In the realm of Information Technology (IT) services, incidents, disruptions, and issues are commonplace occurrences, necessitating a structured approach for resolution. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) serves as a formal agreement between service providers and customers, outlining service expectations and quality parameters. SLAs define service quality, issue resolution timeframes, and expected performance metrics, crucial for customer satisfaction. However, as IT architectures evolve with technologies like cloud computing and IoT, SLAs face challenges in addressing complex system architectures comprehensively, particularly concerning security and privacy.
Despite numerous studies examining SLAs in specific domains like IoT and cloud computing, a comprehensive overview of SLA implementation and standardization remains incomplete. Therefore, this research aims to provide a profound understanding of SLA implementation and standardization through a literature review. Forty studies meeting specific criteria were identified, with 23 focusing on SLA implementation and 17 on standardization.
The findings highlight that SLA implementation predominantly emphasizes improving customer satisfaction and IT service quality or Quality of Systems (QoS). SLAs are often integrated with QoS, serving as benchmarks for service delivery. While cloud computing domains exhibit in-depth SLA discussions, other sectors like education and e-health are still exploring optimal SLA integration approaches. Regarding SLA standardization, existing IT governance frameworks like ITIL, COBIT, and ITSM are utilized, yet domain-specific frameworks are deemed necessary. Current SLAs are primarily described in natural language, limiting automatic machine readability. Standardizing SLAs can facilitate automated machine reading, enabling further management through AI approaches. This research provides insights into current trends in SLA implementation, serving as a basis for future research in the field.
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