLA monitoring, IT departments can identify recurring issues and address root causes, improving long-term service reliability.

Regulatory compliance: SLAs help ensure IT services meet regulatory or contractual obligations, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.

Better vendor management: When IT services depend on external vendors, SLAs ensure accountability and consistency in third-party collaboration.

User satisfaction: Clearly defined SLAs improve the end-user experience by providing reliable and predictable IT services.

Cost control: Effective SLAs help IT departments manage resources better, reducing unnecessary expenses and optimizing budgets.

Alignment with business objectives: SLAs connect IT services to business priorities, ensuring IT supports key business strategies effectively.

Crisis preparedness: SLAs often include guidelines for handling major incidents or service disruptions, helping IT departments respond effectively during critical situations.

6 SLA best practices for more reliable IT services

To make the most out of Service Level Agreements for your business, adopt these 6 LA best practices into your IT operations:

1. Align SLAs with business goals

Your SLAs should be more than a checklist. When your SLAs align with the goals of your IT department but also wider organizational goals, they're much more likely to contribute to not only the success of your IT department, but also to that of the wider organization.

2. Set clear and measurable targets

Being as specific as possible is critical when it comes to SLAs. Clearly define the services provided and set performance targets that are measurable. This transparency makes sure both your team and your end-users know what to expect, reducing the chance of misunderstandings.

3. Embrace flexibility

Your business doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and neither should your SLAs. The defined purpose of your SLAs should be bigger than simply ensuring that all contractual and service-based targets are consistently met. You might have heard the phrase “honor the spirit of the contract” before–well, the same applies to SLAs. Be prepared to adapt SLAs quickly in response to unexpected challenges or opportunities.

Let me give you an example. During COVID-19, the SLA and support targets related to HR often had to take a back seat to other issues. Why? Because at the time, connectivity issues were much more urgent than they ever were before because of remote working.

The lesson? There will always be exceptions, even when it comes to SLAs.

4. Regularly update SLAs for relevance

And, since there will always be exceptions, make sure to regularly update your SLAs. Business conditions change. Whether it's technological advancements or shifts in end-user behavior, regularly updating your SLAs is essential.

5. Incorporate feedback loops

Use feedback from your end-users and other internal stakeholders to adjust your SLAs. Establish regular feedback mechanisms to capture insights that allow you to improve your SLAs (and, ultimately, your services).

A key opportunity here is using reviews to do more than simply report on how service level targets are consistently met. This is too much like steering your car while looking in the rearview mirror. Instead, look at the road ahead and the opportunities and challenges these reviews bring. Focus your reviews on improvements and necessary changes, including how you can better meet your end-user's needs.

6. Implement experience level agreements (XLAs)

Before jumping into what eXperience Level Agreements (XLAs) are, I need to call out what the industry calls “watermelon SLAs.” This is when the performance reports and dashboards that inform key business stakeholders about service performance don’t adequately reflect the real-world position. Like a watermelon, the SLAs look green. But once you cut them open, you’ll find that the green exterior hides a wealth of red: the services are actually underperforming – or even failing – in the context of stakeholder expectations.

These “watermelon SLAs” occur due to a number of reasons, including:

• Measuring the wrong things
• Measuring performance or satisfaction at the wrong points (there’s an example below)
• Not enough input on what’s important from the service customer or consumers
• No periodical review of what’s important, what needs to be measured, and what “good” looks like in terms of service level targets.

Measuring performance or success at the wrong points – either in time or during the service value chain – is a common mistake.

As an alternative to operationally focused SLAs, eXperience Level Agreements (XLAs) look at the desired outcomes and the delivered value for the end-user. They measure and report on what’s really important to the person using the service, whereas traditional SLAs usually focus on availability, numbers, and speed.

Rather than measuring and reporting on IT’s view of service availability and support performance, an XLA target relates to what’s actually important for your end-user.

How to implement SLA best practices with TOPdesk

Adopting SLA best practices isn’t just smart—it’s essential for improving your IT services. TOPdesk's ITSM software, including its Service Level Agreement feature, helps you keep track of your agreements with end-users and suppliers. As you're logging incoming calls, Service Level Agreements pop up automatically, making it a breeze to stay in control of deadlines and deliver services beyond expectations. Discover what TOPdesk's ITSM software can do for you.