Tips For Creating An IT Service Catalog

With the rapidly evolving circumstances, the role of technology is constantly changing. To keep up with the pace of digital transformation, organizations are now relying more on IT as an important tool. 

An IT service catalog is one of the unstoppable resources that provides the customers with clear and accurate information about the IT services that an organization offers. Well, implementation of service catalogs can improve efficiency and reduce costs. 

Definition of an IT service catalog

In simple words, an IT service catalog functions are similar to a restaurant menu card. As menu provides a list of all available items in the restaurant. In the same way, an IT service catalog is a comprehensive list that an organization offers to its customers and is used to simplify the process of making an IT service request.  

It is a technology service that is available for customers to guide the right solution for their needs and issues. Some information technology service catalogs also provide the service category (infrastructure, support, etc.), service-level agreements, the service cost, and timelines for delivery. 

History of the IT service catalog

When businesses started to get more and more into information technology services for their customer services and standard processes, it became necessary to use detailed documentation to keep track of the available resources. Then, the need for an IT service catalog evolved. The concept of the information technology service catalog was formally known as “IT service management best practice” in 2007.  

Details included in an IT service catalog

The service catalog is used to inform users about available services and assist them to make service requests. But what information should be included for creating an information technology service? 

These are as follows: –  

Service Name, Category, Description, Owner, availability of the service, service-level agreements, and costs of the service. 

The benefit of an IT service catalog

There are many advantages of using an information technology service catalog within an organization. Some of them are as follows:-

• Advanced self-service:- An information technology service catalog allows a complete database of available services to customers. This helps to identify products that are best suited for them. Enhancing self-service saves time and resources that are needed to solve many issues.

• Enhance user- satisfaction:-The most important advantage of an IT service catalog is that it helps to fulfill the needs of the user. With a complete information technology service catalog database and relevant resource information, the customers can get more in less time, which means a better overall experience and a more satisfied user base.

• Improved productivity:- Using an information technology service catalog allows you to move requests (such as price, description, etc.) without manual intervention from an IT personnel. This saves valuable time and helps to focus on more strategic tasks.

• Increased operational efficiency:- An information technology service catalog is a resource that details all IT services, their availability, and process execution information thus helping to improve efficiency and also reduce the time and costs of the services provided by an organization.

• User friendly:- IT service catalog allows users to choose and request services about everything without any issues. It also helps to remove many of the hurdles to finding solutions and making information technology requests.

How is an IT service catalog built?

It is a tool that is designed to help customers to achieve some particular objectives. So, to create a catalog, it is important to identify those objectives. For this, we should consider the following steps: – 

• Stakeholders gathering:- It is very important to start the process by gathering support from the decision makers for building the catalog. This will make it easier to bring project goals into order and it can have executive backing to solve any challenges.

• Identify customers:- The next important step is to find the customers who interact with an IT service catalog. Whether the customer can understand who they are and what service they will provide to them based on needs and roles.

• Properly define the services:-The company needs to define a full inventory of information technology services within an organization that helps them to understand those services which are most often requested and may be updated whenever required.

• Design a catalog:- An Information technology service catalog should be detailed and informative but it should be displayed with the most vital details like costs, availability, etc. Design the service catalog with the usability of the customers.

Conclusion

Information technology service catalogs are a key element for any modern support system that provides visibility into services given by an organization. Using tools, services, and proper equipment, we can make a great difference in the productivity and efficiency of the services provided by an organization.  

Sources:- What is an IT service catalog?

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