Service Catalog Clinic

There are many sources of information and the provision of service varies widely depending on the source. To cope with these issues, frameworks like the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) have introduced the concept of a “service catalog”.Most companies have begun their service catalog management by building home-grown databases in spreadsheets based on manually collected data.

This method of establishing and maintaining a service catalog is costly, inefficient, and inaccurate.Leveraging a service catalog enables your organization to “provide a single source of information on all of the agreed services, and ensure that it is widely available to those that are approved to access it (ITIL Service Design, p. 72).” The service catalog helps companies know in detail what services they offer, which people are accountable for them, and how they influence the organization to improve all aspects of the business while increasing value.

As a result, the process helps drive productivity and impacts the business’ bottom-line.

Key Benefits for Service Providers

• Increase insight into standardized customer-facing service offerings
• Enhance service performance
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Minimize risk of litigation

Key Benefits for Enterprises

• Improve communication between IT and business units
• Improve vendor performance
• Align IT services to business requirements
• Improve understanding of business requirements
• Standardize internal service offerings