Value Based SLAs - What are they?

Higher levels of guaranteed base functionality/performance will cost this much extra. Peaks of performance can be covered at an agreed level of response, but it will cost.

Now it's down to the business. What level of risk do you feel that you can carry, and/or what level of performance are you willing to pay for?

On the other side of the coin, it gives the business a real means of managing SLAs. If the agreed level of service isn't given they can either agree to be cross charged only for the base offering, or can agree a premium offering recompensed as required.

Value based SLAs also apply in the software-as-a-service world; service providers looking for differentiators in the market can offer bronze, silver, gold and platinum service offerings based from the same infrastructure.

Contact centres and websites can provide different levels of response to known high-value customers than to ordinary customers, and can actively provide low service to those 'customers' who continuously eat up any possible margin from low expenditure through high contact.

Let's get rid of asset- and transaction-based internal money losing cross charging. Let's get rid of fixed service levels for all customers. Here's to value based SLAs: let the buyer decide whether they're cost-conscious or needs-driven, risk-averse or risk-happy.

Choose a level of service that you feel you need, but don't whinge when your cost saving low-level SLA gives you the service you deserve.

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