Narrative 5: The essential role of SLAs

Narrative 5: The essential role of SLAs

Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series

Narrative 5: The essential role of SLAs

Every organization that interacts with customers establishes a timeframe within which agents should respond to queries as part of a service level agreement (SLA). For instance, a team might set an SLA requiring that the first response to any customer ticket be sent within an hour of its inception.



Let's look at an example: You schedule a 10 AM medical appointment using the healthcare provider's app. As part of their service commitment, they guarantee—through an SLA—that all patients will be seen within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. When you arrive and check in, you can feel confident that you'll be called in to see the doctor shortly. 

This level of timeliness is critical in healthcare, where delays can affect outcomes, patient satisfaction, and trust in the provider. The SLA ensures that the clinic is accountable for prompt service and provides a positive patient experience.

The same idea applies in any service industry: SLAs help maintain customer trust and satisfaction and keep operations running smoothly by setting specific standards. It is essential for businesses to carefully measure, document, and manage SLA metrics to ensure they consistently meet or exceed expectations for service quality.

What are service level agreements (SLAs)?

An SLA is a formal contract that sets the expected standards for quality, agent availability, and responsiveness between a customer and their service provider. It is essential to measure service delivery by establishing clear and achievable performance goals. 

SLAs are key to improving customer service because they outline specific targets, such as response and resolution times, which help ensure consistent and effective service delivery. Modern customer service tools now include SLAs to track performance, ensure compliance, and help escalate issues when they reach certain limits. By utilising automation, teams can prioritise tasks more efficiently. This results in better service delivery and higher customer satisfaction.

Types of SLAs

Zoho Desk offers two types of SLAs:

Service Level Agreements define the level of service a customer can expect from your support team based on measurable performance targets—such as response and resolution times—for specific customer issues. 

SLAs are customer-facing and are typically tied to factors such as ticket priority, customer tier, or support plan. Zoho Desk also allows you to configure SLAs based on business hours, time zones, and ticket severity to ensure compliance and timely follow-up.

Examples of SLAs:

  • Responding to high-priority support tickets within 1 hour
  • Resolving technical issues within 24 hours for standard support
  • Providing onboarding or implementation support within a set timeframe 

Operational-Level Agreements (OLAs) are internal policies that outline the actions various teams will take to meet the commitments outlined in SLAs. They are beneficial in larger organisations where teams rely on one another to deliver those services and meet agreed-upon performance levels. 

Examples of OLAs:

  • The IT infrastructure team must resolve backend server issues within 4 hours to support SLA uptime targets
  • The compliance team must review and update data privacy settings within two business days
  • The network team must report and resolve outages within an agreed window to avoid SLA breaches

What are escalations?

Escalations provide a backup system to prevent delays, which can still happen even with clear SLAs. SLA escalations are automated backup plans that activate when a deadline for a response or resolution is missed. To prevent the issue from being overlooked, these rules quickly reassign it to a higher authority or a peer. This approach enables businesses to maintain the necessary service standards, even in challenging circumstances.

Components of an SLA

Agreement overview: This section outlines the start and end dates of the SLA, identifies the parties involved, and summarizes the services covered.  

Description of services: This section outlines all included services, response and resolution times, escalation processes, and maintenance schedules.  

Communication protocols: This outlines the process for updating and communicating during the support process.  

Penalties and remedies: This section outlines penalties, such as service credits or compensation, that may be applied if service standards aren’t met. It also explains how breaches are handled.  

Exclusions: This describes events and conditions that void SLA obligations, such as force majeure or customer misconfiguration.  

Termination and review: This outlines the processes for reviewing, updating, or terminating the agreement.  

Why do businesses need SLAs?

  • Enhanced alignment between service delivery and customer expectations

SLAs establish a mutual understanding between the service provider and the customer regarding the service to be delivered. They play a crucial role in achieving the right balance between the parameters of service delivery and support.

  • Prioritization

SLAs specify which issues require immediate attention and prompt resolution.

  • Standardized support delivery

By clearly outlining their approach to service delivery, businesses can ensure consistency throughout the organisation. This minimises the risk of errors and operational slip-ups.

  • Better customer satisfaction

SLAs detail the expected response times for critical issues and the support processes for non-critical matters, ensuring prompt resolutions. Compliance with these established timelines leads to higher customer satisfaction levels.

  • Continuous service improvement

Examining service performance data allows for the identification of areas for improvement, adjustments to the services outlined in the SLA, and updates to SLA targets to meet business demands and expectations better.

Final thoughts on SLAs

SLAs are essential for providing reliable, clear, and high-quality service through ticketing systems. They set appropriate expectations and provide a way to measure and improve support performance.


Please stay tuned for more Desk behind-the-scenes series.

 

 Regards,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team

    • Recent Topics

    • Add QUOTE OWNER profile image to a Quote Template

      I can add their email address.. phone number, DOB. I need to add a users profile picture so when they assign a template to a quote they own it adds their picture to the cover page. I've tried hacking a solution together but there has to be an easier way.

    • Zoho Connections Desk API relative URL PATTERN_NOT_MATCHED

      While i am trying to do this: async function fetchTicketsFromDesk(timeFilter = 'current_month') { try { const response = await ZOHO.CRM.CONNECTION.invoke("desk_connection", { url: "/api/v1/tickets", method: "GET", }); const data = response.details ? JSON.parse(response.details)

    • Zoho CRM - Custom Views for Portal Users

      I'm looking for an option to customise custom views for portal users in CRM. It would be great if "portal user" was a permission on custom views.

    • 【参加無料】10/17(金) 東京 ユーザ交流会 Vol.3 参加登録 受付開始！

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 10/17(金)に、東京・新橋で「東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.3」を開催します！ 今回のユーザー事例セッションのテーマは、「Zoho Flowを活用した他社の決済サービスとの連携事例」です。 さらに、Zoho Flowに限らず、Analytics や Campaigns などの多彩なZohoサービスの活用方法について、豊富なご経験をもとにご紹介いただきます。 また、Zoho社員セッションでは、Zoho CRMを活用して日々の営業業務を効率化する具体的な事例をお話しします。業界を問わず、幅広い方にご参考いただける内容となっています！

    • Zoho Meeting Plug compatibility with newer versions of Outlook

      Documentation states that the zoho meeting plug in for outlook is only compatible with versions up to Outlook 2019 What is available to users of more up to date versions of outlook/office 365?

    • Getting Attachments in Zoho Desk via API

      Is there a way to get attachments into Zoho Desk via an API?      We have a process by which a zoho survey gets sent to the user as a link in a notification.    The survey has several upload fields where they can upload pdf documents.    I've created

    • Introducing Zoho's own SMS gateway

      We're thrilled to announce the launch of our own SMS gateway feature within Zoho Marketing Automation! This new feature enables seamless SMS campaign management alongside your email marketing initiatives, providing a more integrated and efficient way

    • Embedding in Desk articles

      We would like to embed documents in our Desk articles. When we use an iframe for the embed, we get scrollbars and a frame border. Neither of those is acceptable. I've spoken with the Desk Support team about what we want and they tell me that it cannot

    • Zoho CRM button to download images from image upload field

      Hello, I am trying to create a button in Zoho CRM that I can place in my record details view for each record and use it to download all images in the image upload fields. I tried deluge, client scripts and even with a widget, but feel lost, could not

    • Mass Update Contacts In Zoho Campaigns

      Is there a way to mass update contacts in zoho campaigns? I want to be able to change the content of a field for a few hundred contacts, and can't go through all of them individually.

    • report showing assignment type

      Hi, We've created a number of workflows to allow us to auto assign tickets to agents based on keywords and other criteria. I'm struggling to create a report that would show me what is the percentage of tickets that are assigned automatically via workflows

    • Option to Disable Knowledge Base Section in Feedback Widget Popup Hello Zoho Desk Team

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, How are you? We are actively using Zoho Desk and would like to make more use of the Feedback Widget. One of the ways we implement it is through the popup option. At the moment, the popup always displays the Knowledge Base section,

    • Placeholders in Ticket Templates

      We should be able to use placeholders in ticket templates. When we create a new ticket, our description field is shown to the client in the email they receive.  It would be very handy to be able to personalize that description field in our ticket templates to pull in the name of the client that the ticket is for. Using them in the subject field as well, so we can auto populate Account Names, etc. 

    • when the record is created the tag want to Show as Opportunity how i achive this using Deluge Script

      In the quotation i have the work flow schedule for create opportunity record in the module , on that time the quotation tag select as opportunity created. How i achive this using Deluge Script . this like i want to Do tag1 = Map(); tag1.put("name","Nurturing

    • Delete a channel

      I need delete a channel in tickets.

    • Copy / Duplicate Workflow

      I have workflows setup that are very similar to each other. We have a monitoring system watching servers, and all notifications - no matter what client it is about - will come from a  noreply@ address which is not very helpful in having it auto assigned to the right account. I have setup a workflow that will change the contact name of the ticket (currently it would say noreply@) to the correct customer which is based on the subject line, as that mentions which server the alert it is about. I need

    • Subtasks don't update parent task's times

      Hi there: I've recently upgraded to premium and check that subtasks completion % don't update the proportional completion of the parent tasks related to it.  We've been challenging with the problem of having to update twice or sometimes 3 times the completion of the related tasks. I've seen posts similar to this, of 3 years old.  Is there any roadmap for making this happen in a future release? Thanx César Ratto Lima, Perú.

    • IMAP Server not responding.

      Trying to connect a phone via IMAP and getting "imap.zoho.com not responding." Is the server down, for maintenance or otherwise? I've tried this on two different devices and got the same error on both.

    • Tip #44 – Get Deeper Insights with Zoho Assist’s Custom Reports – ‘Insider Insights’

      In today’s fast-paced IT environment, having a clear view of your remote support activities is more important than ever. Zoho Assist’s Custom Reports feature gives IT teams the ability to generate tailored reports that provide actionable insights and

    • Message "...does not support more than 100 distinct values..." WHY????

      I get this message on one of my reports: Sorry, Zoho Reports currently does not support more than 100 distinct values in columns. 'Account Name * Sum(Amount),Count(Amount Tier)' contains more than 100 distinct values.  Possibly, you can apply filter to reduce the number of distinct values in 'Account Name' or drop the 'Account Name' field in Rows. I want to list all ACCOUNT NAMES (about 500) with SALES BY ACCOUNT.  What is blocking this?

    • Let's Talk Recruit: Super-charge hiring with Zoho Recruit add-ons

      Welcome back to our Let’s Talk Recruit series! This time, we’re diving into something that might seem like a small upgrade but has a huge impact on recruiter productivity: Zoho Recruit add-ons. Think about how much of your day is spent in your inbox or

    • Vendor Signatures Needed for Purchase Orders

      Hello everyone, We have a unique requirement that necessitates that Vendors & Suppliers formally acknowledge our Purchase Orders upon receipt. I was hoping that there would be an option to do so in Zoho Books, but that does not appear to be the case.

    • Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk

      Hi, Is there an API to "File a Ticket" in Desk to zoho projects?

    • Store "Sign in with Google/Microsoft/GitHub etc." details

      Quite often now, users are using a sign-in provider like Google or Microsoft to sign into various apps and services. It would be great if Vault could remember which providers you use for each website and sign you in with that provider instead of a username

    • Tip of the Week #72– Assign thread ownership to avoid confusion.

      When teams handle a large volume of emails, managing threads becomes important to stay organized. Without a clear system, duplicate replies, missed follow-ups, or confusion over responsibilities can happen. Thread assignment solves this by designating

    • Unarchive tickets

      How can I manually unarchive tickets?

    • Optimize your Knowledge Base for enhanced accessibility by adding alt tags for images

      Let's learn why alt tags are crucial for your articles. You can add alternative tags (alt tags) and alternative text (alt text) to the images you share on your community forums or when embedding them in articles. Alt tags refer to the HTML attribute,

    • FSM trying again

      have not linked FSM yet to the rest of out Zoho suit. It certainly looks like the apointment and service part is more manageable for our staff. The question is that our engineers multi task examples 1. deliver products to customers not fitted 2. Service

    • Feature Request: Conditional Field Mandatoriness Based on Display Status

      Hello Zoho Creator Team, I would like to suggest an enhancement to improve the flexibility of form validations. Currently, when we need a field to be mandatory only if it's displayed on the form, the only option is to: Set the field as not mandatory in

    • Data Migration Strategies for Moving to a Cloud Solution

      Hi everyone, I’ve been working on moving some of our critical systems, including CRM and project data, to a Zoho cloud solution, and one of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered is data migration. Transferring large volumes of data while keeping it

    • Commerce Order as Invoice instead of Sales Order?

      I need a purchase made on my Commerce Site to result in an Invoice for services instead of a Sales Order that will be pushed to Books. My customers don't pay until I after I add some details to their transaction. Can I change the settings to make this

    • How to set different item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books

      Item selling prices for Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books are in sync. If we update the Item selling price in Books, the same will happen in commerce and vice versa. I need a separate commerce selling price for online users and a separate books selling price

    • How to report 'Response violation' OR 'Resolution violation'

      Hi, I want to report on SLA Violation Type. I grouped my tickets on this column. It seems I only get 'Response and Resolution Violation' or 'Not Violated'. The former seems to be given to a ticket if only the Response Time was violated. I would expect

    • Date triggering Workflow rule

      I have a function triggered by a workflow rule. The function takes a date and creates a task for that date and fills in a field with the name of the day for that date. It also updates the status field of the record. The workflow rule is set to run whenever

    • Restricting contact creation

      Hi all! I am looking to use Zoho Desk in a part of the business that takes end user enquiries. These are generally single interactions, and not linked to an account name. As Desk is Account centric, has anyone designed a way to manage these incoming emails

    • Import Holiday Calendars

      HI Zoho Is there anyway of importing an online calendar like https://www.calendarlabs.com into the business hours calendars, to speed up setup of holiday calendars. Also could we also request a feature where you can specify a Holiday as hours, i.e it could be that the company is on a 1/2 day due to a holiday or when it is Eid in the UAE and they are only allowed to work restricted hours so we need the calendar to be flexible to allow for this. Regards Jamie

    • Filtering Tickets based on Email headers

      We're starting to get a lot more junk coming into our Zoho Desk, which is then triggering unnecessary email alerts to agents. Once thing we could do to cut this junk in half, is to filter tickets based on email headers. Any email containing the `List-Unsubscribe`

    • Error 550 5.4.1

      I’ve tried sending an email to someone but keep receiving this back. Any help would be greatly appreciated 

    • Billing Management: #2 Fair way of Billing- Prorated Billing

      Hello, From speaking about the traditional ways of billing in the previous post, we are moving into the deep sea of billing. We are now in a zone to break out the most complex yet, I would call it the fairest way of billing, the Prorated Billing. Prorated

    • Adding image in HTML report page

      Hi, I want to know two things: 1. Can anyone advise how to add an image in HTML report. The tagged used is <img> but what path do I mention for the image to be added in the HTML report. 2. Also, I want to know if I am creating an application for the market

    • Next Page