SLA and OLA Management

The Support Relationship

"An SLA defines the support relationship between a service provider and its customer. The agreement describes the products and/or services the customer receives, each party's responsibilities, the financial agreement (if any) and how the service provider measures and reports services. The objective of the SLA is to present a clear, concise and measurable description of what the service provider does for the customer."

"An OLA defines the interdependent relationships among the internal support groups working to support an SLA. The agreement describes the responsibilities of each internal support group toward other support groups, including the process and timeframe for delivery of their services. The objective of the OLA is to present a clear, concise and measurable description of the service provider's internal support relationships."

How do I set up an effective SLA with an outsourcer or an effective OLA with my own service units?

Service level agreements should match your business needs as closely as possible. Getting service level agreements for system uptime could be critical, or it could be a detail of your overall operation because it is more important that your applications are accessible when you need them to be. On the other hand, your business may require that you have immediate response to support issues 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I will help you to set objectives that support what your business must accomplish.

Having objectives and metrics alone is not enough to guarantee customer satisfaction. Good SLAs also include both remedies and penalties for missing established service levels. These penalties need to motivate your vendor to achieve the objectives, and the remedies need to help make sure you get back on track quickly. In other words, you don’t want to miss your service levels over and over again, regardless of the size of the penalty.

I will negotiate with your prospective vendors to help craft SLAs and metrics that are achievable and a win-win for both parties.

I will check for examples of SLAs they have used with other customers who had similar business needs. And, as for any vendor selection process, I'll get references and make sure to analyze those references about the metrics used and the quality of the results.

If you are service provider I can consult you analyzing your operating level agreements and improving the overall performance of your service units, by tapping the desire, creativity and dedication of all service staff. Results include an energized workforce, higher quality, higher service automation, lower costs and improved profits.

SLA and OLA Management

With many years of experience with both established companies as well as with start-ups I'm in unique a position to offer hands-on management for SLA and OLA Management and all aspects of IT Management.

I offer an international breadth of experience, having worked with some of the largest companies in the world.

Pricing: Please contact me at +43 681 10529517 in Vienna, Austria for more information regarding preparing your company a SLA or OLA Management Plan today.