A Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines the standards your IT support provider commits to delivering. When evaluating IT support companies, the SLA is one of the most important documents to scrutinise — it determines how quickly issues are addressed and what accountability exists when things go wrong.
Key metrics to look for in an IT support SLA include:
- Response time – how quickly the provider acknowledges your issue. Leading IT support services providers typically guarantee response within 15–30 minutes for critical issues
- Resolution time – the target timeframe for fixing the problem, which should vary by priority level
- Uptime guarantee – for managed infrastructure, look for 99.9% or higher uptime commitments with clear definitions of what constitutes downtime
- Priority levels – a clear classification system (e.g. P1 critical, P2 high, P3 medium, P4 low) that determines how resources are allocated
- Escalation procedures – defined paths for when issues are not resolved within target times, including management escalation points
- Reporting and transparency – regular SLA performance reports showing ticket volumes, response times, and resolution rates
- Penalties and remedies – service credits or other compensation if SLA targets are consistently missed
Connection Technologies provides transparent, measurable SLAs across all our managed IT support contracts. We publish our performance openly and hold ourselves accountable. Get a quote to see our SLA commitments.