A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract that defines measurable IT support commitments — for example, how quickly the helpdesk acknowledges a critical outage versus a low-priority request. Typical MSP SLAs include priority tiers (P1 server down vs. P3 password reset), business-hours coverage, escalation paths, and sometimes credits if targets are missed. SLAs should be realistic for your size: a 15-minute response on total outages is common; instant fixes for every ticket are not. Review SLAs before signing: confirm what counts as "response" (auto-reply vs. human engineer), which systems are in scope, and how maintenance windows are communicated to your team.
