Now that cloud computing has been around for some time, businesses are aware of the crucial role SLAs play. The effectiveness of a cloud deployment is measured not by its implementation cost or even time, but by the SLA levels promised and adhered to. This raises an important question: What are the important metrics for creating SLAs that lead to smoother business operation?
For enterprises and vendors alike, these are important parameters to learn from:
- API changes: Because vendors are constantly evolving their platforms—which they should—changes to the API are inevitable. But given the enormous amount of development time it takes to imbibe these changes on the business side, this should be made part of the SLAs. The frequency and nature of API changes, and how they will be tackled needs to be determined in advance.
- Support: Technical support is a given in any cloud deployment, but make sure to dive into the details. Will it be telephone support or email support? Round the clock or at specific hours? Another important question is, what level of technical sophistication will be covered in support? Being clear of these at the very start can save a lot of discomfort later.
- System updates: Updates are automatic and hassle-free on cloud computing, which is a big convenience. But what if a particular update doesn’t work for you, or even worse, breaks the system down? Such unpleasant but possible occurrences need to be identified and guarded against. The last you want is a cycle of finger-pointing.
For many these might come as a surprise, something that they never had occasion to think of before. And that’s why these stipulations are so important – It’s the grey areas that hurt the most.
