It's Not A Substitute For Trust.

Generally speaking, most people look at SLAs as kind of a necessary piece of paperwork that provides benchmark information, says John Cunningham, founder and co-CEO at BCM One, a New York-based solution provider.

However, "the real issue is the trust that the client has … in your ability to keep their critical infrastructure up and running so that they can consume those applications that they need," Cunningham told ITBestOfBreed. "So the SLA, I think, is candidly, less important than the concept of being able to deliver those applications."