Are you struggling to keep up with the flood of internal support requests? If your IT, HR, or Ops teams feel like they’re constantly playing traffic cop, manually reading every ticket, figuring out who it belongs to, and forwarding it along, you’re not alone. This manual triage is a huge time sink, and it leaves your employees waiting. The longer they wait, the more their frustration grows, and the more their productivity dips.

The culprit is often hiding in plain sight: your ITIL request types are likely undefined, overly complex, or completely outdated.

When an employee needs help, they don't think in terms of "Incident versus Service Request." They just know something is broken or they need something new. If you force them to navigate a labyrinth of confusing dropdown menus just to ask for help, you're already starting them off with a bad experience. Worse, they might just give up and DM someone they know in IT, pulling that person away from their work and creating a "shadow IT" problem where nothing is tracked.

But what if you could change that? What if defining your request types wasn't just a bureaucratic ITIL exercise, but the key to unlocking lightning-fast routing, powerful automation, and a support experience your employees actually love? By creating a clear, simple, and intelligent framework for your ITIL request types, you can get requests to the right people or the right automations instantly.

Let's explore how to get it done.

Why You Can't Afford to Ignore Your Request Types

The way we work has changed. Your employees live in collaboration hubs like Slack, and they expect support to be just as fast and conversational as the rest of their work. Clunky, old-school ticketing portals just don't cut it anymore. This is why getting your ITIL request types right is more critical than ever. It’s the engine that powers a modern, efficient internal support machine.

Here’s why it matters:

Dramatically Faster Resolution Times

This is the most obvious win. When a request is correctly categorized the moment it’s created, it bypasses the manual triage queue entirely. A password reset request can be routed directly to the identity management team (or an automation), while a question about benefits goes straight to the HR queue. No more waiting for a human to read and forward the ticket. This is how you shrink resolution times from days to hours, or even minutes.

A Radically Better Employee Experience

Think about it from your employee's perspective. They have a problem and just want it solved. Forcing them to fill out a 20-field form with confusing categories like "INC-04b-SubCategory-7" is a recipe for frustration. A modern approach meets them where they are—in Slack. They can simply type a message like, "My VPN keeps disconnecting," and the system handles the rest. This frictionless experience is key to boosting employee satisfaction (CSAT) and making your support teams look like heroes.

The Foundation for True Automation and AI

This is where things get really exciting. Modern AI-powered ITSM platforms can’t perform their magic in a vacuum. They rely on well-defined request types to function.

Intelligent Routing: An AI can’t automatically route a ticket about a broken laptop to the hardware team if it can’t distinguish it from a software access request.
Workflow Automation: You can’t trigger a pre-built workflow for onboarding a new hire if the initial request isn't identified as such.
AI-Powered Deflection: You can’t have an AI instantly answer a question like "How do I set up my email?" if it doesn’t recognize it as a "Request for Information" that can be solved with a knowledge base article.

A tool like Ravenna, for example, uses AI to understand the natural language in a Slack message and auto-categorize it. This removes the burden from the employee and the agent. But this intelligence is built upon a logical foundation of request types you help define. This approach is a stark contrast to legacy systems.

Actionable Analytics and Deeper Insights

You can't improve what you don't measure. When your requests are properly categorized, your analytics dashboard becomes a goldmine of insights. You can finally answer critical questions like:

What are our most common request types?
Is there a sudden spike in "network issues" in the London office?
Which requests are taking the longest to resolve?
How many questions are being deflected by our AI and knowledge base?
Where are the gaps in our documentation?

This data allows you to move from being reactive to proactive. If you see that 30% of all IT tickets are password resets, you can prioritize a self-service reset tool. If questions about the expense policy are flooding the finance channel, you know you need to create a better knowledge base article. This is how you continuously improve, save costs, and free up your support teams for higher-value work.

A Modern, Simple Framework for ITIL Request Types

Okay, you're sold on the "why." But "ITIL" can feel intimidating and overly academic. Let's ditch the jargon and create a simple, modern framework that actually works. The goal is clarity, not complexity. Your employees shouldn't need a user manual to ask for help.

At its core, ITIL breaks requests down into a few key buckets. Let's modernize them for today's workplace:

Incident: Something is broken.

Plain English: "My laptop won't turn on." "The Wi-Fi is down." "I can't log in to Salesforce."
The Goal: Restore service as quickly as possible. These are often urgent and require immediate attention.

Service Request: I need something new or different.

Plain English: "I need access to the marketing folder." "Can you install Adobe Photoshop on my machine?"
The Goal: Fulfill a standardized, pre-approved request. These often trigger multi-step workflows with approvals.

Request for Information (RFI): I have a question.

Plain English: "What's the guest Wi-Fi password?" "Where do I find the PTO policy?"
The Goal: Provide an answer. This category is the single biggest opportunity for self-service and AI ticket deflection.

The biggest mistake teams make is creating hundreds of granular, overlapping categories. This just confuses everyone. Instead, think in tiers. A simple, three-tiered structure is often all you need.

Sample Tiered Request Type Table

Your 4-Step Action Plan to Redefine Your Request Types

Ready to build your own framework? Redefining your ITIL request types isn't a one-day project, but you can make huge progress by following these actionable steps.

Step 1: Analyze Your Data (Even if It's Messy)

Before you create a new system, you need to understand the old one. Where are requests coming from right now?

Audit your current ticketing system: Export the last three months of tickets. What categories were used? Read ticket subjects and descriptions.
Check email inboxes: Look at shared inboxes like it-support@. Manually categorize a sample of 100 emails.
Review Slack channels: Scroll through your #it-help or #ask-hr support channels. This unfiltered language will help you craft better categories.

Step 2: Design for Your Employees, Not for a Textbook

Your request types should be written in plain, human language.

Avoid IT Jargon: Instead of "Submit SR-HW-PROV Request," use "Request New Hardware."
Use Action-Oriented Language: Start with verbs like "Request," "Report," or "Ask."
Keep It Simple: Don’t show 50 drop downs. Let AI handle categorization behind the scenes on platforms like Ravenna.

Step 3: Build for Automation from Day One

As you define your request types, think about which ones can be automated.

Identify "Question" Categories: These are prime for AI deflection using tools like Confluence or Notion as knowledge sources.
Identify "Standardized Request" Categories: Tasks like onboarding or software access are perfect for no-code workflows inside Slack.

Step 4: Implement, Communicate, and Iterate

Configure Your Tool: Set up the categories, routing, and workflows.
Communicate the Change: Announce the simpler way to get help, especially if it’s Slack-native.
Monitor and Refine: Use analytics to improve. Tools with “knowledge gap analysis” will help you know what to document next.

Defining your ITIL request types is not a one-and-done task. It’s about creating a living, breathing system that evolves with your organization. By starting with a clear, user-centric framework and layering on powerful AI and automation, you can finally escape the manual triage trap. You’ll resolve issues faster, free up your support teams for more strategic work, and deliver an internal support experience that makes everyone's work life easier.

Ravenna makes all of this possible. Our Slack-native, AI-powered ITSM platform is built to streamline your request types, automate triage, and deliver lightning-fast support. Want to see it in action? Schedule a demo with us today and let’s transform how your team works.

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