What are Service Level Agreements or SLAs? An SLA is an agreement between a client organization and a Managed Services Provider or MSP. At its most fundamental level, the contract spells out both the client services required and the MSP’s expected level of performance. A great MSP helps you define your service expectations. Sla managed services After the client company defines its needs and required service expectations, the MSP will start drafting the SLA. The service expectations are the foundation of the SLA. Next, you’ll define the components of your SLA. Finally, let’s breakdown what’s inside a good SLA. Knowing what’s inside the agreement provides you with the confidence of receiving the level of service your business requires. Agreement & Service Description The service level agreement is where the client organization and MSP document all of the agreed-upon terms and conditions. Further, both the client organization and MSP develop a list of all acronyms relevant to the specific client situation. Additionally, the SLA precisely defines what’s included in the services the client is purchasing from the MSP. The services provided to the client are clearly spelled out with quantitative metrics for performance. Subsequently, the agreement makes the responsibilities of both the MSP and the client clear. Availability & Responsiveness Outages or service-affecting incidents are defined along with what the reporting and response process is if an outage occurs. For Network monitoring services, it is common to use percentage goals such as 99.99% network uptime for a year. Additionally, Service Level Agreements may also take scheduled maintenance and other known factors into consideration. Finally, your MSP will have a monitoring system in place to measure uptime and other metrics included in your SLA. Responsiveness measures both how fast the MSP responds to the initial call/chat/email/ticket and performs the services required to close the incident. To receive timely service, the customer will also have their responsibilities detailed for how to report issues, etc. in the agreement. Procedures for Reporting Problems Make sure that the following items are spelled out in detail. Who does the client company contact? How does the client initiate contact? Portal/ticketing system Email Phone call Chat What are the escalation procedures? You and your MSP will agree on how more complex incidents escalate to more senior technical staff. Further, the SLA will detail different types of problem severity and the response times for each type of incident.

Managing cybersecurity isn’t just something for larger businesses to pay attention to. Many people believe that small businesses have a lower risk of experiencing problems with cybersecurity. However, this is a myth, and SMBs have to consider how to protect themselves against the biggest security threats. In 2018, 62% of businesses experienced phishing and social engineering attacks. Of all security breaches, 43% of victims are small businesses, and smaller organizations also have the highest targeted malicious email rate. To protect your business from cybersecurity problems, the best thing that you can do is take preventative measures. It’s much better to aim to prevent cyber attacks than it is to attempt to react to them when they occur. By the time you start to try and take action against an attack, the damage may already be done. Choosing a preventative and proactive route will allow you to stop attacks from occurring. Various cybersecurity threats can affect businesses in 2020. Here are ten of the most critical risks that you should be looking out for. 1. Malware Malware is a blanket term that includes several different types of cybersecurity threats. It encompasses threats such as trojans and viruses that can cause problems for businesses and their IT systems. They can give hackers access to systems or lead to the destruction of data that can’t be recovered. 2. Phishing Phishing attacks are an extremely common way of hackers exploiting businesses. Phishing is the practice of an attacker pretending to be a trusted contact to convince someone to open an email and click on a link or download a malicious file. The way that phishing attacks are carried out has become more sophisticated, and they can be tough to avoid. 3. Viruses As a type of malware, viruses can cause damage to your business. A virus is a type of computer program that can modify other programs by inserting its own code. It can create corrupt files or try to steal data from your business. Removing a virus isn’t always easy, so it’s best to protect against them. 4. Ransomware As the name suggests, ransomware is designed to hold your business to ransom. It involves encrypting company data so it can’t be accessed, with a threat to only hand back access of the data if a ransom is paid. This type of threat has become more frequent and is designed to cause panic. 5. DDoS A DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack floods your web server with requests to overwhelm it. Some people think that this type of attack is a thing of the past, but it is still more common than you might realize. In fact, these attacks have become more frequent over the past few years. 6. BYOD Problems Bring Your Own Device policies are sometimes implemented by businesses to allow employees to use their own devices, which helps the business to save money. However, as the company does not have full control over these devices, it can pose a security risk. The best thing to do is to implement BYOD policies requiring antivirus and firewall protections. 7. App Vulnerabilities Businesses might use many different apps, which can provide many functions. However, they can also have security vulnerabilities, and many of them will access personal data that you are unlikely to want them to access. This is an issue that can be worsened by the use of personal devices, making it even more important to control them. 8. Weak Passwords Another issue that employees could cause is the problem of using weak passwords. People often choose passwords that would be easy to guess and are, therefore, easy to hack. To protect your business, it’s essential to get employees to use strong passwords, as well as using two-factor authentication to provide an extra layer of security. 9. Lack of Employee Awareness The level of overall awareness about cybersecurity issues from employees is essential for a business’s cybersecurity. Employees who lack knowledge about critical issues can pose a threat to the company by leaving it vulnerable. Employees should receive training surrounding cybersecurity and what they can do to help keep the business more secure. 10. Patch Management Good IT management is a must for businesses of all sizes. One of the reasons for this is the need to keep IT systems updated and to install new patches to repair vulnerabilities quickly. Patching is one of the key ways to protect vulnerable systems and ensure stronger security.