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Magic Quadrant for ITService SupportManagement ToolsPublished: 24 August 2016 ID: G00291752Analyst(s): Chris Matchett, Katherine Lord, Rich Doheny

SummaryIT service support management tools are vital forinfrastructure and operations organizations to managesupport and delivery of IT services. This researchprofiles key vendors of enterprise ITSSM tools to helpI&O leaders make better selections.

Market Definition/DescriptionIT service support management (ITSSM) tools enableIT operations organizations, specifically infrastructureand operations (I&O) managers, to better support theproduction environment. ITSSM tools facilitate thetasks and workflows associated with the managementand delivery of quality IT services. These are mostheavily used by IT service desks and IT service deliveryfunctions.

ITSSM tools are classified based on IT servicemanagement (ITSM) capabilities and integration withIT operations management (ITOM) solutions (see"ITSSM Tool Selections Require an ITSM and ITOMTooling Strategy" ) and include:

Basic ITSSM tools that have some ITSM capabilitiesand limited integration with ITOM solutions

(http://gtnr.it/1KsfgQX)

Intermediate ITSSM tools that have good ITSMcapabilities, and provide some basic ITOM functionsor integrate with intermediate third-party ITOMsolutions

Advanced ITSSM tools that have a full range of ITSMcapabilities, and provide broad ITOM functionalitynatively or integrated with advanced third-party ITOMsolutions

More than 450 vendors offer ITSSM products, but themajority are basic or intermediate tools that focus onIT service desk and ticketing functions targeted atlower maturity I&O organizations. Some innovationoccurs in advanced ITSSM tools, but these are aimedand priced to suit organizations that have masteredcore ITSSM functions and are willing to spend more toexpand their capabilities. Vendors are increasinglyconcentrating product development on non-I&O usecases as market saturation of basic and intermediateITSSM tools continues (see "Be Wary If Buying anITSSM Tool to Use Beyond ITSM 2.0" ). If this trendcontinues, the market for ITSSM tools will stagnate.

ITSSM tools are a component of the IT servicemanagement 2.0 IT operations management toolsminisuite (see Note 1). The ITSM 2.0 minisuite focuseson improving the overall level of quality and efficiencywith which the I&O organization supports businessusers. ITSSM tools may optionally integrate with othertools from the automation minisuite or the availabilityand performance minisuite for deeper overall ITOMcapability (see "Choose IT Operations ManagementTools Based on Your Requirements" ).

Magic QuadrantFigure 1. Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support ManagementTools

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Source: Gartner (August 2016)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Axios SystemsAxios Systems offers one ITSSM product called assystthat is targeted at organizations with high I&O maturity.This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilitiescompanion research.

STRENGTHS

Axios Systems concentrates exclusively on providingITSSM solutions.

Axios Systems has maintained good relationshipswith customers and has introduced a customerengagement program including regular postsalesmeetings in addition to focus groups, customermeet-ups and online forums.

Most customers have updated to recent versions ofassyst, demonstrating a continuing investment in theproduct.

CAUTIONS

Axios Systems has invested in a SaaS platform thatrelatively few of its customers are using.

Growth in customer numbers and revenue havelagged the industry during the evaluation period forthis research.

The majority of Axios' customers and marketingefforts are focused on Europe primarily and NorthAmerica secondarily; it has limited presence in otherregions.

BMCBMC offers four ITSSM products (Remedy ServiceManagement Suite targeted at high-I&O-maturityorganizations, Remedyforce and FootPrints targeted atintermediate I&O maturity, and Track-It for basic I&Omaturity). Remedy ITSM Suite and Remedyforce areevaluated in the Critical Capabilities companionresearch, with the score for Remedy contributing to the"product or service" factor of Ability to Execute.

STRENGTHS

BMC Remedy's Smart IT user interface improvesusability and flexibility, and demonstrates BMC'sinnovation in this market.

BMC has a broad ITOM portfolio, making it a viablepartner for mature I&O organizations that need toextend their ITSSM tool.

BMC has the largest enterprise ITSSM customerbase available for ongoing nurturing and upsellopportunities.

CAUTIONS

BMC's sales teams tend to be less responsivecompared with the competition, and Remedyfrequently drops off these shortlists of Gartnerclients.

In February 2016, Salesforce stopped sellingRemedyforce, thereby removing a key sales partnerfor BMC's midmarket SaaS product.

Customers that upgraded to FootPrints 12 havereported dissatisfaction with the usability andperformance of the product.

CA TechnologiesCA Technologies offers one ITSSM product called CAService Management that is targeted at organizationswith high I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in theCritical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

CA Technologies has a strong global reachsupported by a good balance of selling directly andthrough partners with whom customers report goodexperiences.

CA Technologies has invested in research to studyemployee personas and behavior to betterunderstand how it can improve the user experienceof its products.

CA remains a well-known brand with high levels ofmarket awareness.

CAUTIONS

The benefits of CA Technologies' research into userexperience that started in early 2015 did notmaterialize in time for the evaluation period for thisresearch.

CA Technologies has stopped selling CA CloudService Management directly to new customers,which leaves the company with a weakened SaaS-based ITSSM tool strategy.

Gartner's market share analysis concludes that CATechnologies' share of the ITSSM market revenuehas consistently declined each year from 2010through 2015.

Cherwell SoftwareCherwell Software offers one ITSSM product calledCherwell Service Management that is targeted atorganizations with medium I&O maturity. This tool is

evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companionresearch.

STRENGTHS

Cherwell has continued to drive good customerengagement and attract a loyal following.

Cherwell has increased its capabilities in wider ITOMfunctions with enhancements to Cherwell AssetManagement, and close partnership with FireScopefor features such as discovery and dependencymapping.

Cherwell has introduced alternative SaaS hosting viaMicrosoft Azure to provide enterprise performance,security and privacy to customers with a globalfootprint.

CAUTIONS

Customers in search of additional ITSSMcapabilities, beyond what Cherwell offers in its coreITSSM product, may need to license additionalcapabilities from third parties, which can lead toadditional costs.

Cherwell's efforts to additionally develop and marketits product as a platform for business activitiesoutside of ITSSM may lead to a lack of focus on theITSSM market in the future.

Customers in some regions report difficulty insourcing implementation partners for Cherwell'sITSSM products.

EasyVistaEasyVista offers one ITSSM product called EasyVistaIT Service Manager that is targeted at organizationswith medium I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in theCritical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

EasyVista has added support resources in NorthAmerica, which has resolved language issuesreported by customers in previous years.

EasyVista's customers have reported success inconfiguring workflows and custom forms within thetool without needing to write code.

EasyVista IT Service Manager can run on-premisesand via SaaS, and the installed customer base isuncommonly well-balanced across both modes.

CAUTIONS

Revenue growth is modest, but EasyVista is notkeeping up with market leaders in terms of salesperformance.

EasyVista invests relatively little of its revenue inresearch and development compared with itscompetitors.

EasyVista has limited presence in Asia; its focus isstronger in Europe and improving in North America.

Heat SoftwareHeat Software offers one ITSSM product called HeatService Management that is targeted at organizationswith medium I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in theCritical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

Heat Software is marketing effectively throughchannels that cater to organizations with low tomedium I&O maturity.

Heat makes effective use of sales partners to closea good number of lower-value deals withoutexpending many sales cycles.

Heat improved customer satisfaction throughinitiatives such as annual customer advisory boards,which allows customers to provide input influentialto the future direction of the product.

CAUTIONS

An appreciable number of customers are using olderversions of Heat Software's ITSSM product, andoften chose to switch to competing products ratherthan upgrade.

Heat Software's marketing of its ITSSM product as"cloud service management" is confusing as it doesnot actually provide cloud management software.

Despite the cloud branding and investment in amultitenancy SaaS platform, few of Heat'scustomers are using the tool via the cloudsubscription offering.

HPEHewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) offers two ITSSMproducts (HPE Service Manager and HPE ServiceAnywhere) that are targeted at organizations with highto medium I&O maturity, respectively. Both areevaluated in the Critical Capabilities companionresearch, with HPE Service Manager's scorecontributing to the "product or service" factor of Abilityto Execute.

STRENGTHS

HPE has a strong brand and global reach, with itsprofessional services organization available in allmajor regions.

HPE offers a broad portfolio of ITOM tools thatintegrate directly with its ITSSM products.

HPE's big data capabilities enable its customers toimprove search and analytics in areas such asincident management, change management andknowledge management.

CAUTIONS

ITSSM is a minor part of HPE's software portfolio,and Gartner's market share analysis concludes thatHPE's share of the ITSSM market revenue hasdeclined each year from 2009 through 2015.

Customers report concerns that HPE ServiceManager is not getting sufficient attention asinvestment in research and development hasfocused on Service Anywhere and other products.

Many of HPE's ITSSM customers are running olderversions of HPE Service Manager, and many of thosecustomers have not updated recently.

IBMIBM offers one ITSSM product called Control Desk thatis targeted at organizations with high I&O maturity.This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilitiescompanion research.

STRENGTHS

IBM maintains its strength through its ability to sellinto its existing customer base.

IBM has extensive global partnerships andresources in Europe and Asia where many othervendors lack significant local presence.

IBM has an opportunity to leverage Watsontechnology for artificial intelligence and service deskautomation purposes.

CAUTIONS

IBM has not developed Control Desk to competeaggressively in the ITSSM tools market, and it rarelyappears on client shortlists.

A majority of IBM's ITSSM customers are runningolder versions of its ITSSM product.

IBM primarily markets Control Desk to existing IBMcustomers, and often relies on it being sold as partof a larger outsourcing or ITOM purchase.

LandeskLandesk offers one ITSSM product called LandeskService Desk that is targeted at organizations withintermediate and high I&O maturity. This tool isevaluated in the Critical Capabilities companionresearch.

STRENGTHS

Its Total User Management suite that includes theService Desk product gives Landesk a solid portfolioof ITSSM tools backed by good automation forenterprise devices.

Landesk continues to expand its workspace initiativeto provide a unified user experience across the rangeof its products.

Landesk has been active in seeking to improve itssoftware portfolio in the ITSM 2.0 minisuite, viaacquisitions of Xtraction Solutions and AppSenseduring the past year.

CAUTIONS

Landesk's acquisition of Xtraction in late 2015 hasyet to result in fully integrated improved reportingcapabilities for its ITSSM toolset.

Despite an increase in ITSSM marketing efforts,Landesk is still commonly recognized for endpointmanagement but not for its ITSSM portfolio.

Landesk has invested in a dual-licensing modelwhere the tool can be provided either on-premises orin the cloud, but relatively few of its customers areusing the SaaS option.

ServiceNowServiceNow offers two ITSSM products (ServiceNowService Management Suite and ServiceNow Express)that are targeted at organizations with high and lowI&O maturity, respectively. ServiceNow ServiceManagement Suite is evaluated in the CriticalCapabilities companion research, with its scorecontributing to the "product or service" factor of Abilityto Execute.

STRENGTHS

ServiceNow dominates customer shortlists, makingit the prime target for technology andimplementation partners, and subsequently resultingin a wide choice for its customers.

ServiceNow has improved wider ITOM capabilitiesthrough the maturation of earlier acquisitions(Neebula, rebranded as ServiceWatch and Mirror42,rebranded as Performance Analytics).

ServiceNow Express (which offers an upgrade pathto the Enterprise product without reimplementation)has been integrated into the main product strategy,and we have seen better penetration into themidmarket as a result.

CAUTIONS

Recent changes in pricing and the bundling ofnoncore product features make it confusing forServiceNow's customers to negotiate favorabledeals.

ServiceNow's strategy to promote its products foractivities outside of ITSM 2.0 suggests a relativelack of focus on its core ITSSM tool in terms ofongoing research and development.

On-premises customers pay the same as SaaScustomers, even though they cover the hostingdirectly and do not benefit from automatic upgrades.

Vendors Added and Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for MagicQuadrants as markets change. As a result of theseadjustments, the mix of vendors in any MagicQuadrant may change over time. A vendor'sappearance in a Magic Quadrant one year and not thenext does not necessarily indicate that we havechanged our opinion of that vendor. It may be areflection of a change in the market and, therefore,changed evaluation criteria, or of a change of focus bythat vendor.

AddedIBM

DroppedHornbill

Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaFor inclusion in the 2016 Magic Quadrant for ITSSMtools, Gartner focuses on vendors that offer not only ITservice support functions that focus on productusability and the ease of use of out-of-the-box bestpractices, but also next-generation support capabilitiesspecific to mobility and the use of social collaborationcapabilities to increase effectiveness and efficiencylevels.

To be included in the 2016 Magic Quadrant, vendorsmust:

Sell and market an ITSSM product that includesfunctionality for IT incident management, problemmanagement, change management, configurationmanagement, release governance, IT user self-service (for knowledge and request management), ITknowledge management, IT service supportanalytics and reporting, and SLA management withregard to incident and service requests. Also agraphical process designer must be available tomanage the above workflows.

Have at least 35% of customers using versions ofsoftware across the ITSSM product portfolio that areless than 18 months old (released after 1 September2014).

Have at least $19 million in annual revenue derivedfrom ITSSM products.

Have sales presence or a partner network thatincludes at least two offices (regional office orreseller partner) in each of three or more of thefollowing regions: North America, Latin America,Europe (Western, Eastern and Eurasia), Middle Eastand North Africa (including sub-Saharan Africa), andAsia/Pacific (Mature, Emerging, Greater China andJapan; Gartner's market definitions for globalregions are defined in "Market Definitions andMethodology: IT Markets" ).

Gartner also asks for five qualifying customerreferences (with at least two being customers for atleast two years); these references should meet thefollowing criteria:

They should involve ITSSM tool solutions for whichthe customer has paid and which are being used inproduction environments.

The tools implemented should support andautomate at least five of the following processes:incident management, problem management,change management, configuration management,release management, knowledge management orrequest management.

They should have an organizational size of at least5,000 business users of IT.

The references should be located in at least three ofthe following regions: North America, Latin America,Europe (Western, Eastern and Eurasia), Middle Eastand North Africa (including sub-Saharan Africa), andAsia/Pacific (Mature, Emerging, Greater China andJapan).

Because Gartner bases its main evaluation on real userexperiences, rather than on future releases or recentreleases that have been broadly tested, the productversions considered as part of this evaluation musthave been generally available by 1 March 2016.

Evaluation Criteria

Ability to Execute

Product or Service: Core goods and services offeredby the vendor for the defined market. This includescurrent product/service capabilities, quality, featuresets, skills and so on, whether offered natively orthrough OEM agreements/partnerships as defined inthe market definition and detailed in these 11 criticalcapabilities:

1. Incident and Problem Management: Incidentticketing and problem management is requiredby all IT organizations that use ITSSM tools. Thisenables them to manage the life cycles of ITincidents and problem records from recording toclosing. These are core capabilities in which allITSSM tools must be competent.

2. Change and Release Management: Integratedchange and release management is importantfor organizations focused on intermediate andadvanced IT service support capabilities tocontrol the governance and risk of changes toI&O.

3. Configuration Management: Configurationmanagement is important for organizationsfocused on intermediate and advanced IT servicesupport capabilities to maintain an overview ofservice assets to aid other processes such aschange and incident management.

4. Self-Service/Request Fulfillment: Servicerequest fulfillment is important for ITorganizations focused on providing businessusers with a convenient way to interact with theIT organization by presenting incident andrequest tracking services, technical ITcomponents and IT services in the form of anorderable service catalog.

5. IT Knowledge Management: Knowledgemanagement is a key area of differentiation forall use cases. The knowledge portal shouldenable end users to resolve simple incidentsthemselves. The tools should create knowledgebases for relevant, updateable content that isuseful for IT and business users.

6. Collaboration: Collaboration features are key fordigital workplace use cases to help IT staff worktogether to solve IT incidents and problems, to

enable business users to solve their own ITissues and also for those business users to helpcolleagues.

7. Reporting and SLA Management: Reporting anddashboards are key for all use cases, becausethey support, enhance and extend collaborativedecision support (strategic and tactical) andcommunication with IT and business leaders.

8. Process and Workflow Design: IT organizationsin all use cases need out-of-the-box,preconfigured forms, fields, workflows andreports that are compatible with industry bestpractices and standards for IT service support.

9. Data Source/ITOM Tool Integration: The tools'ability to integrate with other tools and the abilityof those tools to integrate with ITSSM tools isincreasingly important, particularly fororganizations that use software from other ITOMminisuites.

10. Total Cost of Ownership: License andsubscription costs for ITSSM tools varyconsiderably, as do ongoing costs for supportand administration. Many organizations overbuywhen selecting an ITSSM tool.

11. User Experience and Flexibility: Productconfiguration flexibility is an important factorthat distinguishes different ITSSM tools fordifferent maturity levels. IT service desk users, inparticular, benefit from a streamlined andintuitive UI.

These product criteria are evaluated in the criticalcapabilities research for IT service supportmanagement tools (see "Critical Capabilities for ITService Support Management Tools" ). The criticalcapabilities score for the ITSSM product that istargeted at large enterprises with medium-to-high I&Omaturity is used where multiple products from avendor qualify for inclusion in that research.

Overall Viability: Viability includes an assessment ofthe overall organization's financial health, the financialand practical success of the business unit, and thelikelihood that the individual business unit will continueinvesting in the product, will continue offering theproduct and will advance the state of the art within theorganization's portfolio of products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities inall presales activities and the structure that supportsthem. This includes deal management, pricing andnegotiation, presales support, and the overalleffectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability to respond,change direction, be flexible and achieve competitivesuccess as opportunities develop, competitors act,customer needs evolve and market dynamics change.This criterion also considers the vendor's history ofresponsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity andefficacy of programs designed to deliver theorganization's message to influence the market,promote the brand and business, increase awarenessof the products, and establish a positive identificationwith the product/brand and organization in the mindsof buyers. This mind share can be driven by acombination of publicity, promotional initiatives,thought leadership, word of mouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products andservices/programs that enable clients to be successfulwith the products evaluated. Specifically, this includesthe ways customers receive technical support oraccount support. This can also include ancillary tools,customer support programs (and the quality thereof),availability of user groups, service-level agreementsand so on.

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Product or Service High

Overall Viability Medium

Sales Execution/Pricing High

Market Responsiveness/Record Medium

Marketing Execution Medium

Customer Experience Medium

Operations Not Rated

Source: Gartner (August 2016)

Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor tounderstand buyers' wants and needs and to translatethose into products and services. Vendors that showthe highest degree of vision listen to and understandbuyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhancethose with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set ofmessages consistently communicated throughout theorganization and externalized through the website,advertising, customer programs and positioningstatements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products thatuses the appropriate network of direct and indirectsales, marketing, service, and communication affiliatesthat extend the scope and depth of market reach,skills, expertise, technologies, services and thecustomer base.

Offering (Product Strategy): The vendor's approach toproduct development and delivery that emphasizesdifferentiation, functionality, methodology and featuresets as they map to current and future requirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of thevendor's underlying business proposition.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary andsynergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capitalfor investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptivepurposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to directresources, skills and offerings to meet the specificneeds of geographies outside the "home" or nativegeography, either directly or through partners, channelsand subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography andmarket.

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding High

Marketing Strategy High

Sales Strategy Medium

Offering (Product) Strategy High

Business Model Medium

Vertical/Industry Strategy Not Rated

Innovation High

Geographic Strategy High

Source: Gartner (August 2016)

Quadrant Descriptions

Leaders

BMC and ServiceNow are positioned in the Leadersquadrant. Both vendors have executed well, and own21.3% and 34.4%, respectively, of the ITSSM market.Both vendors exhibit the levels of marketing and salescapabilities required to drive market acceptance.

ChallengersCherwell Software is positioned in the Challengersquadrant. This vendor has also executed well, growingits market share and improving its ITSSM products andits overall viability levels enough to participate well inthe general-purpose market with competitive products.

VisionariesVendors appearing in this quadrant deliver innovativeproducts that address operationally important I&Oorganizational challenges — namely, business-userengagement and IT collaboration — but have yet togain significant market or mind share. This year, novendors fit this description as they have focused oninnovation outside the scope of ITSSM tools.

Niche PlayersNiche Players have strengths in particular areas ofITSSM, but generally have not invested in satisfying allthe requirements to demonstrate Completeness ofVision and the Ability to Execute. The vendors in thisquadrant focus on a small segment, or are in theprocess of ramping up go-to-market efforts and haveyet to develop the vision to break out.

ContextThe Magic Quadrant for ITSSM tools assesses theviability of vendors and their competitive strength inthe ITSSM marketplace. The vendors featured hereproduce ITSSM tools that are of interest to large I&Oorganizations that have an intermediate-to-high I&Omaturity (Gartner ITScore for Infrastructure andOperations of 2.5 or higher).

It is not a direct evaluation of the ITSSM products thatthese vendors offer. This analysis complements the"Critical Capabilities for IT Service SupportManagement Tools," which applies nine criticalcapabilities that differentiate the most popular large-enterprise-focused products on the market, and threeI&O-maturity-related use cases (plus one for digitalworkplace). The use cases filter and prioritize thecapabilities that will have the greatest beneficialimpact of ITSSM products offered by these vendors.Gartner strongly recommends that organizations usethis research in conjunction with the CriticalCapabilities, inquiries with analysts, and other Gartnerresearch to define their requirements and selectsolutions that match their needs.

Organizations should not base choice of vendor solelyon its proximity to the Leaders quadrant. IT leadersmust create a list of criteria that describes their needs,and select vendors that best meet those requirements(see "Redesign Your ITSSM Tool RFP Process forBetter Results" ). The best vendor will meet theorganization's requirements and provide integrationwith broader IT operations management capabilities(see "ITSSM Tool Selections Require an ITSM andITOM Tooling Strategy" ).

Capabilities for processing workflows such as HR,facilities, business asset management and others thatare not activities associated with IT service supportmanagement are not evaluated in this research (see"Be Wary If Buying an ITSSM Tool to Use Beyond ITSM2.0" ).

Plan to select a vendor that can work with you for atleast five years, and that invests in the ITSSM market.Prioritize skills, training, process and proper productimplementation, because these factors will influenceyour experience with a product more than the specificfunctional capabilities. Finally, select a vendor that cantruly help your I&O organization reach its maturationgoals.

The predominance of low I&O maturity within thismarket will ensure that demand for basic toolsremains significant. Gartner regularly advises clients toalso consider ITSSM vendors not found in this MagicQuadrant.

Market OverviewThe IT service support management tool marketconsists of more than 450 products that claim toprovide IT organizations with the ability to track andresolve issues that affect the IT productionenvironment. Although all ITSSM tools provide thosecore ticketing functions, the true value that ITorganizations can gain from ITSSM tools comes fromtheir ability to offer and support tightly integratedprocesses and functions that correlate with theactivities of the broader IT organization. I&Oorganizations looking to increase IT process maturityhave looked to ITSSM tools aligned with andpreconfigured to industry best-practice frameworks —to integrate responsibilities across technology siloswith common processes, collaboration and thereinforcement of an organizational commitment toshared objectives.

ITSSM tools integrate processes and functions thatcorrelate with the broader IT support organization.Features should include incident and problemmanagement capabilities for the IT service deskfunction, and change, configuration and releasemanagement tools for process leaders, infrastructureengineers and domain administrators. They ofteninclude a configuration management database (CMDB)that provides change management impactassessment and visibility into service configurationsfor speeding service restoration. The ITSSM toolmarket has grown from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $2.2billion in 2015.

ITSSM tools are a component of the ITSM 2.0 IToperations management tools minisuite (see Note 1).The ITSM 2.0 minisuite focuses on improving the

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overall levels of quality and efficiency with which theI&O organization supports end users. ITSSM tools mayoptionally integrate with other tools from theautomation minisuite or the availability andperformance minisuite for deeper overall ITOMcapability (see "Choose IT Operations ManagementTools Based on Your Requirements" ).

Many I&O organizations don't adequately understandhow to choose ITSSM tools that address current needsand requirements. This is due to a lack of I&Oroadmaps that establish the people, processes andtechnology resources needed to reach the desiredstate of I&O maturity. Without a roadmap, I&O oftenpurchases ITSSM tools that have more functionalitythan it needs (incurring higher costs), or that lack thecapabilities or integration abilities it will require as itgrows (see "IT Service Support Management ToolAcquisitions Must Be Based on I&O Maturity" ). ITSSMvendors are keenly aware of this and competeaggressively for new business and for partnerships forbroader ITOM capabilities and integrations.

EvidenceAs of 17 June 2016, ITSM Portal shows 415

products. Although some are duplicates, there areproducts that Gartner has encountered that arecurrently missing from that list.

Gartner's report "Market Share: All Software Markets,Worldwide, 2015" analyzes market share data forITSSM vendors as part of overall IT operationssoftware revenue. This market has grown from $1.3billion in 2010 to $2.2 billion in 2015.

Based on 515 inquiries with Gartner clients purchasingITSSM tools during the past 18 months. In addition,Gartner collected ITSSM tool statistics fromanonymized client inquiries detailing ITSSM tools inuse, scheduled for replacement and on shortlists forselection.

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Note 1 MinisuitesMinisuites are composed of a small number of toolsthat address a defined need (for example, end-usermanagement, server provisioning or configuration) orspecific IT operations processes (for example, incidentand problem management), or that are aimed at aspecific user or buying center (for example, networkadministration). Minisuites can also reflect howvendors group, integrate, market and sell theirproducts.

Evaluation Criteria Definitions

Ability to Execute

Product/Service: Core goods and services offered bythe vendor for the defined market. This includescurrent product/service capabilities, quality, featuresets, skills and so on, whether offered natively orthrough OEM agreements/partnerships as defined inthe market definition and detailed in the subcriteria.

Overall Viability: Viability includes an assessment ofthe overall organization's financial health, the financialand practical success of the business unit, and thelikelihood that the individual business unit will continueinvesting in the product, will continue offering theproduct and will advance the state of the art within theorganization's portfolio of products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities inall presales activities and the structure that supportsthem. This includes deal management, pricing andnegotiation, presales support, and the overalleffectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability to respond,change direction, be flexible and achieve competitivesuccess as opportunities develop, competitors act,

customer needs evolve and market dynamics change.This criterion also considers the vendor's history ofresponsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity andefficacy of programs designed to deliver theorganization's message to influence the market,promote the brand and business, increase awarenessof the products, and establish a positive identificationwith the product/brand and organization in the mindsof buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by acombination of publicity, promotional initiatives,thought leadership, word of mouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products andservices/programs that enable clients to be successfulwith the products evaluated. Specifically, this includesthe ways customers receive technical support oraccount support. This can also include ancillary tools,customer support programs (and the quality thereof),availability of user groups, service-level agreementsand so on.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet itsgoals and commitments. Factors include the quality ofthe organizational structure, including skills,experiences, programs, systems and other vehiclesthat enable the organization to operate effectively andefficiently on an ongoing basis.

Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor tounderstand buyers' wants and needs and to translatethose into products and services. Vendors that showthe highest degree of vision listen to and understandbuyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhancethose with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set ofmessages consistently communicated throughout theorganization and externalized through the website,advertising, customer programs and positioningstatements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products thatuses the appropriate network of direct and indirectsales, marketing, service, and communication affiliatesthat extend the scope and depth of market reach,skills, expertise, technologies, services and thecustomer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach toproduct development and delivery that emphasizesdifferentiation, functionality, methodology and featuresets as they map to current and future requirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of thevendor's underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy todirect resources, skills and offerings to meet thespecific needs of individual market segments,including vertical markets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary andsynergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capitalfor investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptivepurposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to directresources, skills and offerings to meet the specificneeds of geographies outside the "home" or nativegeography, either directly or through partners, channelsand subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography andmarket.

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