How do you create a BPO service level agreement (SLA)?

1 Understand your needs

Before you draft your BPO SLA, you need to have a clear understanding of your own business needs and goals. What are the processes that you want to outsource and why? What are the expected outcomes and benefits of outsourcing? How do you measure the performance and quality of the services? What are the risks and challenges involved in outsourcing? By answering these questions, you can identify your priorities and requirements, and communicate them effectively to your BPO provider.

2 Negotiate with your BPO provider

Once you have defined your needs, you need to negotiate with your BPO provider to reach a mutual agreement on the terms and conditions of the BPO SLA. This involves discussing the scope, duration, and cost of the services, as well as the service level indicators (SLIs) and service level objectives (SLOs) that will be used to evaluate the service delivery. SLIs are the metrics that measure the quality and efficiency of the services, such as accuracy, timeliness, availability, and customer satisfaction. SLOs are the targets or thresholds that the BPO provider must meet or exceed for each SLI, such as 95% accuracy, 24-hour turnaround time, 99% uptime, and 90% customer satisfaction.

3 Define the roles and responsibilities

Another important aspect of creating a BPO SLA is to define the roles and responsibilities of both parties in the outsourcing relationship. This includes specifying who will provide what resources, tools, and support for the service delivery, as well as who will be accountable for what tasks, decisions, and issues. For example, you may need to provide the BPO provider with access to your systems, data, and policies, as well as train them on your processes and standards. The BPO provider may need to assign a dedicated team, manager, and contact person for your project, as well as report on their progress and performance regularly.

4 Establish the monitoring and reporting mechanisms

To ensure that the BPO SLA is followed and enforced, you need to establish the monitoring and reporting mechanisms that will allow you to track and evaluate the service delivery. This includes defining how often and how the BPO provider will report on their SLI and SLO achievements, as well as how you will verify and validate their data and results. You may also need to set up regular meetings, audits, reviews, and feedback sessions with your BPO provider to discuss their performance, challenges, and improvement opportunities.

5 Include the penalties and remedies

Finally, you need to include the penalties and remedies that will apply in case of any breach or violation of the BPO SLA. This includes defining what constitutes a breach or violation, such as missing or exceeding an SLO, failing to comply with a policy or standard, or causing any damage or loss to your business. You also need to specify what are the consequences and corrective actions that will be taken in case of a breach or violation, such as imposing a fine, withholding a payment, terminating the contract, or seeking legal recourse.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?