What Is a Service Catalogue? (And Why "Just Email IT" Doesn't Scale)

Most small and mid-size businesses run IT support the same way: someone emails IT, or messages on WhatsApp or Teams, and waits. It works fine when a company has ten people and one IT person who knows everyone by name. It stops working the moment that company grows.

The problem isn’t the people. It’s the process — or rather, the lack of one.

A service catalogue is simply a menu of IT services your team can request. Instead of trying to remember who to email or how to word a request so it actually gets picked up, employees pick what they need from a clear list: a new laptop, access to a shared folder, a password reset, a new starter’s full IT setup. Each item on the menu already tells IT exactly what’s needed, who needs to approve it (if anyone), and what has to happen to fulfil it.

Think of it like the difference between telling a waiter “bring me something nice” and ordering off a menu. Both might get you fed. Only one is repeatable, predictable, and fast.

Why email breaks down as you grow

Email has no structure. One person’s “urgent, need this today” looks identical to someone else’s “no rush, whenever.” Nothing tracks whether a request was approved, denied, or just sitting in someone’s inbox. And when the one person who understood the informal system goes on leave, or leaves the company, that institutional knowledge leaves with them.

A service catalogue fixes this by making the request itself carry the structure: what’s being asked for, who needs to sign off, and what has to happen next. Nobody has to remember the process, because the process is built into the request.

What this looks like in practice

An employee opens a portal, picks “New Laptop Request” or “Access to Finance Shared Drive,” fills in a short form, and submits it. If that request needs a manager’s approval, it goes to them automatically. Once approved, IT already has everything needed to act — no back-and-forth emails clarifying what was actually meant.

This is exactly what’s built into our MyIT Portal as part of GigaManaged IT: a Service Catalogue scoped to how your business actually works, not a generic template. If “just email IT” is starting to feel like duct tape holding your support process together, it might be time for a menu instead.