PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, AND PLANNING
This article isn't an exhaustive discussion of negotiating SLAs, but it does demonstrate the need to devote the time, effort, and resources necessary to get the SLAs right. A final thought is that there's no substitute for competition. However good your relationship with your carrier, nothing motivates a carrier more than the knowledge that another carrier is trying to take away a customer. Whether the issue is an SLA, pricing, or other operational or contractual matters, the incumbent will be far more responsive if it knows that the customer is seriously considering moving its business to another carrier.
Mark Johnston and Justin Castillo are partners at Levine, Blaszak, Block & Boothby, a law firm that specializes in negotiating telecom and technology agreements for enterprise customers. Send comments to [email protected].
SLA Negotiation Do's
There are many forces at work attempting to derail your SLA negotiations. Some are the result of carrier reticence, but others can be blamed on lazy or ill-prepared customers. Here are a dozen pointers to keep you on track:
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