"What is your historical uptime and availability level?"
Answer examples and tips for RFPs

Introduction

The question "What is your historical uptime and availability level?" falls under the category of software operations. This question is asking for information about the provider's historical performance in terms of uptime and availability. The customer wants to understand how reliable the provider's software has been in the past.

Similar questions that are related or could follow-up to this question and its categories include:

1. What is your average downtime in the past year?
2. How do you measure and track uptime and availability?
3. Can you provide any evidence or statistics on your system's reliability?

Why is this asked?

The customer is asking this question to assess the provider's track record in terms of uptime and availability. This information is important because it reflects the provider's ability to deliver a reliable and stable software solution. The customer wants to ensure that the provider's software meets their requirements for uptime and availability, as any significant downtime or lack of availability could impact their operations and business continuity.

By asking this question, the customer expects to receive insights into the provider's performance metrics, historical trends, and any measures they have in place to achieve high availability levels. This information can help the customer evaluate the provider's ability to meet their uptime and availability requirements.

Key information to include in your Answer

When answering this question, consider including the following key information:

1. Provide specific historical uptime and availability percentages or metrics, preferably for different time intervals (e.g., monthly, quarterly, or yearly).
2. Explain how uptime and availability are measured and tracked, including any monitoring tools or systems used.
3. Mention any service level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee uptime and availability levels.
4. Describe the provider's approach to minimizing downtime and maximizing availability, such as redundancy measures, failover systems, or load balancing.
5. Highlight any historical trends or improvements in uptime and availability over time.
6. Discuss any incidents or major outages that may have occurred in the past and how they were handled.
7. Provide examples of any notifications or alerts sent to customers in case of downtime or planned maintenance.
8. Mention any industry standards or certifications related to uptime and availability that the provider adheres to.
9. Include customer testimonials or case studies that demonstrate the provider's track record in maintaining high uptime and availability levels.
10. Offer insights into the provider's disaster recovery and business continuity plans, highlighting their ability to quickly recover from potential disruptions.

These points can help the customer gain a comprehensive understanding of the provider's historical performance and the measures they have in place to ensure high uptime and availability of their software.

Example Answers

Example 1:

Yes, our historical uptime and availability levels have consistently been above 99.9% over the past three years. We measure and track uptime using industry-standard monitoring tools such as Nagios and New Relic. Our SLA guarantees a minimum monthly uptime of 99.5%, and any dips below that threshold trigger investigations and corrective actions. We have implemented redundancy measures, including servers in different geographical regions and load balancing, to minimize downtime. We continuously analyze historical data to identify areas for improvement and have seen a steady increase in uptime over time.

Example 2:

Absolutely, our historical uptime and availability levels have been exceptional. In the past year alone, our average uptime was 99.99%, with only a few minutes of planned maintenance downtime. We use a combination of monitoring tools such as Zabbix and custom internal systems to track availability 24/7. Our SLAs guarantee 99.9% uptime on a monthly basis, and we have consistently exceeded this target. We have invested in redundant infrastructure and automated failover systems to ensure maximum availability. In case of any incidents, our dedicated support team follows strict incident management procedures to mitigate the impact and restore service as quickly as possible.

Example 3:

Unfortunately, we do not have access to historical uptime and availability data as per our company policy. However, we understand the importance of uptime and availability to our customers, and we are committed to delivering a reliable software solution. Going forward, we plan to implement monitoring tools such as Prometheus to track and measure uptime. This will allow us to provide accurate historical data for future assessments. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the lack of historical metrics and assure you that we take uptime seriously.