It’s finally here. The Forrester Market Overview: SaaS IT Service Management Tools covers: a little ITSM tool history and how we have moved on, the benefits and risks of the SaaS delivery model, key selection criteria for selecting a SaaS (or on-premises) tool, and overviews of 23 tools (from 21 vendors) and their functional capabilities across the enterprise and midmarket marketplaces.

“Why on earth did you write a SaaS-only ITSM report?” I hear some cry

It’s simple – Forrester client demand. In 2012, a good 25% of my 400ish a year client inquiries related to IT service management (ITSM) tool selection; and the SaaS-delivery model (and the key vendors) was covered in nigh on all of them. That’s not to say the client ultimately went SaaS though, inquiries are very much about rapid information exchange in helping clients make important decisions. It’s not about making the decision for the client.

What the SaaS ITSM market looks like

The following figure shows the 23 vendor tools split by average customer subscription (seat) count (described as Enterprise, Upper Midmarket, and Lower Midmarket) and their degree of customer success (the number of paying customers):

There are of course other ITSM tool vendors who declined to participate for a variety of reasons. One would be that they were not briefing Forrester analysts and thus not on our radar.

The key benefits of SaaS for ITSM

In the spirit of the somewhat overstated movie advertisement: “If you only read one of my blogs this year, read this one”; although I prefer the version for The Naked Gun 2 1/2: “If you only see one movie this year... you should get out more often.”

Anyway, so many blogs, so little time; and what did I say that was important (if only in my own tiny mind)? Each bullet links through to the original blog.

IT service management

• IT support … is not about the IT, that it has to be about the people and the business.
• When it comes to the service desk, we should recruit “better” people, pay more, BUT also expect more.
• Top 10 IT Service Management Challenges For 2012: More Emphasis On The “Service” And The “Management”
• Mobile-device-driven change is inevitable and I&O organizations need to be ready.
• Bench marking information … is the sort of stuff that the ITSM community (see my previous blog) is crying out for.
• Surely the modern service-savvy customer, whether corporate or not, is not prepared to be treated in this way.

The IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) organization is no different from any other business function. It employs a multitude of assets to create corporate value. Traditionally, however, I&O’s ability to manage its IT assets has been weak, from both a financial control and an IT asset life-cycle (ITALM) perspective.

Far too often, an I&O organization lacks the necessary controls to avoid IT wastage or remain compliant with software licensing or regulatory requirements. Thankfully (or unfortunately), to date most I&O organizations have been able to get by. But the-times-they-are-a-changing, as do-more-with-less efficiency mandates are prioritized, vendor software audits increase, and the business places greater focus on what IT costs and the value that internal IT delivers. Something has got to give and I&O leaders can step up their game and respond to these internal and external pressures by improving asset management processes to ensure that IT assets are leveraged to maximize the value generated for their parent business.

A recent Forrester Report – Updated Q4 2011: Cover Your Assets; Use IT Asset Life-Cycle Management To Control IT Costs – offers advice on where ITALM can help and what I&O leaders need to do.

Where Can ITALM Help?