Why Service Catalog Management?

Many organizations are challenged to understand the services that they provide, to communicate these services to potential customers, and to execute them effectively.

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.