Results: The State of Service Management in 2012
For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals
by Glenn O’Donnell, March 18, 2013
Key Take-Aways
ITSM Has Proven Valuable To individuals And Their Organizations Alike
In every aspect of our research, the data shows an overwhelmingly positive influence of ITSM to the organization and to the individuals involved. Organizations benefit from improved productivity, service quality, and, in some cases, cost savings; individuals benefit from higher compensation.
ITSM Professionals Continue To Excel At Firefighting But Not At Strategy
Self-assessments highlight incident and change management as industry strengths, but other evidence refutes actual success at both. Strategic processes such as service portfolio management and demand management are more critical than tactical processes, but they get little attention. This must change.
What’s Hot: Service Catalog, Financial Management, SAAS, Monitoring, And Analytics
These are hot topics for I&O professionals looking to improve and mature their SMA practices. More important: I&O pros must get these initiatives right to deliver on their business’ cloud computing, big data, and consumerization initiatives.
Learn To Manage Your SMA Vendor Portfolio Because it Will Likely Change
Vendors of SMA tools — from the emerging to the behemoth — have improved their products, pricing, tactics, and strategies to serve customers. Innovative emerging vendors always pose a threat, but established giants — such as Cisco, Microsoft , Oracle, and VMware — have grand ambitions that include SMA, and they can buy their way into markets.
Why Read This Report
Forrester Research, in conjunction with itSMF-USA, conducted its second annual survey to understand the state of IT service management (ITSM) in 2012 — a critical practice in IT infrastructure and operations organizations. We’re happy to report that service management continues to be a wise investment, as it pays high dividends in service quality and organizational productivity, which naturally lead to cost reductions. But ITSM professionals need to direct more investment toward strategic initiatives, such as service strategy, service portfolio management, and demand management, while maintaining their strengths in incident and change management. At the same time, ITSM professionals must keep their eyes on the increasingly morphing vendor community. Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders should use this report to benchmark their service management and automation (SMA) priorities, strategies, and maturity to peers.
How to Get the New Report, The State of IT Service Management in 2012
All itSMF USA members and survey participants will be able to access the results of the study at no charge. The report, The State of IT Service Management In 2012, is also available to Forrester Research clients, and it is available for purchase for $499 at the Forrester website.
To learn more about itSMF USA and to stay informed on IT service management:
- Follow itSMF USA on Twitter at itsmf_usa or
- Subscribe for itSMF USA and Service Management news at www.itsmfusa.org by registering for a website account. (It's free!)
About itSMF USA
Founded in 1997, the itSMF USA is the premier organization leading the advancement of the service management profession (www.itsmfusa.org). We are dedicated to building a community of professionals at all levels for the purpose of networking, knowledge sharing, and education to advance the service management profession and promote its positive impact within IT organizations. Serving over 18,000 members and other IT Service Management professionals, itSMF USA supports a network of Local Interest Groups in over 40 cities and regions nationwide. itSMF USA is a chapter of itSMF International, a worldwide network of IT Service Management professionals formed in 1991.
Welcome to the New Era of ITSM Research
As many of you already know, itSMF USA and Forrester Research have formed a strategic research partnership. What this means to you, the itSMF member, is that my Forrester colleagues and I will be working with itSMF (that’s you) to gain exciting new insights into the market drivers, trends, and solutions that involve you and your ITSM peers. Forrester and itSMF will jointly publish the results of this research in reports that will be available free to all itSMF members.
The research partnership has continued to bare fruit since Fusion09, where Forrester analysts not only presented, but engaged in one-on-one meetings with several of you at the conference. We will also be more active in the LIGs across the country, so hopefully we can get to meet many of you at an upcoming LIG event.
Our research studies continue annually. We want to understand the realities facing all of you and where we stand in the ITSM journey. Many questions need to be answered in a rigorous manner so we can have confidence in the answers. For example, we would like to know if 80% of all service impacting incidents are indeed caused by change. Our gut says this is not too far off the mark, but the empirical data to support this assertion is a mystery. It is time to get the supporting data.
However, rather than develop the research studies in a vacuum, we wish to make this a democratic effort. After all, this is designed to benefit you, the itSMF member, so it is best to tailor it to your desires. What is keeping you awake at night? What questions continue to puzzle you? What would you like to learn that can make your life easier and would make you and your organization more valuable to the business?
We invite you to participate in a new, groundbreaking 2012 research study on IT Service Management. Click here to Start the Survey Now.
Send any ideas, questions, or other observations to itSMF@forrester.com. Better yet, join the social media revolution on LinkedIn. We encourage you to join the itSMF USA group on LinkedIn. Instructions on how to join the LinkedIn group are below.
Once we have a good base of research questions, we will then launch the survey to all itSMF USA members. Very soon after you read this, we hope to expand the research partnership worldwide, so your peers in the International itSMF community will also participate.
We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership between itSMF and Forrester. Nobody has yet tried such collaboration for ITSM research. The charter we are all responsible to pursue is innovation. We consider this to be an innovative vehicle to accelerate a better understanding for every one of us. Our collective intelligence will prove incredible. We embark upon this adventure with excitement and we hope you will all join us.
Warmest regards,
Glenn O’Donnell
Senior Analyst
Forrester Research
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