The Service Catalog is a fundamental IT tool covering the services themselves, default capabilities, measures and primary means of access and provision. In short, it represents the value IT provides to facilitate business operations. Written by industry experts and using real case studies, this valuable title takes the reader beyond the theoretical to focus on the real business benefits of Service Catalogs and how to implement them successfully within an organization: Services are made standard and rational, leading to lower costs and increased service availability Standard service products enable forecasting of demand, leading to better volume discounts from vendors and improved inventory and capacity planning Controls over consumption of services are enhanced The fulfillment of IT services is improved with the catalog. Standardization of services leads to recurrent workflows, rather than relatively expensive one-off projects

The Service Catalog means many different things to many different people. However most would agree that a catalog that helps customers and users to quickly identify the services they require clearly adds value. In turn this helps organizations identify key services that support business processes, understand the contribution made by those services and manage them appropriately. This well-constructed book provides practical advice and information that will help organizations to understand how to design and develop a service catalog and to understand the role that the service catalog performs within the service portfolio. Readers will gain practical information and knowledge that will help with: understanding the full concept of the service catalog understanding the scope of the service catalog building an appropriate service catalog for your organization identifying the true value that the service catalog can deliver to your organization understanding services and the value that they provide to your organization and customers managing the service catalog In addition, a complete service catalog schematic is provided and the service portfolio pyramid, which is unique to this book, is introduced showing how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Widely researched and reviewed by some of the world s leading experts, this book provides a down-to-earth and practical resource for not only those who are developing Service Catalogs for the first time but also for those looking to refine their services according to agreed and established best practice concepts.