Recently, as Thru sent out the annual Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance letters, I was reminded of how important a reliable SLA is for managed file transfer. The ability to establish and maintain an SLA is a major differentiator between enterprise solutions and consumer-focused technologies selling to businesses.
Why Is Providing and Maintaining an SLA So Vital for MFT Solutions?
It’s simple. A good SLA lays out the expectations between the service provider and the customer and provides metrics to measure effectiveness. It differentiates between those who say they can provide a reliable service and those who do. Anyone can claim to be reliable and guarantee uptime, but only those who can fulfill it will make a written agreement with metrics and financial obligations in case of failure.
Because enterprises could face significant financial losses from a service failure, they need more certainty that their expectations will be met.
Most consumer applications, such as Facebook or Instagram, could go down for a few hours and everyone will be alright. Some will be emotionally traumatized, of course, but they will survive. Their employers may even find that productivity has increased. If an enterprise’s MFT service went down, however, intellectual property could be stolen, millions could be lost, and jobs could be in jeopardy.
Imagine, for example, a businessperson who has a deadline to deliver an important document. He attempts to transfer it using the company’s approved MFT service but finds that the service is down. Instead of waiting for it to come back up, he goes to his personal consumer file sharing solution, greatly jeopardizing security.
In a large business, this will happen with many people, not just one. Suddenly, valuable and current business data is unprotected and available to anyone who can access these unsecure applications. If the service is unreliable, many employees will abandon it altogether and use their consumer solutions, often violating corporate policy.
All vendors would offer a formal SLA if they could, but most find it impossible because of technical deficiencies. Thru has worked diligently to ensure that all hardware and technology is the most reliable in the business, rather than cutting costs and risking quality. By focusing on infrastructure and reliability, we can provide one of the best SLAs and keep it.
Please visit our secure file transfer page if you would like to learn more about our security measures.
