Kenya and Service Level Agreement (S.L.A)

Introduction

S.L.A is a service contract that is suppose to cover the kind of service, the availability, the amount to be paid, and the conditions under which refunds are made to the client among other conditions.

As the name suggests, this is an agreement strictly on service, affected industries are the likes of Medical services, Amenities supply (Water, electricity, gas etc), telecommunication (voice and data), transport(road, rail and air), media(visual and audio), learning institutions, cloud computing and others. Employees also fall into this category since they are expected to provide a certain kind and level of service hence sign a kind of S.L.A at recruitment stage or when ranks change.

We shall tackle keys areas that have hitches in Kenya:

• Medical services

This is a service that the community cannot do without and hence expected to be given priority by the government. NHIF(National Hospital Insurance Fund)...REALY!!!!?????? I don't know where to start because the people running this institution are a couple of nincompoops that think it is their time to eat!! The so called long arm of the law seems to have being 'folded'. Listen here politicians, Kenyans don't need a political stand on this matter!!!!! All the contracts to be cancelled immediately, the money paid back and 'people' to go to jail. This is a serious case bwana Public Prosecutor. And yes, watu wafutwe kazi!!!!!!!

• Amenities supply

Water supply and Electricity supply.... Hehehe! (These institutions are managed by couple of nut-case people) These guys put up an Ad on the Daily news papers and think that is enough. Kenyans have had it rough, how do you explain to a company that has subscribe to a power & lighting company for electricity and then the supplier just post an announcement that there will be interruption of Electricity. How does that help the company to dig deep in their pockets to fund another mode of getting electricity? The same to water supply. Kenyans need to see the contracts and must cover the way of compensating clients.

• Transport industry

Taking kenya public transport is like gambling in a casino, the fare rises with every raindrop, due destination changes with the operator's liking, and the string of insults. Now that the transport industry, more so the road has saccos to run the business nothing much has changed.

• Telecommunication

The likes of safaricom, Airtel, Yu, Orange, Zuku among others being the so called giants in both voice and data service providers. Need to make their S.L.A public and the ministry incharge of information to bargain for we the clients. CCK the sleeping commission should either be disbanded or new blood be brought to handle the industry.

• Learning institutions

kenya has over 6 public universities that were established by an Act of government to train professionals at various fields. The universities still run as if are village and don't care what happens when one has graduated and what the market wants. I am one of those who went through a public university and soon after graduation felt the pinch. There is a body called JAB (Joint Admission Board) that selects students from across the country who attained a certain threshold to join the universities to purse a certain career path. Remember JAB is a government institution, and another group known as ERB(Engineering Registration Board) which like public universities was established by an Act of parliament. The two JAB and ERB cannot sit down together with the public universities and agree on the way to solve their issues???!!

A student receives a letter from JAB to attend a certain University to do an engineering course and even receives forms from HELB to access the loans for his/her studies. The student takes 5years in the institution and clears all the course work and even practicals and finally Graduates. The parents and friends are very happy of the determination of the student and great expectations are now on the shoulders of the 'graduate'. Harsh reality checks when they start applying for jobs where all the conditions are the course must be accredited by ERB and the HELB fellows are behind their back with threatening emails and physical letters asking for repayment of loan.

The government should step in and take action. The public universities, JAB and ERB have failed in their service provisions to Kenyans and Kenya needs a fresh.

Conclusion

When an individual or a company incurs heavy costs to subscribes to a service then the supplier has no option but to make the services flow throughout as stipulated by the contract signed. Otherwise interruption of the services means a breach of contract and hence clients must be refunded for the extra cost or loss of business.

Kenya has the worst service delivery considering it calls itself 'the superpower' of Eastern and Central Africa. Apart from all government workers and employees signing S.L.A (performance contracts) kenya needs to see more S.L.A signed by all the players of the service industries and the agreements made public.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Introduction:

I know for sure the first time you guys heard cloud computing no one had an idea what the well known mobile operator meant. I'll try my best to make the explanation as simple as possible. 

 

According to wikinvest.com/concept/cloud_computing : "It is a technology that uses the internet and central remote severs to maintain data and applications”. It goes ahead and gives yahoo and gmail among others as examples. Another definition: “A general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet”.

In layman's language...It is a service provided to persons and business entities via the Internet by host companies that have sufficient infrastructure and security. The clients simply log in the service provider’s site and make use of the service they subscribe to at a cost. 

 

Categories of cloud computing:

These are basically the types of services one is likely to get in a cloud.

1. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

When a client subscribe to this category, it simply means having an ‘external hard drive’ somewhere safe with the information. The clients basically pay for storage facilities the same way one would pay for a space in a go-down. The charges solemnly depend on the amount of space you require. The client can use the space as a server (virtual) to run all the machines.

2. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

This is a category that provide the client (you) with a set of software, and product development tools that are actually in the service provider’s server. Depending on the type of software a client chooses then the cost is calculated by the number of software and tools you subscribe to and the frequency of use (mostly done on time basis). Good examples of PaaS are Google Apps.

3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

This is a category that distributes software to clients hosted by the service providers. The software service can be anything from database processing, email, and inventory control. Here the service provider hosts both the application and the data. Client can work from anywhere as long as there is a computer and internet connection.

Pros & Cons

• Services are sold on demand and charge per duration of time and number of users.
• Service is elastic. Can have as much as you want and also as less as you want.
• Loss of computer doesn’t affect loss of data or running of business.
• The client has no additional cost on security or any other cost, all covered by the host.
• Unstable internet connection could affect running of business.
• Data back-up and high level of security cannot be guaranteed.

Conclusion

1. Cloud computing: It is a service provided to persons and business entities via the Internet by host companies that have sufficient infrastructure and security
2. IaaS – Storage. PaaS-Applications. SaaS – Both Storage and Application.
3. SME’s should consider Cloud as a way of cost cutting and flexibility.

References

1. en.community.del.com
2. thebeckon.com
3. webpronews.com
4. wikinvest.com/concept/cloud_computing