Service Level Agreements (SLA) serve as a roadmap and a warranty for cloud services offerings. All cloud providers offer standard, one-size-fits-all SLAs that cover availably, performance, security, disaster recovery, response times, compliance and termination. This may be adequate for pure cloud applications, however standard SLAs fall short when it comes to hybrid cloud deployments.

There is nothing standard about hybrid deployments. Each one is different and inherently includes a higher level of involvement from IT. SLAs need to establish clear guidelines of engagement for both the enterprise and service provider. Unfortunately, not all cloud service providers are open or equipped to customize SLAs.

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