subject: WELL DRAFTED SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT - IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR [print this page] The order of the day is not to draft a service level agreement i.e., one sided favoring either of the parties but to create a win-win situation for both the parties. No doubt the service level agreement is just like any other agreement, but it is to be drafted after considering all the negative eventualities that would happen between the parties so that the outcome of such agreement will yield positive results wherein unnecessary litigation before the court of law can be avoided. The motive of doing business is to generate profits and the profit thus generated should sustain for a longer tenure and not get vanished due to the reason of not holding a well drafted agreement. It is a sad precedent that for drafting a service level agreement one does not seek the advice of an advocate but on the contrary the drafting of the service level agreement is executed by a cut and paste attitude adopted by the parties. This type of do it yourself is equivalent to self medication and the harm such an act does, cannot be quantified or rectified as it hits the bottom level concept of service level agreement itself. A businessman cannot afford to be a court bird, but he should never turn his/ her back towards the pillar of justice because unless and until one knock at the doors of judiciary one cannot seek any of their grievances settled. Arbitration is becoming very popular in the present scenario and fixing up arbitrator on the service level agreement not only saves time but money of the parties by litigating the dispute before a court of law. To be or not to be is to be the Major Thumb-Rule during the drafting to any service level agreement. But, drafting a service level agreement there should be clarity of mind and both parties should pen down their ideas and views in black and white and follow the condition both in letter and spirit. It is easy to preach and hard to practice. But the service level agreement should carry out both the two folds (i.e., concept and practicability). You may wonder how do the parties to a service level agreement are bound by the terms and conditions when there are lot of loop holes in our contract law for the defaulting parties to get away with the full piece cake. It is a myth that law is having lot of loopholes, but the reality is that a wrongly drafted agreement paves way to a different methodology of interpreting and if at all any of the service level agreement finds difficulty in enforcement it is due to the fact that the draftsman failed to apply his / her mind. The service level agreement is a piece of document but the said document should send heat waves to the minds of defaulting parties if every clause that is drafted on foreseeing the future eventualities. Can I sign a service level agreement without getting vetted by a lawyer by believing the other part that such an agreement is not one sided one, will be a question that would be boiling in your minds, as you read this article? Please do not believe even your shadow and take everything with a pinch of salt and therefore as an author of this article I come out with Five commandments instead of Ten Commandments. Commandment 1: Is to draft the service level agreement without any loopholes. Commandment 2: Is to have arbitration for service level agreement. Commandment 3: Is to put down the law of the land that would be followed in the service level agreement. Commandment 4: Is to pen down the clear intention of the parties in specific terms without any ambiguity. Commandment 5: Is to be optimistic as you are going to enter the business but be pessimistic in foreseeing all the eventualities that could arise in course of your business transaction. To sum up how a service level agreement is required to look like, as an author of this article I compare a service level agreement to a Human being. Just like a human being cannot carryout any of the activities without a soul and the proper body. Similarly a well drafted service level agreement requires a proper documentation part (i.e., the soul of the agreement) and the body of the human like the body of the agreement. With a Thumb-Rule for service level agreement, I conclude the said article that you should negotiate and execute without compromising your business ideas and ideologies at the time of signing the service level agreement. Beware in mind that a wrongly / poorly drafted service level agreement will create not only hick ups in your business activity but also sabotage the business empire you would have created all through your life. Source : ThinkLegal Resources Pvt Ltd (www.thinklegal.co.in)
WELL DRAFTED SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT - IS THE NEED OF THE HOUR
By: Thinklegal
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