Final answer:
The primary purpose of including an SLA in the contract is to establish clear expectations and standards for the quality and availability of the services provided by the cloud service provider.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary purpose of actively including a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in the contract with a cloud service provider is to establish clear expectations and standards for the quality and availability of the services provided. The SLA defines the levels of service that the cloud service provider will deliver and the remedies or penalties if those levels are not met.
For example, the SLA may specify that the cloud service provider guarantees 99.9% uptime for the customer's data. If the provider fails to meet this uptime requirement, the SLA may outline that the customer will receive a service credit or compensation for the downtime.
By including an SLA, the technology company can ensure that their sensitive customer data is securely hosted and that they have recourse if the cloud service provider fails to meet their agreed-upon service levels.