Daria Golomazova/August 29, 2025/inBlog/tags:ITSM

Incident vs. Service Request: From Theory to Practice

Discover how incidents and service requests differ in ITIL and why the distinction is vital for IT service management success.

Woman at a desk with icons for incident and service request pointing to her computer screen.

In IT support two terms often cause confusion among both users and IT professionals: Incident and Service Request. At first glance, they may look similar—both arrive at the service desk as “tickets,” both require attention, and both involve end users. Yet, ITIL best practices treat them as separate processes, with distinct goals, workflows, and success criteria.

While the difference between the two terms seems vague, it actually affects a lot. If everything is treated as an incident, teams risk overloading escalation paths and mismanaging priorities. If service requests are not properly defined, employees won’t know when to expect resolving, leading to frustration and unnecessary follow-ups. Which leads to extra notifications and status checks, which, in turn, increase the workload on the IT team.

Alloy Navigator dashboard showing incidents and service requests with details on status, assignee, and priority.

The All Tickets grid in Alloy Navigator displays records of all Service Desk Tickets, which include: Incidents, Problems, Change Requests, Service Requests, Work Orders.

Let’s explore what sets incidents apart from service requests, why this distinction matters, and how it can improve efficiency, user satisfaction, and the overall quality of IT services.

ITSM — Information Technology Service Management

ITSM (IT Service Management) is a broad philosophy and operational approach that defines how IT should operate to deliver a quality service for their customers—whether they are employees inside the organization or external clients.

Instead of viewing IT purely as a technical support department that reacts to problems, ITSM positions it as a service provider with defined processes, service quality targets, and a focus on delivering consistent value to the business.

Diagram of key ITSM processes: incident, problem, change, service request, and configuration management with examples.

The main goal of ITSM is to transform an IT department viewed as a “repairman” into a service organization with clear quality standards.

ITIL — Information Technology Infrastructure Library

ITIL is a set of best practices for organizing ITSM.

ITIL is not a company, not a product, and not software, but a methodological base.

Slide titled "ITIL describes" listing ITSM processes, roles, metrics, and ways to improve service quality.

ITIL is a collection of best practices for IT organizations. Its purpose is to formalize IT processes and establish a structured approach to managing them. ITIL covers the full lifecycle of IT services, from their initial design and deployment to day-to-day operations, service improvement, and eventual retirement. It describes how to handle incidents, service requests, change requests—from the moment they arise to their resolution.

At first glance, implementing ITIL may seem unnecessarily complex and not worth the cost. However, in practice, its gradual adoption in IT operations often results in significantly less chaos, improved coordination between teams, and more predictable outcomes. Over time, organizations that implement ITIL typically see measurable improvements in key performance indicators such as average response time, average resolution time, and user satisfaction, thanks to faster response times, consistent quality of execution, and better communication.

Incident vs. Service Request: Definitions

ITIL’s definitions of these two concepts might help understand the difference.

Incident

Incident is an unplanned interruption of an IT service or a decrease in its quality.

According to ITIL, any event that disrupts the normal operation of a service is an incident.

Examples:

Company intranet portal has stopped working, returning a connection error
Emails are not sent
An office printer displays “error 37”

The main goal of the IT team when processing incident is:
To restore the service as quickly as possible to minimize the impact on the business.

Service Request

On the other hand, a planned, routine request from a user to obtain information, access, or perform a repeatable service that is not related to an incident, is a service request.

Examples:

Request to renew the access key for a proxy server used for work
Create a new account
Request to grant access to a specific folder on the network needed for work
Request for instructions on how to work with a system or an application

The goal of the IT team when processing service requests is:
To fulfill the request within the agreed procedures and SLAs.

Illustration comparing incident with a broken-down car and service request with a mechanic helping a customer.

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Incident vs service request: what are the differences?

Here’s how ITIL distinguishes incidents from service requests:

Urgency
- Incident: In ITIL, an incident is an unplanned interruption to an IT service, or a reduction in its quality. It’s inherently urgent because it disrupts business operations. The primary goal is to restore critical services as quickly as possible, so SLAs are measured in hours or even minutes.
  Example: The company’s email server crashes at 10:00 AM, preventing 200 employees from sending or receiving emails—it needs to be fixed immediately to restore productivity.
- Service Request: A service request is a predefined, planned activity initiated by a user to obtain something—access, information, or a standard change—without an underlying service failure. As these procedures are not urgent, SLAs are typically measured in days.
  Example: An employee requests the installation of a licensed graphics editing software via the self-service portal for an upcoming project next month.
Scale of loss for the company
- Incident: Can cause measurable losses—in revenue, customer satisfaction, or regulatory compliance—depending on the service affected and its criticality.
  Example: An online banking platform goes down for 30 minutes during peak hours, potentially resulting in missed transactions and reputational damage.
- Service Request: Normally does not create operational or financial losses; it’s about fulfilling a normal, agreed-upon service.
  Example: An employee requests a new laptop when joining the company—no loss occurs if the delivery is scheduled for next week.
Investigation vs. predefined steps
- Incident: Requires diagnosis to identify the root cause before resolution or escalation. This might involve logs analysis, replication of the problem, and coordination between support tiers.
  Example: A network outage in one office requires investigating router configurations, cabling, and upstream ISP status before service can be restored.
- Service Request: Fulfilled by following predefined approval and delivery steps—no investigation needed.
  Example: A user chooses “Reset MFA token” from the catalog, and the service desk executes a standard reset procedure which is well documented and has been used several times previously.
Resolution approach
- Incident: Handled through the Incident Management process in ITIL. The primary objective is to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize the impact on business operations. This often involves triaging the issue, escalating to the right support tier, applying a workaround if necessary, and communicating progress to stakeholders.
  Example: When a critical database becomes inaccessible, the incident is logged, prioritized as “High,” assigned to the database admin team, and resolved via restoring from the latest backup—all while keeping affected business units updated.
- Service Request: Managed through the Request Fulfilment process. The goal here is not restoration, but delivery of a pre-approved service in line with established SLAs and workflows. The process is typically more predictable, automated, and often includes approval steps and self-service options.
  Example: A user requests access to a project folder via the service portal. The request is automatically routed for manager approval, then fulfilled by granting access according to the documented permissions procedure.
Who fixes it?
- Incident: Usually handled by technical support teams within the Service Desk, with escalation to specialist teams (e.g., network engineers, database admins) if necessary. In critical cases, incident managers or problem managers may get involved.
- Service Request: Often handled entirely within the Service Desk or by automated provisioning systems. Fulfilment teams can be separate from incident resolution teams, as the work is typically routine and standardized.
Workflow and automation potential
- Incident: While parts of incident handling (logging, prioritizing, initial triage) can be automated, the resolution itself often requires human investigation and decision-making, especially for complex or high-impact issues.
- Service Request: High potential for end-to-end automation via ITSM tools and self-service portals, since steps are predefined and repeatable. Many organizations implement “zero-touch” fulfillment for common requests (e.g., password resets, software installation).

With Alloy’s built-in Service Catalog Software, routine service requests (like password resets, hardware provisioning, or onboarding) can be fully automated and monitored within SLA boundaries. The platform supports multi-step approval chains, custom-designed workflows, and real-time visibility to optimize delivery—no matter how many steps or stakeholders are involved. Plus, post-request user satisfaction can be measured directly, helping teams continuously refine their service offerings.

Incident vs. Service request: Why the difference matters

Failing to clearly separate incidents from service requests can slow down IT operations, misdirect resources, and frustrate end users. Here’s why getting it right is critical:

Faster and more accurate response
Incidents are escalated and prioritized immediately to restore critical services, while service requests follow streamlined, predefined workflows. This ensures urgent problems get attention without clogging the request queue.
Optimized resource allocation
If a company’s ITIL-based management processes are well-structured, technical teams focus on high-impact incident resolution, while less urgent, routine requests are handled by dedicated fulfillment teams or automation. This prevents skilled engineers from being pulled into low-priority work.
Improved user satisfaction
Employees experience faster resolutions for urgent outages and smoother, predictable fulfilment for standard requests. This builds trust in IT services. According to Salesforce’ customer service research, 65% of high-performing service organizations (those reporting “excellent” customer satisfaction) use automation, compared to 41% of lower-performing counterparts.
Better tracking and reporting
Separating incidents from requests allows for more accurate measurement of KPIs, which is essential for tracking efficiency, reducing manual tasks, and ensuring seamless process automation.
If you want to choose, analyze and track your help desk metrics more effectively, check out this article.
Clearer SLAs and expectations
SLAs (service level agreements) are formal commitments between a service provider and its customers that define not only what services will be delivered, but also how performance will be measured, and what happens if expectations are not met. Applying specific SLAs for Incidents and Service requests prevents misunderstandings and sets realistic delivery commitments.
Higher automation potential
Service requests often follow repeatable processes that can be automated through ITSM tools and self-service portals, freeing up human resources for more complex incident handling.
Reduced business impact
As of 2024, every minute of downtime costs IT companies roughly $9,000, or $540,000 per hour, and 44% of respondents claim that downtime damages their reputation. A comprehensive Incident Management framework ensures rapid diagnosis, triage, and escalation—cutting minutes or hours off outages that otherwise incur massive losses.

Whether it’s a minor password change request or a major outage, Alloy Software’s All-in-One ITSM & ITAM Platform ensures that your incident resolution process is never left to chaos. The self-service portal enables end-users to log incidents and find instant solutions, while automation rules route issues to the right experts and trigger predefined remediation actions. Built-in reporting, real-time dashboards, and integrated knowledge bases keep your team one step ahead, ensuring every incident—no matter its complexity—gets resolved faster, with fewer errors and maximum efficiency.

Conclusion: choosing the right tool for the right reason

In ITIL, the distinction between incidents and service requests is more than a theoretical exercise—it’s a practical necessity for delivering reliable IT services. When organizations can differentiate these processes, they gain clearer SLAs, faster resolutions, more predictable fulfilment, and ultimately higher trust from employees and customers.

By applying ITIL’s best practices step by step, companies can reduce downtime, streamline request handling, and free up technical teams to focus on what matters most. The result is a more resilient IT service desk, capable of supporting business growth without falling into chaos.

Now that we’ve explored how incidents differ from service requests and why this matters, the next step is clear: review your own ITSM processes, identify where the two may be mixed up, and start building a framework that works smarter, not harder.