Saas IT Service Management PDF

FOR: Infrastructure Market Overview: SaaS IT Service
& Operations
Professionals Management Tools
by Stephen Mann, February 21, 2013
KEY TAKEAWAYS
SaaS Can Be A Compelling Opportunity, But Look Beyond The

Delivery Model
While SaaS tools are sold on the promise of reduced costs, increased simplicity, and
quicker time-to-value, you should ultimately base your tool decision on what you
need rather than what the tool can offer. And not just your ITIL-capability-based
needs -- be driven by “customer needs.”
Not All SaaS Tools Were Born Equal

Be clear as to the benefits you wish to get from the SaaS delivery model. Just
because a solution is labeled “SaaS” doesn’t mean it will deliver all of the espoused
SaaS benefits -- as with an on-premises tool, ask focused questions in areas such as
ease of upgrade and total cost of ownership.
Procuring A New ITSM Tool Is Not Enough

Buying a new ITSM tool won’t necessarily improve your ITSM mojo. It will excite
technologists and maybe add to or improve process-based capabilities, but your
I&O organization may also need significant investment in people and process to
gain maximum business value from the technology investment.
Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA

Tel: +1 617.613.6000 | Fax: +1 617.613.5000 | www.forrester.com
FOR INFRASTRUCTURE & OPERATIONS PROFESSIONALS FEBRUARY 21, 2013
Market Overview: SaaS IT Service Management

Tools
Evaluate The Core And Differentiating Capabilities In An Increasingly
Crowded Marketplace
by Stephen Mann
with Doug Washburn and Miroslaw Lisserman
WHY READ THIS REPORT

The practice of IT service management (ITSM) is widely adopted by IT infrastructure and operations
(I&O) organizations around the globe to help deliver technology services better, faster, and cheaper. To
succeed with ITSM, I&O professionals rely heavily on fit-for-purpose ITSM tools; however, there is
often discontent with such tools, and consequently organizations follow a regular cycle of tool churn.
And, unfortunately, selecting the right ITSM tool has never been easy, and software-as-a-service (SaaS)
now adds an extra dimension of complexity. This market overview offers: information on the growth of
the SaaS for ITSM market; guidance on the key functional criteria to assess; a summary of SaaS-related
benefits and risks; and overviews of 21 SaaS ITSM vendors and 23 tools classified by target markets. The
SaaS delivery model has turned the ITSM tool market on its head; read this report to ensure that you
remain grounded when considering the potential of SaaS for ITSM and the available options.
Table Of Contents Notes & Resources

2 Software-As-A-Service: The Answer To Your Forrester analyzed SaaS ITSM offerings
On-Premises ITSM Tool Woes? from 21 vendors: Absolute Software, Axios
Systems, BMC Software, CA Technologies,
6 Key Evaluation Criteria When Selecting An
Cherwell Software, EasyVista, helpLine,
SaaS ITSM Solution
Hornbill, HP, IBM, LANDesk Software,
9 Segmenting The Landscape Of SaaS ITSM ManageEngine, SAManage, Serena Software,
Tools And Vendors ServiceNow, Sunrise Software, SunView
Software, SysAid Technologies, TOPdesk,
RECOMMENDATIONS Vivantio, and Zendesk.
30 Let Your Level Of ITSM Maturity Determine
Your Tool Needs
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FOR INFRASTRUCTURE & OPERATIONS PROFESSIONALS
Market Overview: SaaS IT Service Management Tools 2
SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE: THE ANSWER TO YOUR ON-PREMISES ITSM TOOL

WOES?
The practice of IT service management is widely adopted by IT I&O organizations around the
globe to deliver technology services better, faster, and cheaper. When done right, ITSM improves
staff productivity, heightens the quality of service, and reduces operational costs to improve your
reputation with the business.1 And as bring-your-own-technology and as-a-service offerings
proliferate, I&O must transition from a provider of technology components to a broker of
technology services. Mature ITSM is paramount to this.
To excel at ITSM, I&O professionals rely heavily on the use of fit-for-purpose ITSM tools. The
landscape for ITSM tools has long been established, with market share dominated by the on-
premises offerings from the big four IT management software vendors: BMC Software, CA
Technologies, HP, and IBM. However, the space is quickly being disrupted by software-as-a-service
options from existing and new competition. Early indicators show favorable economics and higher
customer satisfaction. But is SaaS actually cheaper and is this higher customer satisfaction due to
the SaaS delivery model or to new and better-fitting solutions from new and traditional vendors
alike? The question remains: Is SaaS the answer to your on-premises ITSM tool woes?
Traditional Vendors And Their On-Premises Offerings Lead To Customer

Dissatisfaction
During the mid-to-late 2000s, many industry pundits considered the landscape of ITSM tools and
vendors both stagnant and saturated. Large enterprises would often select a big four IT management
software vendor tool by default. The midmarket would choose a big four tool if they could afford to;
if not, then another traditional vendor. In either case, the ITSM market was focused on on-premises
solutions where tools were hosted by the customer and bought via a perpetual licensing model.
Customer dissatisfaction with this model was rife with customers churning from their vendors
every five years. Commonly cited reasons included poor usability and excessive time and resources
required to move between versions. Heavily customized big four ITSM products in particular were
particularly prone to these issues.
Today, the on-premises ITSM tools market continues to see a high level of churn as customers swap
“vendor A’s ITSM tool” for “vendor B’s ITSM tool.” Forrester continues to hear similar echoes of
dissatisfaction from buyers and users of ITSM tools, citing that the incumbent on-premises tool:
“Is too costly to run.”
“Is a poor fit to operational and customer requirements.”
“Is complicated and cumbersome to use.”
© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

“Hasn’t kept pace with the latest service management thinking.”
“Is an out-of-date version because it would cost too much to upgrade.”
So are we right to blame the on-premises tools? Not always. On-premises tools are often not perfect,
but the entire ecosystem is responsible, from the ITSM tool vendors, consultancies, and advisory
firms to ITIL publication and training providers, and finally the customers themselves. Specifically,
Forrester finds that customers often ask the wrong questions during product evaluations and
therefore don’t get the answers they need. Likewise, customers that customize the tool within an
inch of usability not only frustrate users but make it difficult to move between versions. Finally,
many users do not use tools to their maximum potential due to a number of issues. An example is
the inability to extend ITIL process adoption (and thus tool use) due to the pressures of day-to-day
ITSM activities such as incident-management-driven firefighting.
We have all had a hand in placing too much emphasis on ITIL capabilities and drifting away from
the real drivers for ITSM: to facilitate and ensure positive business outcomes from IT.
Enter Software-As-A-Service
In 2007, two things forever changed the landscape of ITSM tools and vendors:
■ ITIL v3 extended the scope of ITSM from 10 processes to 28. The introduction of the service
catalog, for example, was a game-changer. Vendors with extended service desk capabilities were
no longer seen as enough if they didn’t support ITIL v3.
■ ServiceNow started to gain real traction with its “modern” SaaS ITSM tool. The
subscription-based pricing model native to SaaS is an operating expense (opex), not a capital
expense (capex). These economics led to a quicker time-to-value that became attractive to large
organizations that continued to feel the pressure from the 2008 financial crisis.
Jumping forward to 2012, nearly all ITSM tool vendors across all market segments now offer an SaaS
solution, and ITSM tool vendors of all sizes now have far greater geographic reach in terms of both
marketing and sales capabilities. There is also a blurring between enterprise and the midmarket,
with an emphasis on an organization’s ITSM maturity as well as its size.
The Key Benefits Of SaaS For ITSM

The software-as-a-service delivery model can offer fast deployment speeds, low upfront costs, and
ongoing flexibility to scale up or down as needs change. These benefits are universal, whether
applied to customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP),
collaboration, or ITSM.2 Key benefits of the SaaS delivery model for ITSM include:

■ Subscription-based pricing that lowers total cost of ownership, initially. For many firms, the
key benefit of SaaS is its simple, subscription-based pricing model: Firms pay a subscription
fee per month (or year) per user that covers everything needed to operate, including support
and maintenance. This model provides a lower and consistent level of opex without any of the
capex investment required for on-premises hardware and software licenses. As a result, the total
cost of ownership of SaaS is lower. However, this is often only temporary, as the total cost of
ownership of SaaS often can become more expensive than on-premises after three to four years,
depending on customer ITSM maturity. Also, some vendors offer subscription-based pricing
(opex rather than capex) for their on-premises offerings.
■ Simple implementation and upgrades that minimize staff effort. An SaaS-delivered ITSM
tool only requires a web browser and an Internet connection to function — no client to install,
no hardware to support, and nothing to upgrade locally. SaaS also offers seamless, automatic
upgrades, typically two to four times per year (a caveat here is that customer customizations
can still cause issues with the ease of said upgrades). This means that users can access the latest
features and functionality faster than in an on-premises deployment, where upgrade cycles often
take 18 to 24 months.
■ Reduced support needs. SaaS can reduce or eliminate internal IT support since the SaaS
provider typically includes support and maintenance in the subscription (with the provider
responsible for patching and bug fixing).
■ Greater opportunity of use. The simplicity of pricing can also be viewed from a value-for-
money perspective, in that a per-seat subscription will usually cover access to capabilities across
multiple ITIL processes rather than the traditional need for organizations to buy multiple
licenses across multiple ITSM products (or modules). This gives an organization the freedom to
continue its adoption of the ITIL framework over time without additional cost, other than for
additional users and seats as necessary.
■ Higher user satisfaction. Although Forrester hears frequent complaints about ITSM tools,
the data suggests that satisfaction is higher than dissatisfaction (see Figure 1). However, SaaS
customers are far more satisfied. While all other models maintain an about 70:30 satisfied/
dissatisfied ratio or worse, SaaS is an impressive 88:12. We believe it’s a combination of the
benefits above. Software-as-a-service’s ease of use, instant availability, and pay-per-use nature
are in stark contrast to older on-premises experiences that firms perceive as clunky and which
take months or years to rollout, all while spending significant capital investment upfront before
value is received.

Figure 1 ITSM Tool Satisfaction Levels
“What is your current state with service desk?”
Dissatisfied Satisfied
SaaS 12% 88%
Smaller vendor 43% 57%
Homebrew 40% 60%
Major vendor 31% 69%
Base: 192 itSMF members, Forrester clients, and Twitter respondents
Source: Forrester/itSMF Q4 2012 US ITSM Online Survey

81743 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Take A More Critical Look At SaaS To Determine If It Is Right For You

Finally, consider the risks associated with the SaaS delivery model. In a survey of 3,534 global IT
budget decision-makers, Forrester found that technology leaders are not interested in SaaS for a
variety of reasons, stemming from security to deployment.3 While this data is not specific to SaaS
ITSM tools, Forrester believes that the following buyer concerns are valid:
■ Security concerns. On average, 42% of IT budget decision-makers who were not interested
in adopting SaaS cited concerns about how well their corporate data and information would
be protected in a SaaS solution. Respondents from both larger firms and midsize firms felt the
same way about this.
■ Integration challenges with other applications. Twenty-two percent of respondents felt

that SaaS software would be hard to integrate with other legacy software products. Again,
respondents from both larger firms and midsize firms felt the same way.
■ Total cost concerns (i.e., total cost of ownership). Twenty percent of respondents worried
that SaaS would have a higher total cost of ownership over time, as constantly rising usage
and escalating costs swallowed up initially low startup costs. Respondents from midsize firms
expressed this concern very slightly more often than larger or smaller businesses.
■ Difficulty and risk of migration or installation. Where companies already have an existing
licensed, behind-the-wall software product in place, the costs and effort of moving data, process
models, and customized adaptations to an SaaS product are formidable, and were a barrier for
18% of respondents in 2011. The effort and costs involved will vary by vendor and tool.

KEY EVALUATION CRITERIA WHEN SELECTING AN SAAS ITSM SOLUTION

IT infrastructure and operations departments should not perform an ITSM process just because it
seems like a good thing to do or is an ITIL-espoused best practice. You should adopt a process to
help deliver specific outcomes related to business objectives and operations. Likewise, don’t favor
SaaS ITSM tools simply because they seem like the right thing to do.
Remember: The functional requirements for a SaaS ITSM solution are no different from on-
premises tools. Your decision should be based on the maturity of your ITSM processes and people,
and even more importantly your “customer needs” — that is, the business’s pain points and desired
business outcomes. The following section outlines the core and differentiating functionality I&O
professionals should focus on when evaluating SaaS ITSM tools.
Of course, as with on-premises tools, there is also the need to look at the key nonfunctional
requirements, such as: integration with existing IT and enterprise software; technical requirements,
such as performance, including service-level agreements (SLAs), security, and resilience; supplier
background, such as product assurance, financial stability, and reliability; implementation
parameters, such as experience, quality, duration, and cost; and support and maintenance
arrangements. The technology itself is also an area to review in terms of single versus multitenancy,
what SaaS really means for each vendor, and the reality of vendor “cloud infrastructure” claims
where appropriate.
Evaluate Three Core Requirements For SaaS ITSM Tools

While ITIL 2011 espouses more than twenty ITSM processes, many organizations have more limited
needs and even more limited capabilities in terms of ITSM maturity. Forrester recommends that
buyers and users of SaaS ITSM tools first focus their evaluation on three core requirements:
■ Support for the most commonly adopted ITSM capabilities. Commonly adopted ITSM
capabilities include incident, service request, problem, change, service level, and configuration
management. These capabilities allow I&O pros to support an IT service desk as the single
point of contact between the service provider and IT end users. They enable the discrete ITSM
processes responsible for managing the life cycle of all problems and changes, as well as for
negotiating achievable SLAs and ensuring that these are met. These ITSM capabilities also
ensure that the assets required to deliver services are properly controlled and that accurate and
reliable information about those assets is available when and where needed.4
■ A configuration management database (CMDB). Either as a standalone CMDB or as part of

a configuration management system (CMS), or even as part of a service information system
(SIS), the configuration management database is a database used to store information about
services and technology and service components, commonly called configuration items
or CIs, throughout their life cycle.5 The CMDB will generally include information about

incidents, problems, known errors, changes, and releases, and it may contain data about
employees, suppliers, locations, business units, customers, and users.6 The CMDB provides
vital information to support other ITSM processes such as incident, problem, and change
management.
■ A service catalog or self-service capabilities. A service catalog is a database of information

about live IT services that is published to customers to support the awareness of the “sale” and
delivery of the IT services.7 The use of service catalog management and a fit-for-purpose service
catalog offers a raft of potential financial and process benefits. This happens through capabilities
such as internal management and workflow, an improved customer “shop window” and
interface for ordering, and links to automation capabilities for increased speed of provisioning
and cost savings. Optimizing the traditionally people-intensive process of request fulfillment
can pay massive dividends.
In addition to these core requirements, I&O professionals should consider two other categories
of capabilities: first, additional ITSM process support; second, generic “enabling” capabilities —
including automation exploitation, social enablement, and support for mobility — that will improve
efficiency and customer support.
Assess Additional ITSM Process Requirements As Well

While the ITSM tools should enable the core ITSM processes above, Forrester recommends that I&O
professionals also focus on the following additional processes, all of which are espoused by ITIL:
■ Operational IT capabilities — release, event, availability, and capacity management.

Operational IT capabilities are mainly proactive ITSM processes that I&O organizations may
aspire to, and need, beyond the aforementioned core ITSM processes and capabilities. They help
organizations minimize IT firefighting (in response to incidents) and, more importantly, reduce
business disruption by taking the necessary steps to ensure that the IT infrastructure and IT
services are in good health and capable of continued IT service delivery.
■ IT business management capabilities — financial and supplier management. IT business

management capabilities focus on the business rather than technical side of delivering IT services.
It’s the effective, business-focused stewardship of corporate resources in the delivery of customer-
driven IT services. While saving IT costs is an obvious benefit, IT financial management and
supplier management are not just about cost cutting. They are more about starting on a journey
through which the I&O organization achieves greater insight and control — moving to cost
efficiency, then cost optimization, and finally value demonstration — whether services are
internally or externally provided.

■ IT asset management (ITAM). ITAM or IT asset life-cycle management is accounting for, and
effectively managing, all IT assets throughout their life cycle, from procurement to disposal.8
Often seen as a separate discipline to ITSM, ITAM is (or should be) part of ITSM — the issue is
that it has never really been given significant air time and sufficient support by ITIL. ITAM, and
in particular software asset management (SAM), is a growing requirement for Forrester clients
that can help I&O leaders cut costs, reduce risk, and improve the quality of IT services.
Don’t Forget About “Enabling” Capabilities: Automation, Social, And Mobile

These capabilities in many ways better enable the modern IT support organization to respond to the
changing business and IT landscape. They address two main challenges: the increasing customer
expectations of IT organizations and IT service delivery, and the ability of the I&O organization to
deal with increased IT complexity with fewer people resources. Enabling capabilities are:
■ Automation. This is not the automation of ITSM processes — a long-standing capability

for most ITSM tools — this is automation above and beyond the ITSM process itself, often
calling up third-party software to orchestrate a previously manual activity. Examples include
password resets, provisioning of virtual servers, or the remote and automated installation of
software. Many vendors use the term “runbook automation” or “orchestration” to describe their
automation-related capabilities.
■ Social enablement. This can be the use of social aspects within ITSM processes or the addition
of social channels for customer interactions, among other things. For example, use chat as
an additional customer contact channel and remote support capability. Provide forums and
Facebook-like walls to enable collaboration between different permutations of IT staff and end
users. And let IT support groups monitor internal and external social media software, such as
Twitter or Yammer, for trending customer issues.
■ Support for mobility. There are two distinct perspectives. First is the enablement and support
of mobile employees through mobile services and devices. Second is the ability to provide
support and enablement for mobile IT support people and end users. The focus of this report
is on the latter only — allowing service desk operatives and field support personnel to access
service desk processes and data on the move. Allow process-driven “authorizers” to review and
perform things such as change requests while away from their desk. And allow end users to
access self-service, knowledge bases, or service desk process entry points on their work (and
maybe personal) mobile devices.

SEGMENTING THE LANDSCAPE OF SAAS ITSM TOOLS AND VENDORS

Forrester’s market overview of SaaS ITSM tools identifies 21 of the leading vendors and their 23
SaaS ITSM offerings. There are a number of ways to segment this market; for example, by vendors
that offer SaaS versus on-premises, by ITSM processes supported, by geographies covered, or by
traditional versus new ITSM tool vendors. But Forrester opted to segment the SaaS ITSM tool
market by the vendors’ target market and their customer success to date (see Figure 2):
■ Target market. To determine target market, Forrester reconciled the vendor’s stated target
market with Forrester’s view of its current market positioning based on the type of customer
successes (i.e., the average deal size) to date. Here is a snapshot of how many vendor tools fall
into each target market segment: seven of 23 vendor tools target the “lower midmarket”; 10 of
23 target the “upper midmarket”; and five of 23 target the “enterprise” market.9
■ Customer success. To determine the level of customer success, Forrester collected customer
numbers from the vendors included in this market overview (see Figure 3). To be clear, this
classification is based purely on the customer success of the vendor’s SaaS ITSM offering, not
its on-premises offering, which may be significantly different. Nor does it factor in geographic
success (and limitations) or customer satisfaction or retention levels. Also, please appreciate
that success levels should not be compared across target market groupings — it would not
necessarily be comparing like with like; e.g., 100 enterprise customers is far removed from 100
lower midmarket customers in terms of both revenues and complexity. Here is a snapshot of
how many vendors fall into each customer success segment: six of 21 vendors are in the “ramp-
up” stage; eight of 21 are in the “major success” stage; five of 21 have achieved “significant
success”; and four vendors did not provide customer numbers (BMC and CA Technologies are
reported twice).
Figure 2 Forrester Segments The SaaS ITSM Tool Market By Target Market And Customer Success
How Forrester defines target market

Enterprise: Average customer seat size of more than 100 subscriptions
Upper midmarket: Average customer seat size between 25 and 99 subscriptions
Lower midmarket: Average customer seat size of fewer than 25 subscriptions
How Forrester defines customer success

Ramp-up: Fewer than 100 customers
Significant success: More than 100 customers but fewer than 300 customers
Major success: More than 300 customers

Figure 3 The Leading SaaS ITSM Tools Segmented By Target Market And Customer Success
Vendor-stated Level of
Vendor Product target market customer success
Enterprise
Axios Systems assystSaaS Mid-to-large enterprises Ramp-up
BMC Software BMC Remedy OnDemand Enterprise and service Significant success
provider organizations
CA Technologies CA Service Desk Manager All markets including No customer numbers provided
(hosted) service providers
Cherwell Software Cherwell Service Mid-to-large enterprises Significant success
Management
HP HP Service Anywhere Mid-to-large enterprises No customer numbers provided
IBM IBM SmartCloud Control Enterprise and service No customer numbers provided
Desk provider organizations
ServiceNow ServiceNow All markets Major success
Upper midmarket
Absolute Software Absolute Service Mid-to-large enterprises Significant success
BMC Software BMC Remedyforce Service All markets Major success

Desk
CA Technologies CA Nimsoft Service All markets including Significant success
Desk service providers
EasyVista EasyVista ITSM SaaS Upper midmarket Major success
helpLine helpLine Mid-to-large enterprises No customer numbers provided
Hornbill Service myservicedesk.com Mid-to-large enterprises Ramp-up
Management
LANDesk LANDesk Service Desk All markets Ramp-up
Software as a Service
Serena Software Serena Service Manager Enterprise Ramp-up

On Demand
SunView Software ChangeGear Cloud Midmarket to enterprise Ramp-up
TOPdesk TOPdesk as a Service All markets Major success
Lower midmarket
ManageEngine
ManageEngine ServiceDeskPlus SMBs/SMEs Significant success
On-Demand
SAManage SaaS IT Service & Asset SMB and emerging Major success
Management enterprises
Sunrise Software Sostenuto ITSM All markets Ramp-up
SysAid Technologies SysAid — Cloud edition All markets Major success
Vivantio Vivantio Service Desk All markets Major success
An alternative to
ITSM suites
Zendesk Zendesk for IT All markets Major success

Enterprise SaaS ITSM Tools

Vendors in the enterprise SaaS ITSM segment have an average customer seat size of more than 100
subscriptions. The traditional on-premises view is that an enterprise-level organization should
evaluate the big four: BMC Software, CA Technologies, HP, and IBM. More recently, organizations
are also turning to Axios Systems, Cherwell, and ServiceNow for an enterprise-level ITSM tool
vendor. With that in mind, I&O professionals should evaluate the following enterprise SaaS ITSM
vendors and solutions (see Figure 4-1 and see Figure 4-2):
■ Axios Systems. Launched in October 2009, Axios Systems’ assystSaaS targets mid- to large-
sized enterprises. Key geographies include North America, South America, Europe, the
Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Highlights of Axios’s core and differentiating capabilities include
automation capabilities, such as the ability to launch remote control applications, automatic
provisioning of cloud services and storage, standard runbook operations, and the ability to
automatically reset passwords. Likewise, the assystMobile application and Axios also provide
social capabilities around IT-to-IT collaboration and customer-to-IT chat. Beyond solution
capabilities, assystSaaS’s allows for concurrent user subscriptions, as well as the ability to move
between SaaS and on-premises as business needs change or use an SaaS-style payment for the
on-premises solution.
■ BMC Software. BMC Remedy OnDemand has been available since April 2010, with the
solution aimed purely at the enterprise space. Remedy OnDemand provides mobility across
service desk, asset, change, and service request management, and, as a result of the acquisition
of my-eService, social enablement is now a core part of the offering. Other capabilities including
automation, event management, and discovery are provided through existing integrations
with additional-cost BMC products that are deployed on premises. Key differentiators include:
the largest market share in the on-premises ITSM space, discrete midmarket and enterprise
solutions, concurrent licensing, global partner network, IT asset life-cycle management
capabilities, and support for business service management (BSM). BMC partners with Dell for
the public sector offering in the US and with Capgemini for the private sector offering in the US
and in Europe. In addition, BMC’s overlay capability allows customers to define and manage
customized objects separate from the original base object, greatly simplifying upgrades.
■ CA Technologies. CA Service Desk Manager r12.7, available since October 2012, is sold
across all geographies and industries as a hosted and managed offering by the CA global
sales force. CA Technologies states that this is the same functionality of the CA Service Desk
Manager on-premises offering with the benefits of an SaaS delivery model. Key differentiators
include: social media-based collaboration and self-service, remote support automation, robust
CMDB and service visualization, mobility capabilities, IT asset management capabilities, and
significant discounts based on volume. CA Nimsoft Service Desk is another SaaS offering from
CA Technologies that is targeted at the upper midmarket as well as organizations needing a
purpose-built, multitenant SaaS offering.

■ Cherwell Software. Cherwell Service Management, launched in 2007, is targeted at mid-

sized to large enterprises globally; approximately 30% of new deals are SaaS deals. Designed
to easily switch between the SaaS and on-premises deployment models, users can purchase
product licenses or use a subscription financing model regardless of the deployment model.
Cherwell’s One-Step functionality enables automation and also supports social and mobile. A
separate product, Cherwell Discovery and Inventory, is an automated tool for the discovery and
inventory of hardware and software assets. Key differentiators include: high customer retention
rates (98%), the affordability of concurrent licensing (there is no fixed license option), an
application development platform (ADP), and codeless business application technology (CBAT).
In the US, Cherwell directly manages its customers’ hosted data out of its Denver colocation
center. Cherwell plans new data centers in Brisbane, Australia; British Columbia, Canada; and
Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a disaster recovery site in Ashburn, Va., in the next six to 12 months. In
late 2012, Insight Venture Partners made a minority investment of $25 million in Cherwell.
■ HP. HP has retired its initial SaaS offering, HP Service Manager Software as a Service, in
favor of a new offering — HP Service Anywhere. Key differentiators include: the concurrent
licensing option; codeless configuration tools for processes, forms, tables, and business rules;
an “interaction” handling capability where a call can be initially tracked as an interaction before
being assigned to be a request, incident, or other type; and the benefit of HP’s long ITSM history.
Self-service ticketing is provided in the initial release, but a full-service catalog, self-service
request portal, request management, and mobility are planned for future releases. As with other
HP ITSM solutions, HP Service Anywhere can call HP Operations Orchestration or one of
the domain-specific HP products to perform various “automation” tasks, and it leverages HP
Enterprise Collaboration capabilities for social support.
■ IBM. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk was launched in March 2012 — successor to Tivoli
Live Service Manager launched in December 2010 — and combines IBM’s ITSM and IT
asset management capabilities into a single solution. The solution is aimed at enterprise and
service provider organizations with a minimum of 25 authorized users globally. Differentiators
include IBM’s IT asset management, remote control, and password reset capabilities, along
with automation, social, and mobile. Runbook automation capabilities are included with the
product with a large number of prebuilt scripts for common tasks. For social capabilities, instant
messaging enables agents to chat with customers or with each other, saving transcripts for future
searches, and users can engage the service desk through Twitter, email, or forum posts. Users
can access IBM SmartCloud Control Desk via BlackBerry, Android, or iOS devices. Likewise,
IBM offers concurrent licensing and the ability to move between different delivery models as
customer needs change (the SaaS and on-premises versions share the same code base).

■ ServiceNow. ServiceNow’s SaaS for ITSM offering was launched in 2004. The solution is
aimed at all markets and all geographies, although clients with fewer than 35 seats require a
partner-delivered solution. ServiceNow Orchestration allows customers to reset passwords
and automate the life-cycle management of cloud services and virtualization operations. Social
capabilities have been available for nearly two years and include peer-to-peer support, chat,
and Facebook-like walls; mobility supports location-based services. Key differentiators include:
the highest SaaS-for-ITSM customer numbers (more than 1,500); ServiceNow’s platform-as-a-
service (PaaS) offering to create new applications; a content management system; and additional
applications for project management, IT asset management, and IT governance, risk, and
compliance; and application templates for common business functions like human resources
(HR), facilities management, and field service management. ServiceNow has traditionally
provided three major releases per annum, although this slowed with two in 2012.
The upper midmarket vendors outlined below may also provide a better fit and better value for
money solution for some enterprise-level organizations.

Figure 4 Enterprise Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Solutions
4-1 Enterprise SaaS ITSM solutions — core and differentiating capabilities

Enabling
Core capabilities Additional ITSM capabilities capabilities
Service catalog/self-service
Service-level management
Knowledge management
Availability management
IT financial management
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Incident and service
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
Axios Systems Vendor
Social
Other
Product capabilities
assystSaaS x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Service
portfolio,
demand, IT
service
continuity, and
information
security
management
BMC x x x x x x x x A A A A A x A x x Support for
BMC
Software
Remedy business service

OnDemand management
(BSM)
CA Service x x x x x x x P A A A P P x x x x CA Openspace,
Technologies
CA
Desk a social-media-
Manager based tool for
(hosted) cross-business
collaboration
and knowledge
search
Cherwell x x x x x x x x x x x A x x x Application
Cherwell
Software
Service development
Management platform (ADP)
and the ability
to fully integrate
new business
objects with the
core ITIL
processes
A = capability provided by another tool; P = partial capability


Figure 4 Enterprise Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Solutions (Cont.)
4-1 Enterprise SaaS ITSM solutions — core and differentiating capabilities (cont.)
Enabling
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
HP Vendor
Social
Other
HP x x x x x P A x Integration
Service with HP
Anywhere orchestration
capabilities
IBM x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Enterprise
IBM
SmartCloud asset
Control Desk management
capabilities
ServiceNow x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x The ServiceNow
ServiceNow
high-availability
architecture is
designed to
ensure that
customers
achieve
maximum
security and
data isolation,
to improve
disaster
recovery, and to
allow for high
availability
during
maintenance
windows.


4-2 Enterprise SaaS ITSM solutions — additional evaluation criteria
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Vendor Product Technology List price
n
Co
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Axios assystSaaS Rackspace hosts Axios 99.9% 1 to 3 Quarterly Yes $150 per
Systems Systems’ solution in five months concurrent
US and two UK locations, license per
as well as in Hong Kong. month
(typical 3:1)
versus $100
per named
user per
month
BMC BMC Remedy OnDemand is 99.5% 2 months Annual Yes $149 per
Software Remedy delivered via a hosted named user
OnDemand ASP model. The public- per month;
sector offering is hosted a concurrent
in the US by Dell. The price option
private-sector offering is is also
hosted in the US and available
EMEA by Capgemini.
CA CA Service A hosted version of the 99.5% 6 to 12 4 to 6 Yes $109 per
Technologies Desk on-premises CA Service weeks months named user
Manager Desk Manager, per month
(hosted) CA Service Catalog, and
CA IT Asset Manager
solutions. Tier 3 data
centers with N+1.
Cherwell Cherwell A version of the 99.9% 1 month 3 to 5 times Yes $114 per
Software Service on-premises offering is per annum concurrent
Manage- hosted by Latisys in license
ment Denver, Colo., iLand in per month
Dallas, Texas, and iLand
in London, UK; new
centers are planned.

4-2 Enterprise SaaS ITSM solutions — additional evaluation criteria (cont.)
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HP HP Service HP Service Anywhere 99.9% 3 to 4 Unknown No* $89 per
Anywhere has been specifically months named user
designed as an SaaS per month
solution. Data centers or $178 per
are in Austin, Houston, floating user
London, Paris, and per month
Sydney.
IBM IBM This is a hosted version 99.5% 2 to 3 Semiannual Yes $86 per
SmartCloud of the on-premises months authorized
Control product. Data centers are user per
Desk in the US, Canada, month; a
Germany, Singapore, concurrent
and Japan. price option
is also
available
ServiceNow ServiceNow ServiceNow provides all 99.8% 3 months At least two For select $100 per
customers with per annum customers user per
dedicated applications month
and relational databases.
Globally distributed
ServiceNow data centers
include full redundancy
and fault-tolerant
infrastructure. Six pairs
of mirrored data centers
replicate production
database servers in
near real-time.
*On-premises alternative available


Upper Midmarket ITSM Tools

Vendors in the upper midmarket SaaS ITSM segment have an average customer seat size between 25
and 99 subscriptions. However, most of these vendors also have customers that meet the enterprise
criteria. Based on relative success to date, I&O professionals should evaluate the following upper
midmarket SaaS ITSM vendors and solutions (see Figure 5-1 and see Figure 5-2):
■ Absolute Software. Absolute Service (formerly LiveTime Service Manager) was launched
by LiveTime Software in 2002 aimed at mid-sized to large enterprises across all geographies.
In addition to the core ITSM capabilities, Absolute Service also offers runbook automation
to orchestrate other tool sets for activities such as provisioning or patching software. Social
capabilities are imminent and mobility is currently supported for iOS and Android devices.
Key differentiators include field service management capabilities, runbook automation, a low
professional-services-to-subscription ratio, and the availability of a virtual appliance as an on-
premises option. LiveTime Software (and LiveTime Service Manager) was acquired by Absolute
Software in November 2012.
■ BMC Software. BMC Remedyforce, built on salesforce.com’s Force.com platform, was launched
in April 2010. It is aimed at the midmarket globally but is equally suited to enterprise-level
organizations that don’t need the depth and breadth of capability offered by Remedy OnDemand.
Key differentiators include: the ability to leverage BMC’s ITSM experience and saleforce.com’s
SaaS credibility in a single solution; the ability to build out in Force.com; BMC’s rapid
Remedyforce development schedule; and competitive pricing. Remedyforce leverages Force.com’s
Chatter capabilities for social, and it offers both self-service and agent capabilities via mobile
devices. The Force.com platform segments the application and configuration layers so customers
can customize without affecting upgrades. It also allows customers to build new applications that
can extend Remedyforce from an ITSM perspective or to support non-ITSM requirements.
■ CA Technologies. CA Nimsoft Service Desk 7 has been available since December 2012 and is
sold across all markets supported by CA Technologies’ global sale force.10 Key differentiators
include: codeless configuration to modify workflow and rules, social capabilities to “follow”
incidents, concurrent licensing, aggressive volume-based “discounts,” and a single solution
combining IT monitoring and service management in Nimsoft Unified Manager. While the
solution does not currently support automation capabilities and a mobile app, both are on the
short-term product road map. In terms of technology, Nimsoft acquired InteQ’s SaaS help desk
software in 2010 and has since made significant customer-guided enhancements. CA Nimsoft
Service Desk is delivered to market via an SaaS-only model by CA and several strategic partners.
CA also offers its traditional enterprise on-premises solution — CA Service Desk Manager.
■ EasyVista. EasyVista’s ITSM SaaS offering has been available since mid-2005. The target market
11
is upper midmarket enterprises with more than 50 IT users, as well as service providers globally.
This is via the direct channel in North America and Europe and with a partner ecosystem

worldwide. Automation is focused on ITSM process enablement, mobility is supported on a

variety of devices, and EasyVista has an aggressive strategy to add significant social capabilities.
Key differentiators include: significant capabilities for IT asset management, IT project
management, and IT governance; business intelligence for simulations and what-if analyses; and
native password reset capabilities. EasyVista is hosted across 10 data centers worldwide.
■ helpLine. In May 2012, helpLine 5.2 was launched, targeted at mid-sized and large enterprises
in Europe. Since the end of 2012, the SaaS offering has been hosted in helpLine’s data center
in Germany. Core capabilities include chat functionality between service agents and Twitter
as a channel of customer communication and interaction. Mobility is supported by an iPhone
app. Key differentiators include a concurrent licensing option, built-in workforce management
for the optimal assignment of HR to tasks and projects, and the integration of field service
management capabilities. In addition to bespoke implementations, helpLine also offers
QuickStart (five-day) and SmartStart (10-day) packages.
■ Hornbill. Hornbill’s SaaS offering, myservicedesk.com, was released in January 2012 aimed at
mid-tier to low-end enterprises in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the US, and Oceania.
Hornbill’s Visual Process Management Engine provides the facility to interact between processes
and external systems, rich Twitter integration, and “My Community” facilitates collaboration
where users may interact with users for peer-to peer-support. Likewise, Hornbill Supportworks
mobile provides a simple interface for both business users and IT employees on the move.
Key differentiators include: “Human Touch” features that remind IT staff of the importance
of service experience; IT asset management capabilities (third-party discovery tool required);
Supportworks Execview ITSM Scorecards for performance management, governance, and
executive decision-making support; and a minimum contract commitment of just three months.
■ LANDesk Software. LANDesk Service Desk as a Service was launched in October 2011 and
is targeted at organizations of all sizes, in all verticals, across all geographies. A core process
engine enables the automation of ITSM processes and the included LANDesk Process Manager
provides a layer of systems-automation between Service Desk and external tools, data, and
systems. From a social perspective, LANDesk offers a number of capabilities, including
discussions (comment, tag, and like), RSS feeds, and integration with social media software such
as Facebook and Twitter. LANDesk has also partnered with social collaboration software vendor
blueKiwi Software. LANDesk Mobile Web Desk is provided as a free feature with LANDesk
Service Desk as a Service for mobility needs. Key differentiators include automation capabilities,
integration with other LANDesk (or third-party) offerings such as Asset Lifecycle Manager for
IT asset management, concurrent licensing, and the breadth of social enablement.
■ Serena Software. Serena Service Manager on demand was launched at the end of 2011 aimed
at Global 2000 customers with an emphasis on North America and Europe. Social enablement
for real-time collaboration is available and Serena Service Manager is optimized for use on

mobile devices. Key differentiators include Serena’s application life-cycle management software
portfolio, a process management platform for process-based apps that can be offered as services
through the request center, and the focus on change and release integration to help bridge
the DevOps divide with Serena Service Manager. In addition, Serena offers an upgrade model
where it upgrades the core platform and customers may optionally upgrade the applications
themselves. The rack rate is $69 per user per month; test and development instances are an
additional $10,000 per year but waived for contracts over $100,000.
■ SunView Software. SunView’s ChangeGear cloud was launched in early 2012 aimed at
North America midmarket organizations, but it can also support customers in Europe and
Asia. As well as the expected ITSM business process automation, ChangeGear also provides
workflow automations that extend into operational IT activities. In terms of social support, the
solution offers the ability for a customer to establish a live chat/support session with IT staff
users. Mobility is supported via iOS and Android apps. Key differentiators include IT asset
management capabilities, concurrent licensing, and the ability to use the ChangeGear platform
to build additional applications (e.g., for HR or facilities). SunView’s solution runs on the
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform.
■ TOPdesk. TOPdesk as a Service was launched in December 2007 aimed at all organizations
regardless of size, industry, and geography, with clients in more than 45 countries. Key
differentiators include IT asset management capabilities and flexibility for shared services
enablement across IT, HR, facilities, and others. In addition, TOPdesk integrates with the main
social media software and has browser-based support for mobility. While a customer can be live
one day after ordering, professional-services-assisted implementations take significantly longer
depending on customer complexity. Pricing depends on the number of modules, version, and
number of end users.

Figure 5 Upper Midmarket Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Tools
5-1 Upper midmarket ITSM tools — core and differentiating capabilities

Enabling
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
Absolute Software Vendor
Social
Other
Absolute x x x x x x x x x x x x IT service
Service continuity,
service
portfolio
management,
and field service
management
BMC x x x x x x x x A x x The ability to

BMC
Technologies Software
Remedyforce build out in

Force.com
CA Nimsoft x x x x x x x x x x IT monitoring
CA
Service Desk


Figure 5 Upper Midmarket Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Tools (Cont.)
5-1 Upper midmarket ITSM tools — core and differentiating capabilities (cont.)
Enabling
Service catalog/self service

Service level management
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
EasyVista Vendor
Social
Other
ITSM SaaS x x x x x x x x x x x x x x IT project
management
and IT
governance;
business
intelligence for
simulations and
what-if analyses;
and native
password reset
capabilities
helpLine x x x x x x x x x x Workforce
helpLine
management
and field
service
management
capabilities
myservice x x x x x x x x A x x x x x Service
LANDesk Hornbill Service
Management
desk.com portfolio
management
and “Human
Touch” features
LANDesk x x x x x x x x x x x x x A x x x Service
Software
Service Desk portfolio

as a Service management
and IT service
continuity
management

5-1 Upper midmarket ITSM tools — core and differentiating capabilities (cont.)
Enabling
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
Serena Software Vendor
Social
Other
Serena x x x x x x x x x x x Integration with
Service Serena’s
Manager application
On Demand life-cycle
management
software
portfolio,
process
management
platform
ChangeGear x x x x x x x x x x x x Ability to use
SunView Software
Cloud the ChangeGear

platform to
build additional
applications,
and auto-
discovery and
dependency
mapping
TOPdesk as x x x x x x x x A x TOPsis, the

TOPdesk
a Service TOPdesk
inventory
tool

5-2 Upper midmarket ITSM tools — additional evaluation criteria
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Absolute Absolute SaaS solution is the 99.999% 1 to 2 Semiannually Yes $150 per user
Software Service same as Absolute’s weeks per month
on-premises offering,
with each customer
having their own
hosted instance in
Amazon.com’s seven
global data centers.
BMC BMC BMC Remedyforce N/A 1 to 6 Triennially No* $79 per named
Software Remedyforce is built on months user per month
Service Desk salesforce.com’s
Force.com platform.
CA CA Nimsoft International data 99.9% 2 to 7 Quarterly No* $95 per named
Technologies Service centers are in weeks user per month
Desk Germany and the US,
with plans to expand
to other countries.
There is a single
multitenant instance
per data center.
EasyVista Easy Vista An exact match to 99.9% 2 to 3 Annually Yes $100 per
ITSM SaaS the on-premises weeks named user
solution, it’s hosted per month
in 10 data centers
worldwide: four in
Europe (France and
Switzerland), four in
the US (via iLand),
and two in Canada
(via RackForce).
helpLine helpLine Hosted in helpLine’s 99.5% 1 week 1 to 2 times Yes $100 per
data center in Leipzig, upward annually named user per
Germany month


5-2 Upper midmarket ITSM tools — additional evaluation criteria (cont.)
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Vendor Product Technology
l
List price
Av
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Hornbill myservice Has the same code as 99.5% 1 to 3 Semiannually Yes £39 (roughly
desk.com the on-premises weeks US$61) per
offering. Hosted in named user
Portsmouth, UK per month
(primary), London, UK
(backup), and
San Antonio,
Texas (primary).
LANDesk LANDesk A configuration of 99.9% 1 month To be Yes $100 per
Service Desk the on-premises determined named user
as a Service offering. Hosted and $250 per
globally by Equinix concurrent
(via US hosting license per
partner DinCloud). month
Non-US-governed respectively
alternatives are
hosted in Germany
(Pironet NDH) and
the UK (Phoenix).
Serena Serena Multitenanted SaaS 99.9% 6 to 8 Semiannually Yes $99 per user
Software Service solution that mirrors weeks per month
Manager the on-premises
On Demand offering. Hosted by
Terremark NAP of the
Americas, whose data
centers are globally
distributed.
SunView ChangeGear Hosted by Amazon 99.95% 1 week to Quarterly Yes $995 per
Software Cloud EC2 3 months named user
per annum or
$1,995 per
concurrent
user per
annum
TOPdesk TOPdesk as The on-premises 99.7% 1 week Annually Yes Pricing is
a Service offering optimized for upward dependent on
SaaS delivery. Hosted the number of
by TOPdesk modules,
Netherlands in the version, and
Netherlands. number of
end users.


Lower Midmarket ITSM Tools

Vendors in the lower midmarket SaaS ITSM segment have an average customer seat size of fewer
than 25 subscriptions. However, many lower midmarket SaaS vendors have individual customers
that meet the upper midmarket criteria. Based on relative success to date, I&O professionals should
evaluate the following lower midmarket SaaS ITSM vendors and solutions (see Figure 6-1 and see
Figure 6-2):
■ ManageEngine. ManageEngine’s ServiceDesk Plus On-Demand was released in October

2010 and is targeted at small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and small to medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) globally. The solution comes with an integrated customer chat module;
an upcoming enhancement will be the ability to create incidents or service requests from the
chat window. For mobility support, there are separate browser interfaces for PCs, smartphones,
and tablets, plus an iOS app for iPhone. While a remote control capability was recently added,
configuration management (and CMDB) and service catalog capabilities are not presently
available. Key differentiators include maturity-inspired solution levels, value pricing, IT and
non-IT asset management capabilities from procurement to retirement, and integration with
parent company (Zoho) offerings. The rack rate is $14 per user per month for the standard
edition, $24 for professional edition, and $54 for enterprise edition. Asset management is an
extra $9 per month for every 50 assets.
■ SAManage. SAManage IT Service Management was launched in 2010 aimed at SMBs and
“emerging enterprises” — which SAManage defines as 100 to 7,000 employees — and service
providers. Key differentiators include: integrated IT asset management; discovery and inventory
capabilities (e.g., Windows, Macs, Unix); rapid deployment and implementation; and weekly
releases that deliver new features. However, a CMDB is not currently available, but it is on the
product road map. An application programming interface is available for integration with third-
party systems (e.g., receiving events in the service desk); social is supported via integration with
salesforce.com’s Chatter, including chat and new request for services submissions. A mobile
interface supports any mobile device using HTML5 for key service desk and ITAM capabilities.
■ Sunrise Software. The SaaS version of Sunrise’s Sostenuto ITSM was launched in September
2011 aimed at UK organizations of all sizes. Sostenuto ITSM has a social media business module
within the platform framework that allows users to monitor specific keywords on Twitter, and
Sostenuto Mobile supports mobile access across all mobile OSes. Key differentiators include
platform capabilities for the creation of new services and Sostenuto ITSM Order Management.
The underlying technology remains the same for SaaS and on-premises, with exception of the
deployment methodology of the integrations. The rack rate for a one- to five-user pack is about
$600 per month, with additional server-based monthly costs.

■ SysAid Technologies. SysAid - Cloud edition is aimed at IT departments in organizations of

all sizes. From a social perspective, SysAid has a thriving IT community integrated into the
product; its community IT Benchmark module takes anonymous customer operational data
(if agreed to) to provide crowdsourced key performance indicators for comparison to other
SysAiders worldwide. Mobility capabilities include native SysAid apps for admin for the four
major platforms, including remote control from the mobile device to end users’ workstations.
End users can access a designated mobile portal. Key differentiators include: IT asset
management capabilities; native remote control and password reset; a socially based SysAid
customer online community; and a community-based IT Benchmark module. The solution
is priced based on use case rather than by user, and SysAid states that pricing ranges from a
few hundred dollars per year for a basic package to a few thousand dollars per year for a full
enterprise package. SysAid has more than 1,000 SaaS customers.
■ Vivantio. Vivantio Service Desk has been available as an SaaS offering since 2004 and is aimed
at organizations of all sizes in Europe, the US, and Australia. Standard subscription includes all
features except asset discovery and remote control, but prices are not made publicly available.
Figure 6-1 details process capabilities. Mobility is supported, but Vivantio does not offer social
capabilities. Key differentiators include native asset discovery and remote control. In terms
of technology, the solution has a multitenant architecture with both SaaS and on-premises
offerings sharing a common code base —the on-premises version is a local installation of the
SaaS product. An enterprise version of Vivantio Service Desk is slated for late Q1 2013.

Figure 6 Lower Midmarket Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Tools
6-1 Lower midmarket ITSM tools — core and differentiating capabilities

Enabling
Capacity management
Problem management
Supplier management
Change management
request management
Release management
IT asset management
management/CMDB
Event management
Configuration
Automation
Mobility
ManageEngine Vendor
Social
Other
Manage- x x x x x A x x Asset, contract,
Engine and purchase
ServiceDesk management
Plus provided in the
On-Demand professional
edition;
integration
with parent
company
(Zoho)
offerings
SAManage x x x x x x x x x A A x Integration
SysAid Sunrise Software SAManage
IT Service with popular

Management web apps
Sostenuto x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Platform
ITSM capabilities for
the creation of
new services
and Sostenuto
ITSM Order
Management
SysAid — x x x x x x x x x x Native remote
Technologies
Cloud control and

edition password reset,
as well as a
community-
based IT
benchmarks
module
Vivantio x x x x x x x x x x x Service
Vivantio
Service Desk portfolio

management,
as well as native
asset discovery
and remote
control

Figure 6 Lower Midmarket Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Tools (Cont.)
6-2 Lower midmarket ITSM tools — additional evaluation criteria
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ManageEngine ManageEngine Multitenant No 2 weeks Quarterly Yes $14 to $54 for
ServiceDesk solution hosted in standard different
Plus ManageEngine’s editions per
On-Demand own (Zoho’s) user per
US data centers — month
two West Coast and
one East Coast
SAManage SAManage Multitenant No Not Weekly No $800 per
IT Service platform hosted standard provided user per year
Management with Terramark in
the US
Sunrise Sostenuto NaviSite provides 99% 2 to 4 Semiannually Yes About $600
Software ITSM all Sunrise months per month
Sostenuto SaaS for a one- to
hosting in Woking, five-user pack
UK. Other locations
are available.
SysAid SysAid — Hosted in the US Not 1 to 3 Monthly Yes Ranges from
Technologies Cloud edition and Europe provided weeks a few hundred
(by Datapipe, dollars per
Liquid Web, year for a
and Amazon) basic package
to a few
thousand
dollars for a
full enterprise
package
Vivantio Vivantio Hosted in the UK, 99.9% 1 to 2 Monthly Yes Unavailable
Service Desk the US, and weeks
Australia.
Multitenant and
single options.
There Are Alternatives

There are many alternatives to the ITSM vendors and tools outlined in this market overview. For
example, there are the ITSM tools that are mainly focused on small organizations with sub-five-
person IT teams. Likewise, there are free ITSM tools, such as the open source OTRS, and the
advertising-sponsored version of Spiceworks.12 Forrester focused on the paid-for solutions serving
the midmarket and above.

With that in mind, the final vendor included in this market overview is Zendesk, which, along with
Desk.com, offers an alternative to the more traditional ITIL-based ITSM suites for organizations
wanting a lighter SaaS-for-ITSM option and a greater focus on the IT end user/customer and
customer service.13 Founded in 2007, Zendesk now provides SaaS-delivered customer-service-
enabling capabilities to more than 25,000 organizations, from SMBs to large enterprises, in more
than 140 countries. Zendesk for IT is Zendesk’s offering targeted at IT use — featuring ticket
management, mobile apps, and self-service — and is used by roughly 25% of its customers. It
provides incident and problem management out of the box and supports simple service request
and change management; there are also integrations with third-party tools such as SAManage and
Citrix GoToManage for asset and configuration management, but this is not a CMDB integration.
Partnerships also offer capabilities for service portfolio, demand, availability, service catalog, and
event management, among others.
Key Zendesk differentiators include a strong focus on IT end user/customer service, social and
mobility support, more than 100 integrations (including with salesforce.com and SugarCRM), and
analytics capabilities. Zendesk has also been a contact center market leader for social and mobility:
the company launched integration with Twitter, chat capabilities, and apps for iPhone, Android, and
BlackBerry in 2010; a help desk app for the iPad and Zendesk for Facebook in 2011; and apps for
Windows phones and the Kindle Fire in 2012. Zendesk pricing ranges from: a Starter plan ($20 per
year for up to three agents); Regular ($24 per agent per month); Plus ($49 per agent per month); and
Enterprise ($99 per agent per month).
R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
LET YOUR LEVEL OF ITSM MATURITY DETERMINE YOUR TOOL NEEDS
While your business might be at the enterprise level in terms of revenues or employees, it does
not necessarily mean you will automatically need an enterprise-level ITSM tool. A key factor to
consider is your level of ITSM maturity based not just on your technology needs, but those of
your people and processes.14 IT infrastructure and operations leaders should ask themselves: What
ITSM processes do you need to be supported by a new ITSM tool, SaaS or otherwise? If it is just
the core processes — such as incident, problem, and change management — then why limit your
organization to just enterprise tools? Expanding your tool selection horizon has many potential
benefits, from improved capabilities to cost savings and support.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Methodology
Forrester partnered with the USA chapter of the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) to field the
Forrester/itSMF Q4 2012 US ITSM Online Survey to 261 service management professionals — a
critical subset of the broader IT I&O role most commonly tasked with planning and implementing
SMA initiatives.
Respondents were primarily itSMF members or ITSM professionals, and as a result, the study
results are biased toward those already heavily involved with IT service management. The findings
do not reflect the general IT community, as representation outside the target ITSM community
was statistically insignificant. The targeting was intentional to form a perspective of how ITSM has
proven itself in the real world. We wanted to portray actual results, not simply desires. In doing so,
this study effectively illustrates best practices. The results convey what is proven to be attainable.
Companies Interviewed For This Document

Absolute Software ManageEngine
Axios Systems SAManage
BMC Software Serena Software
CA Technologies ServiceNow
Cherwell Software Sunrise Software
EasyVista SunView Software
helpLine SysAid Technologies
Hornbill TOPdesk
HP Vivantio
IBM Zendesk
LANDesk Software

ENDNOTES
1
To understand the adoption and business value of IT service management, Forrester partnered with the
USA chapter of the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) to survey 491 ITSM professionals — a critical
subset of the broader IT I&O role. I&O leaders and their teams should use this report to adjust strategy
plans and the subsequent investments in their people, process, and technology. See the May 16, 2012,
“Drive Service Management Adjustments With Peer Comparisons” report.
2
Cloud applications, also known as software-as-a-service, are taking the software market by storm. Buyers
gravitate to these solutions because of their low upfront costs and fast speed of deployment. Many SaaS
solutions also offer a more user-friendly user interface (UI) than their on-premises competitors due to their
more recent introduction or the providers’ ability to rapidly update the UI through automatic, seamless
upgrades. For example, salesforce.com has evolved its original eBay-like look and feel to today’s more
modern Facebook-like design. See the June 23, 2011, “The ROI Of Cloud Apps” report.
3
Source: Forrsights Business Decision-Makers Survey, Q4 2011.
4
Source: ITIL Glossaries (http://www.itil-officialsite.com/InternationalActivities/ITILGlossaries_2.aspx).
5
Forester recommends that organizations reinvent the obsolete but necessary CMDB. See the December 6,
2011, “Reinvent The Obsolete But Necessary CMDB” report.
6
7
8
For more details, see the October 5, 2011, “Updated Q4 2011: Cover Your Assets; Use IT Asset Life-Cycle
Management To Control IT Costs” report.
9
We include two products from both BMC and CA Technologies, so there are 21 vendors and 23 tools.
Zendesk is not positioned against a particular market.
For fairness, where vendors with a new solution have a minimal number of customers to date but an
average seat number meeting these criteria, they have been defaulted to upper midmarket. Also, note
that Zendesk is listed separately as an alternative to the more traditional ITIL-based ITSM suites for
organizations wanting a lighter SaaS for ITSM option and a greater focus on the customer and customer
service.
10
CA Nimsoft is a wholly owned CA Technologies company; the acquisition was completed in March 2010.
11
EasyVista rebranded from Staff&Line; EasyVista used to be the product rather than the company name.
12
OTRS was invited to participate in this market overview.
13
Desk.com was invited to participate in this market overview.
14
Use the Forrester SMA Maturity Model to assess your level of ITSM maturity. See the June 5, 2012, “Assess
Your Service Management And Automation Maturity” report.

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FOR: Infrastructure Market Overview: SaaS IT Service

SaaS Can Be A Compelling Opportunity, But Look Beyond The

Not All SaaS Tools Were Born Equal

Procuring A New ITSM Tool Is Not Enough

Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA

Market Overview: SaaS IT Service Management

WHY READ THIS REPORT

Table Of Contents Notes & Resources

SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE: THE ANSWER TO YOUR ON-PREMISES ITSM TOOL

Traditional Vendors And Their On-Premises Offerings Lead To Customer

“Is too costly to run.”

“Is a poor fit to operational and customer requirements.”

“Is complicated and cumbersome to use.”

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

“Hasn’t kept pace with the latest service management thinking.”

“Is an out-of-date version because it would cost too much to upgrade.”

The Key Benefits Of SaaS For ITSM

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

Figure 1 ITSM Tool Satisfaction Levels

“What is your current state with service desk?”

SaaS 12% 88%

Smaller vendor 43% 57%

Homebrew 40% 60%

Major vendor 31% 69%

Base: 192 itSMF members, Forrester clients, and Twitter respondents

Source: Forrester/itSMF Q4 2012 US ITSM Online Survey

Take A More Critical Look At SaaS To Determine If It Is Right For You

■ Integration challenges with other applications. Twenty-two percent of respondents felt

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

KEY EVALUATION CRITERIA WHEN SELECTING AN SAAS ITSM SOLUTION

Evaluate Three Core Requirements For SaaS ITSM Tools

■ A configuration management database (CMDB). Either as a standalone CMDB or as part of

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

■ A service catalog or self-service capabilities. A service catalog is a database of information

Assess Additional ITSM Process Requirements As Well

■ Operational IT capabilities — release, event, availability, and capacity management.

■ IT business management capabilities — financial and supplier management. IT business

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

Don’t Forget About “Enabling” Capabilities: Automation, Social, And Mobile

■ Automation. This is not the automation of ITSM processes — a long-standing capability

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

SEGMENTING THE LANDSCAPE OF SAAS ITSM TOOLS AND VENDORS

How Forrester defines target market

How Forrester defines customer success

81743 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

BMC Software BMC Remedyforce Service All markets Major success

Serena Software Serena Service Manager Enterprise Ramp-up

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

Enterprise SaaS ITSM Tools

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

■ Cherwell Software. Cherwell Service Management, launched in 2007, is targeted at mid-

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

Figure 4 Enterprise Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Solutions

4-1 Enterprise SaaS ITSM solutions — core and differentiating capabilities

Remedy business service

A = capability provided by another tool; P = partial capability

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013

Figure 4 Enterprise Software-As-A-Service IT Service Management Solutions (Cont.)

A = capability provided by another tool; P = partial capability

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited February 21, 2013