What is an Experience Level Agreement (XLA)?
Experience Level Agreement (XLA) is a feature that leverages AI networking and dynamic baselines to deliver a level of commitment based on user connectivity and performance metrics that meet or exceed expectations.
AI-powered experience level agreements explained
- Old fashioned service level agreements (SLAs) are designed to measure and penalize IT teams or service providers for not meeting agreed-upon metrics.
- Because the world now has users connecting from anywhere with a variety of endpoints and applications, SLAs are no longer adequate.
- AI and automation help define the health and performance of networks and user devices, as well as applications, to proactively avoid issues and deliver the best experience.
Why experience level agreements?
The pace of change today makes it difficult for IT teams to stay on top of user demands brought on by mobility, variety of endpoints used, and a reliance on bandwidth hungry applications whether in the office, at home, or on the road. Here’s why experience level agreements (XLAs) are useful:
- XLAs let you monitor an overall environment for Wi-Fi RF quality and the health of network infrastructure (e.g., APs, switches, interconnections, and WAN links) to proactively identify issues.
- Due to AI and automation, baselines are dynamically set and adjusted per network to continuously ensure proper thresholds for end-to-end visibility.
Benefits of experience level agreements
Taking advantage of AI, automation, and the wealth of data that your network provides throughout the day helps IT and users alike. Instead of a solution that uses statically defined expectations, the dynamic nature of experience level agreements looks at a variety of characteristics that lead to a better performing network.
AI-powered XLAs and automation deliver:
- The ability to leverage dynamic baselines that adjust service level thresholds based on real activity levels.
- Access to over 40 different insights that include the state of Wi-Fi, wired and WAN infrastructure, and performance (app responsiveness) and connectivity baselines.
- Granular root cause analysis and actionable recommendations that help IT teams and leadership improve operational efficiency.
The experience level agreement difference
Some subtle attributes help decipher how experience level agreements and automation differ from service level agreements or service level expectations.
| Attribute | AI-powered XLAs | Traditional SLAs/ SLEs |
|---|---|---|
| End-to-end experience monitoring | Automated collection of user-centric experiences metrics. | Primary focus is on availability and reliability. |
| Dynamic baselines used | Yes. | No. IT has to rely on setting baselines and adjusting as environments and demands change. |
| Business-outcome oriented | Yes. Can be used to inform stakeholders of what is working from network to security perspective. | No. Would require using multiple tools and would still miss the user or business outcome due to infrastructure and process focus. |
| Good value across internal organizations | Yes, designed to support visibility and collaborative engagement. | No. Can be used to forge or create an untrusting and adversarial engagement when a group is not happy. |
