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When developing a successful services business, meeting and exceeding exceptions is critical. For managed services providers (MSPs), these expectations are often codified in a service level agreement (SLA). An SLA is a document that defines expectations between MSPs and their customers to set the stage for a long, successful relationship.

What is an SLA?

At its most basic, an SLA is an agreement between a service provider and the customer on different aspects of how the service will be delivered, such as quality, availability, and service elements. This is typically outlined in a formal contract or document that all parties agree upon. For an MSP, an SLA may include agreements around the quality of service, time to respond to a ticket, commitment to uptime, or other factors that are individual to each MSP-client relationship.

Benefits of SLAs for MSPs

The benefit of a comprehensive SLA for an MSP is that it sets the expectations for the business to the customer. It helps ensure that the client is satisfied, and the relationship is managed smoothly. It can also provide a framework for an MSP to report back on the success of their customer service and ensure that perceptions of how an MSP should work are clearly aligned with expectations. It can also serve as a protection mechanism for an MSP in the event of a lawsuit or other challenge, should those expectations become misaligned or misunderstood.

How to Create and Manage SLAs

The structure of an SLA will vary from MSP to MSP. But in all cases, a good SLA should provide clear guide rails and expectations for the relationship with clients, is clearly measurable, and outlines penalties or remediations should the SLA be missed. SLAs may also be broken down into several categories based on the type of service or priority of support to the customer.

There are, however, some straightforward best practices that MSPs should consider following as they look to codify their SLAs with customers or ensure the ones they have in place already are optimized for success. First, they should ensure each SLA has a clear service definition, such as which assets are covered by support services. Second, they should include realistic benchmarks for the performance of those services, such as uptime, response time, or time between issues.

Keep in mind, too, that SLAs don't spell out the responsibilities of MSP alone. They may also include the customer's responsibilities for maintaining certain assets, such as maintaining certain best practices or how they should report issues (including how the customer should contact you if there is a problem or even a preferred method). As noted above, the SLA may also specify how the customer will be compensated if an SLA is not met, such as getting money back or receiving a discount on future services.

While it’s true that an MSP should implement SLAs wherever possible to govern the relationship with clients, there are a few potential exceptions to consider. These exceptions might include an MSP entering a new customer environment with unstable networks before they have been granted access, or a demanding customer with unrealistic expectations about service levels.

While managing SLAs sounds may sound intimidating, there are tools that can help. MSPs can leverage management tools that keep track of their SLAs and report on SLA compliance against these metrics.

Conclusion

While managing SLAs and expectations may not be the most exciting or thrilling part of running an MSP business, it’s certainly essential to ensuring customer satisfaction and protecting the business against unanticipated threats. In doing this, an MSP can ensure that it sets up its relationships with customers for the long haul, and it can focus on delighting them with its services for many years to come.

Just because you have a successful Managed Service Provider (MSP) business today doesn’t guarantee you’ll remain successful going forward. Market conditions are always changing – not least in the MSP industry, which continues to grow steadily as more players enter the market – and MSPs must constantly adapt to keep ahead of the competition. Continue reading

There’s one thing that’s always true in life and in business: expect the unexpected. Sometimes, these unexpected moments can be bumps in the road, and other times they can be life-altering or catastrophic changes that require significant capital, expertise or other resources to navigate. Continue reading

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When the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out, many companies made the emergency transition overnight to allow their employees to work remotely. Now, two years later, a lot of organizations have realized the benefits that remote work can bring and are looking to maintain it as an option for their employees‌.

For managed services providers (MSPs), this new remote work trend means that they may have to adapt the way they proceed in supporting their clients, including remote support capabilities. Remote support allows an MSP to access, monitor and repair computer systems via a remote Internet connection, a capability that is essential for remote employees who may be anywhere in the world. This benefits MSP clients who may now have many remote employees, or the MSP themselves, as their own employees may prefer to be remote.

Further reading The Benefits of Remote Support

Having strong capabilities in remote access allows an MSP to more quickly support regular office employees, or servers and other technologies that may be in other locations. By seeing to it that they are following best practices in this area, an MSP can differentiate their services and ensure that they are providing the best support to meet all their customers’ needs.

When it comes to providing remote support, there are several points an MSP should consider as they develop their service package or look to optimize it to deliver the best service to their customers.

Start with Your Team

Building a successful remote support strategy starts with the MSP’s team. Business leaders should make sure they have clear procedures set for their team, including strong action strategies and expectations, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs). This will set the standards for employees delivering remote support, as well as help to align expectations for customers. Education for support agents is the key to ensuring best practices for remote work.

One behavior for an MSP to avoid is micromanaging, a trait that’s tempting in a remote work environment. However, by empowering employees with clear expectations and education, a manager should be able to avoid the bad habit of checking in on employees every hour – something that may alienate your staff and waste valuable time.

Enable Team with Knowledge and Communication

It’s more important than ever for remote employees to have the knowledge they need to perform their jobs effectively, as they can’t simply reach out to a colleague who usually sits at the next desk. For that reason, MSPs should enable their team members with up-to-date knowledge, as well as any other documentation that an employee may need to carry out remote support. Implementing digital communication tools, such as G Suite, Teams, Slack or Zoom, can also help ensure that the communication section remains strong, no matter where individuals are.

Provide the Best Tools and Technology

Just as with any other task, having the right tools can make a significant difference in how remote support can be delivered. MSPs should consider whether their current remote monitoring and management (RMM) systems are allowing their teams to support clients effectively, as well as whether there are other tools they can leverage to improve remote support or collaboration. Investing in technology can also mean making sure that employees have the Internet connectivity they need to carry out support consistently, or access to cloud services to guarantee that the quality of service remains high.

Maintain Strong Customer Communications

Besides ensuring strong communication amongst their own team, MSPs should also take care that they are maintaining clear, consistent and proactive communications with their customers. While communication is always important, it is especially vital in a remote support situation, where MSP employees may not be on site to ensure that they are addressing customer concerns or remaining top of mind throughout the lifecycle of the relationship. An MSP can do this by sending regular reports, staying proactive around any payment reminders, and planning changes by setting up regular touch points for review of services.

While the pandemic may be moving toward its end, ‌remote work is here to stay. This can present a significant opportunity for MSPs who adapt to this trend, both in how they support customers with remote employees and in how their own employees can leverage the benefits of remote work.

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