{"id":31341,"date":"2020-09-01T17:48:30","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T07:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/au\/en\/blog\/in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-centre-stage\/"},"modified":"2020-09-23T13:24:42","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T03:24:42","slug":"in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-centre-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/au\/en\/blog\/in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-centre-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"In a work-from-home world, service level agreements for cloud communications take centre stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNetwork error: There\u2019s a problem connecting to the application.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than the dreaded \u201cblue screen of death,\u201d a network error warning is quite possibly a hard-working employee\u2019s most aggravating computer message\u2014especially because it always seems to happen at the absolute worst moment, like some kind of cruel joke. Maybe it\u2019s also because in our fast-paced, always-available world, every moment feels urgent. And if we\u2019re going to make\u00a0ourselves<\/i>\u00a0available at all times, we expect no less from our apps\u2014whether for business or leisure.<\/p>\n

For cloud-based business communications and collaboration solutions, the importance of continuous availability only increases. Because communication is at the heart of any successful organisation, communications solutions need to withstand a multitude of obstacles. These include natural disasters, seasonal surges (such as the first day of school or holiday buying), unexpected surges (such as\u00a0what we\u2019ve experienced with COVID-19<\/a>), or company-specific issues (such as hosting a large all-hands session online). In addition to these variables,\u00a0Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Contact centre as a Service (CCaaS)<\/a>\u00a0providers also need to remain available across many different devices (laptop, mobile, or tablet) and connectivity options (WiFi, 3G\/4G\/5G, or a switch from one to the other) that customers might use to connect.<\/p>\n

What does \u201cFive 9s\u201d mean (also known as \u201cFive Nines\u201d)?<\/h2>\n

The availability of a cloud solution is usually expressed as a percentage of the amount of time that solution is up and running (known as uptime) in a given year. Most enterprise communications solution providers offer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that commit to a certain minimum percentage of uptime in a given period (or conversely maximum downtime).<\/p>\n

In the figure below, you can see how availability percentages equate to downtime over the course of days, weeks, months, and years. In a perfect world, a cloud solution would be available 100% of the time. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t live in a perfect world, but the good news is that when it comes to uptime, we\u2019re not far off. For example, some companies offer\u00a099.999% availability<\/a>\u00a0(also known as \u201cFive 9s\u201d), which translates to 5.26 minutes of downtime for that app\u00a0per year<\/i>. Of course, not every company can guarantee that level of uptime, and lower guarantees can translate to possibly significant downtime. For example, 95% availability\u2014which sounds like a high number\u2014actually equates to up to 18 days of downtime annually.<\/p>\n

\"Graph:<\/p>\n

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Service Level Agreements guarantee the availability of cloud applications. Lower guarantees can lead to more downtime.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Increased downtime for cloud communications apps can actually have potentially devastating consequences, particularly in certain industries. For example:<\/p>\n