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My service is a cloud-application monitoring service. My clients expect my service to monitor their enterprise software or websites and adjust computing power provided to them.

What is SLA/support structure do you think is expected in such cases to be put into a contract/written form?

Thanks!

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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

Do you have enterprise-class clients? If so, ask them what kind of SLA they are looking for.

Usually, startups like yourself don't really get the kind of high-grade, industrial-strength, enterprise-y clients that care about SLAs. Honestly, as a startup, you can safely ignore this issue until the first time you're doing a deal for more than (say) $50,000 and you're negotiating a custom contract and the client really wants an SLA.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of SLAs, as a client. When you study them you discover that they're not worth much. The services have big outages anyway, because "shit happens," no matter what the SLA says, and then they credit $3.24 to your account because the SLA never really gets you much, and you're supposed to be happy.

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Well, I don't, but I'd like to get enterprise-class clients, as my product is targeted toward businesses. I expect that I will be asked to provide SLA's, will I not? I unfortunately, do not know very well the do's and dont's of SLA's. Are they charged for extra? etc? Microsoft is asking me as to what sort of support will my product receive. I guess, I need to understand what to answer and what is expected to be in written form (besides the obvious: we will support it) – Igorek Dec 2 '10 at 7:38
We offer a B2B SaaS, and I tend to agree with Joel. SLAs are, in most cases, hollow promises. In case something goes wrong, the only thing that matters is how you treat customers: just be honest and helpful. As an example, yesterday the entire datacenter where our web server is hosted has been taken offline due to a DDoS attack. I don't care about a few $ compensation, because when such things happen (and they will), the only thing I care about is a quick resolution. – Dario Solera Dec 2 '10 at 11:09
up vote 1 down vote

Your service is an integral part of your product offering, and the SLA is another way of projecting your professionalism and quality - think of it as a marketing tool and not just a burden... a revenue generator and not just a cost center.

If you are in alpha or beta stages you probably can get away with "we will support it", but if you are selling a product which is - as you describe it - mission critical to your customers, then you will be required to provide an SLA.

A software SLA will usually contain key performance indicators, acceptable failure rates (MTBF and performance indicators), response times, support terms, and yes, penalties in case the product and your support do not meet the SLA.

In addition keep in mind that service and SLA's are a major revenue contributor in the long run. Don't forget to put a price tag on them! (even if you are giving them out for free initially)

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Thank you. How much markup on the average would an SLA drive on top of regular price? Is there a pattern or an industry average? – Igorek Dec 2 '10 at 18:48

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