Glossary · Support and helpdesk
What is an SLA in customer service?
In short
An SLA (service level agreement) is a promise about how fast you’ll respond to a customer and how fast you’ll resolve their request. In a helpdesk, an SLA policy turns that promise into a clock on every ticket or chat, with a warning before the time runs out.
Reviewed 9 November 2026. How it works in Axonave: SLA management.
The two clocks, and what pauses them
Most SLAs set two targets. First response time is how long the customer waits for a person’s first reply. Resolution time is how long until the problem is solved. An urgent ticket usually gets tighter targets than a routine one, and a live chat tighter ones than an email.
The clock should only count time your team could act. Many policies count business hours only, so a ticket that arrives on Friday night doesn’t breach by Saturday morning, and they pause while you’re waiting on the customer’s answer.
SLA compliance is the share of tickets that met their target. A breach isn’t only a number for the report: it’s a customer who waited longer than you said they would.
- First response time: until the first human reply
- Resolution time: until the request is solved
- Business hours or around the clock, set per policy
How it works in Axonave
One set of SLA policies for chats and tickets.
Axonave matches each ticket or chat to an SLA policy by priority and channel, and a specific policy beats a catch-all. The list shows “Reply in 12m” or “Resolve in 3h”, amber at your warning threshold and red when overdue. Waiting on the customer pauses the resolution clock, and a policy can count your business hours and holidays only.
- A warning to the assignee at a % of the target you choose
- A breach tells the assignee and their team leaders
- Reports: SLA compliance = met ÷ (met + breached)
Teras Home’s policies: Urgent & high (1 h, 8 h, business hours), Live chat (2 min, 1 h, 24/7) and Standard (4 h, 48 h).
SLA (service level agreement): common questions
What’s the difference between first response time and resolution time?
First response time ends when a person first replies. Resolution time ends when the request is solved. A fast first reply that says “we’re looking into it” meets the first target but not the second.
Does the SLA clock run at night and at weekends?
Only if you want it to. In Axonave each policy counts either around the clock or your business hours and holidays, and waiting on the customer pauses the resolution clock.
What happens when an SLA is breached in Axonave?
The assignee gets a warning before it happens, at the threshold you set. If the time runs out, the assignee and the leaders of their teams are notified, and the breach counts against SLA compliance in Reports → Tickets.
See it working with your own customers.
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