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Chapter 4 ■ Service Strategy
is ready to be launched. That’s when the competitors would learn about it as well, most
likely too late for them to react and start matching services.
For this example, the mobile phone service provider needs to create new services
fairly regularly to stay competitive. This is perhaps true for all service providers in other
areas of IT as well. Every company must apportion some of their budget toward creating
new services and improving existing services. If new services fail to kick off on a regular
basis, the service provider will soon find itself in the back of the line and playing catch up
for the rest of its lifetime. This showcases the importance of the service pipeline and the
criticality it brings to the table.
What are some of the triggers for creating new services or improving existing
services? Here are some:
• Feedback regarding existing service
• Customer requests for a new service
• Competitors launching a new service
• Service provider has new strategic objectives
• New technological advancements
• Lack of outcome from existing services
4.8.1.1.2 Service Catalog
The service catalog is the database of all services that are currently available. The service
catalog is visible to the customer, in fact, the service provider will showcase it every time
he sits down with the customer in order to get new business.
Service catalog is discussed at length in Chapter 5. Service catalog management is
a process that resides in the service design phase. However, as the service catalog is an
integral part of the service portfolio, I will discuss the topic here and connect it to the
interfacing databases.
A service catalog is like a restaurant menu. It has all the live services listed, including
the ones that are going to be live in the near future. For every listed service, there a brief
description of what the service delivers, how to request it, who to contact, and, most
importantly, the cost of availing the service.
The services listed in the service catalog are in the operational phase, in the sense
that the service has been fully developed and is working as per the design. There could
be improvements to the service, but they are not made public unless they are ready for
deployment.
Imagine you head to a restaurant and glance through the menu items: appetizers,
entrees, soups, meals, desserts, etc. All the items listed are available for delivery. They
would not list items in there that are not delivered, right?
It is common for a service provider to maintain multiple service catalogs, depending
on the customers and market spaces. For example, a service provider may rank the
customers as gold, platinum, or diamond and provide varied services, with differentiating
SLAs and cost points.
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