SLA (service level agreement)
An SLA (service level agreement) is a promised level of service; in a helpdesk, usually how soon the first reply and the resolution arrive.
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What does SLA mean?
An SLA helps when it is measured: the system flags a ticket close to or past its deadline.
Different deadlines per priority are common: an urgent fault gets a faster answer than a general question.
Why does it matter to a small business?
A customer rarely remembers the fault so much as the days when nobody replied. A promised time makes that measurable: the team sees what is urgent, and the owner sees where work is slipping. For a small business a simple deadline per priority is worth more than an elaborate contract nobody follows.
What does it look like in practice?
Details
Suppose a web development firm in Budapest promises a reply within four hours for an urgent fault and within two days for a general question. On an urgent ticket opened on a Friday, the deadline is stamped when it opens. If the colleague who owns it does not reply in time, they are told once, and if nobody owns the ticket, the administrators are told instead.
How does HelloCRM handle it?
Details
In HelloCRM the promised times are stamped when a ticket opens, by priority, in calendar hours, and the owner is told once when one is missed (the administrators when nobody owns it). Changing the table later does not rewrite times already promised, and when a ticket's priority changes, the new deadline counts from when it opened, not from the change.
Module: Helpdesk (paid module, price coming soon).
A CRM for small businesses in Hungary
HelloCRM is an online CRM made in Hungary for small and mid-sized businesses there, in Hungarian and English: the core CRM is free for good, with no time limit and no card, and it can be tried without signing up in a demo company full of example data.
Questions
What is SLA, in one sentence?
An SLA (service level agreement) is a promised level of service; in a helpdesk, usually how soon the first reply and the resolution arrive.