We Think SLAs are Bull**IT
An IT company can hit every SLA on paper while your employees are still waiting, your systems are still down, and the same problem keeps coming back.
So let’s call SLAs what they really are, Operational Theater.
Here’s an Example of Why.
A real business problem just hit the support queue and
you’re the IT provider
See just how easy it is to make the SLA look good
Our accounting software is down and nobody can get in. We have 12 employees unable to work right now.
Business impact: 12 employees blockedWe received your ticket and are looking into it.
Response recordedThe SLA clock is running, so go ahead.
You just delivered a 8-second response.
That looks pretty impressive on an SLA report.
That’s Operational Theater.
The provider technically responded fast. The SLA was met.
The report will look great.
But nobody has actually solved the problem.
A response-time SLA tells you how quickly someone acknowledged a ticket. It says very little about how quickly meaningful work started or when the business was actually restored.
The SLA was met. The business problem wasn’t.
What’s an SLA?
SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. In IT support, it usually sets
targets for things like how quickly a provider responds to or resolves a ticket.
So What Should Actually Matter?
A provider can have great SLA numbers and still give you bad IT.
They can answer every ticket in ten minutes while cycling inexperienced technicians through your account, applying temporary fixes, escalating everything, and making your employees explain the same environment over and over again.
Good IT support is a mix of experienced people, familiarity with your business, clear ownership, problems that stay fixed, less disruption, and fewer surprises.
You won’t find all of that in an SLA percentage.
So What Should Actually Matter?
A provider can have great SLA numbers and still give you bad IT.
They can answer every ticket in ten minutes while cycling inexperienced technicians through your account, applying temporary fixes, escalating everything, and making your employees explain the same environment over and over again.
Good IT support is a mix of experienced people, familiarity with your business, clear ownership, problems that stay fixed, less disruption, and fewer surprises.
You won’t find all of that in an SLA percentage.
Not Every Ticket Deserves the Same Priority
A password reset and a company-wide outage are both tickets. They should not be treated the same.
What matters is whether the right problem gets to the right person fast enough to protect the business.
Single-user issue with little impact on normal business operations.
Company-wide outage severely limiting productivity and normal operations.
Both are IT tickets. But are they equally important?
Checking business impact...
Same Ticket Queue. Very Different Business Impact.
The IronTech Triage™ helps make sure the problems creating the most disruption get the appropriate level of attention.
The goal isn’t to make every ticket move first. It’s to make the problems hurting the business move first.
The IronTech Triage™
Emergency
Critical outage or security event affecting the entire organization and severely limiting productivity.
Very Urgent
Outage or security event affecting multiple employees, but not the entire organization.
Urgent
An issue affecting multiple users without completely preventing them from working.
Routine
A single-user issue with little impact on normal productivity.
And Yes, We Still Measure the Numbers.
Numbers still matter but they need context.
We just don’t believe one green SLA percentage tells you whether your IT is actually being managed well.
90-Day Service Snapshot
Last 3 months ending September 1, 2026
The Numbers Are Strong. They Still Don’t Tell You Whether Your IT Is Good.
We track these numbers because they matter. But a good report can still leave out the things your business actually feels when IT goes wrong.
Who Worked the Ticket?
A fast response means a lot less if the person responding does not have the experience or authority to solve the problem.
Did the Fix Hold?
A ticket can close quickly and still come back next week. If you keep paying for the same problem, it was never really fixed.
How Badly Did It Hurt the Business?
Nine minutes sounds great. It does not tell you whether one employee was inconvenienced or thirty-five employees were sitting there unable to work.
Should It Have Happened in the First Place?
Good support handles problems quickly. Good IT also catches problems before your employees ever have to report them.
Did the Right Problem Get Worked First?
A clean SLA report cannot tell you whether the company-wide outage was treated like an emergency while the password reset waited its turn.
We’re proud of the numbers.
We just refuse to pretend the numbers are the whole job.
The Difference With Kirkham.IT Is Simple
We Don’t Only Manage Tickets, We Manage Business Impact
When something goes wrong, the job isn’t finished because the ticket was answered or marked complete. It’s finished when your people can work again and the problem is actually under control.
Most IT companies only manage technology
We manage the decisions around it
Keeping computers running is only part of managing IT well. Someone still has to decide what matters, what comes next, and where the business is exposed.
That means having clear answers to questions like:
Who owns the risk?
What needs to be replaced next?
What should you budget for?
Can your backups actually restore the business?
Which risks need attention now, and which can wait?
What should leadership be seeing every month?
Don't have an answer to these?
We do.
THE IRONTECH FRAMEWORK®
Infrastructure
Your business depends on technology working every day. This pillar covers the systems, networks, cloud services, devices, support, and continuity needed to keep employees productive and prevent recurring disruptions.
Cybersecurity
Security tools do not protect a business by themselves. This pillar combines continuous monitoring, layered controls, employee preparation, and response from people responsible for acting when something looks wrong.
Governance
Someone has to own the decisions. Governance gives leadership clear responsibilities, useful reporting, documented policies, practical priorities, and a plan for managing technology and cybersecurity risk.
Most IT companies only manage technology
We manage the decisions around it
Keeping computers running is only part of managing IT well. Someone still has to decide what matters, what comes next, and where the business is exposed.
That means having clear answers to questions like:
Who owns the risk?
What needs to be replaced next?
What should you budget for?
Can your backups actually restore the business?
Which risks need attention now, and which can wait?
What should leadership be seeing every month?
Don't have an answer to these?
We do.
THE IRONTECH FRAMEWORK®
Infrastructure
Your business depends on technology working every day. This pillar covers the systems, networks, cloud services, devices, support, and continuity needed to keep employees productive and prevent recurring disruptions.
Cybersecurity
Security tools do not protect a business by themselves. This pillar combines continuous monitoring, layered controls, employee preparation, and response from people responsible for acting when something looks wrong.
Governance
Someone has to own the decisions. Governance gives leadership clear responsibilities, useful reporting, documented policies, practical priorities, and a plan for managing technology and cybersecurity risk.