SLAs that actually stick

SLAs fail when they're written down but never measured, or when nobody is responsible for missing them. In UK service businesses—from trades to professional services—we see the same pattern: "We aim to respond within 24 hours" or "We'll complete within five working days." Nobody tracks it. Behaviour doesn't change. The target is wallpaper.

Making them stick means three things: measure automatically, assign ownership, and alert before breach. Get those right and SLAs become useful instead of cosmetic.

Why this problem shows up

Targets are often set in isolation. A director or ops manager chooses a number—24 hours, 48 hours, five days—without looking at current performance. There's no system to capture "first response" or "job completed" timestamps. So you can't actually know if you've hit the SLA. You find out when a customer complains or when someone runs a manual report.

Even when you do measure, ownership is fuzzy. Targets are team-level. When they're missed, it's no one's fault. Escalation is ad hoc. There are no "this will miss SLA in two hours" alerts. You're always reacting after the fact.

What it costs when left unfixed

Customers notice. Slow or inconsistent response feeds into reputation. In competitive markets, a firm that clearly commits to and meets response times stands out. One that doesn't loses work and referrals.

Internally, stress goes up. Staff chase each other instead of having a single view. Management can't tell if the problem is volume, process, or ownership. You invest in "better communication" or more meetings when the real fix is measurement and accountability built into the system.

What good looks like instead

Response and completion are captured automatically. Timestamps come from your intake and job workflow, not from someone remembering to log. You have a simple view—dashboard, report, or both—of what's on track and what's late. Every enquiry or job has an owner. When something is about to breach, that person gets an alert. You fix it or escalate before the customer has to ask.

That usually requires workflow orchestration and a clear design—operational architecture—so that stages, ownership, and SLAs are built into the flow from the start.

How we approach this in practice

We start with discovery, then move into architecture. We map how work enters, how it moves, and where timestamps and ownership already exist (or could exist). We design workflows so that first response and completion are recorded automatically. We add alerts and a simple visibility layer. We build, roll out, and hand over. You run it.

Clients don't need to care about the tech. They care that SLAs are visible, owned, and actionable. We make that the default instead of the exception.

A short example from the field

Illustrative example. A facilities management team had a "24-hour response" policy but no way to track it. Enquiries landed in email and were assigned in a spreadsheet. We designed a single intake pipeline, clear assignment, and automatic capture of "received" and "first response" times. The team could see what was about to breach. Response reliability improved and customer complaints dropped.

Common pitfalls to avoid

• Setting targets with no data. "24 hours" or "five days" should be informed by current performance. Look at the numbers first.
• Measuring manually. If it requires someone to update a spreadsheet, it won't last. Build measurement into the system.
• Leaving ownership vague. SLAs need a named owner per enquiry or job. Team-level targets alone don't change behaviour.
• Only reviewing when something goes wrong. Check SLA performance regularly—weekly or monthly—and adjust targets and process as you learn.
• Treating SLAs as corporate fluff. They're just clear expectations. Customers and staff both benefit when everyone knows the rules.

Where to start

Start with first response. "First response within X hours" is easier to track than "job completed by Y." Pick a target based on recent reality, then implement one intake point and clear assignment. Capture timestamps. Run a simple report for a few weeks. You'll see where it breaks.

When you're ready to bake this in properly, discovery and architecture are the right steps. We map your flow, design SLAs into it, and build the visibility and alerts you need.

Next step

If your SLAs are on the wall but not in practice, we can help you make them measurable, visible, and owned. View our services or see how we work.