Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools 2016

Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools

Published: 24 August 2016 ID: G00291752

Analyst(s):

 Chris Matchett, Katherine Lord, Rich Doheny

Summary

IT service support management tools are vital for infrastructure and operations organizations to manage support and delivery of IT services. This research profiles key vendors of enterprise ITSSM tools to help I&O leaders make better selections.

Market Definition/Description

IT service support management (ITSSM) tools enable IT operations organizations, specifically infrastructure and operations (I&O) managers, to better support the production environment. ITSSM tools facilitate the tasks and workflows associated with the management and delivery of quality IT services. These are most heavily used by IT service desks and IT service delivery functions.

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

• Basic ITSSM tools that have some ITSM capabilities and limited integration with ITOM solutions
• Intermediate ITSSM tools that have good ITSM capabilities, and provide some basic ITOM functions or integrate with intermediate third-party ITOM solutions
• Advanced ITSSM tools that have a full range of ITSM capabilities, and provide broad ITOM functionality natively or integrated with advanced third-party ITOM solutions

More than 450 vendors 1 offer ITSSM products, but the majority are basic or intermediate tools that focus on IT service desk and ticketing functions targeted at lower maturity I&O organizations. Some innovation occurs in advanced ITSSM tools, but these are aimed and priced to suit organizations that have mastered core ITSSM functions and are willing to spend more to expand their capabilities. Vendors are increasingly concentrating product development on non-I&O use cases as market saturation of basic and intermediate ITSSM tools continues (see "Be Wary If Buying an ITSSM Tool to Use Beyond ITSM 2.0" ). If this trend continues, the market for ITSSM tools will stagnate.

ITSSM tools are a component of the IT service management 2.0 IT operations management tools minisuite (see Note 1). The ITSM 2.0 minisuite focuses on improving the overall level of quality and efficiency with which the I&O organization supports business users. ITSSM tools may optionally integrate with other tools from the automation minisuite or the availability and performance minisuite for deeper overall ITOM capability (see "Choose IT Operations Management Tools Based on Your Requirements" ).

Magic Quadrant

Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools

Source: Gartner (August 2016)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Axios Systems

Axios Systems offers one ITSSM product called assyst that is targeted at organizations with high I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• Axios Systems concentrates exclusively on providing ITSSM solutions.
• Axios Systems has maintained good relationships with customers and has introduced a customer engagement program including regular postsales meetings in addition to focus groups, customer meet-ups and online forums.
• Most customers have updated to recent versions of assyst, demonstrating a continuing investment in the product.

CAUTIONS

• Axios Systems has invested in a SaaS platform that relatively few of its customers are using.
• Growth in customer numbers and revenue have lagged the industry during the evaluation period for this research.
• The majority of Axios' customers and marketing efforts are focused on Europe primarily and North America secondarily; it has limited presence in other regions.

BMC

BMC offers four ITSSM products (Remedy Service Management Suite targeted at high-I&O-maturity organizations, Remedyforce and FootPrints targeted at intermediate I&O maturity, and Track-It for basic I&O maturity). Remedy ITSM Suite and Remedyforce are evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research, with the score for Remedy contributing to the "product or service" factor of Ability to Execute.

STRENGTHS

• BMC Remedy's Smart IT user interface improves usability and flexibility, and demonstrates BMC's innovation in this market.
• BMC has a broad ITOM portfolio, making it a viable partner for mature I&O organizations that need to extend their ITSSM tool.
• BMC has the largest enterprise ITSSM customer base available for ongoing nurturing and upsell opportunities.

CAUTIONS

• BMC's sales teams tend to be less responsive compared with the competition, and Remedy frequently drops off these shortlists of Gartner clients.
• In February 2016, Salesforce stopped selling Remedyforce, thereby removing a key sales partner for BMC's midmarket SaaS product.
• Customers that upgraded to FootPrints 12 have reported dissatisfaction with the usability and performance of the product.

CA Technologies

CA Technologies offers one ITSSM product called CA Service Management that is targeted at organizations with high I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• CA Technologies has a strong global reach supported by a good balance of selling directly and through partners with whom customers report good experiences.
• CA Technologies has invested in research to study employee personas and behavior to better understand how it can improve the user experience of its products.
• CA remains a well-known brand with high levels of market awareness.

CAUTIONS

• The benefits of CA Technologies' research into user experience that started in early 2015 did not materialize in time for the evaluation period for this research.
• CA Technologies has stopped selling CA Cloud Service Management directly to new customers, which leaves the company with a weakened SaaS-based ITSSM tool strategy.
• Gartner's market share analysis concludes that CA Technologies' share of the ITSSM market revenue has consistently declined each year from 2010 through 2015.

Cherwell Software

Cherwell Software offers one ITSSM product called Cherwell Service Management that is targeted at organizations with medium I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• Cherwell has continued to drive good customer engagement and attract a loyal following.
• Cherwell has increased its capabilities in wider ITOM functions with enhancements to Cherwell Asset Management, and close partnership with FireScope for features such as discovery and dependency mapping.
• Cherwell has introduced alternative SaaS hosting via Microsoft Azure to provide enterprise performance, security and privacy to customers with a global footprint.

CAUTIONS

• Customers in search of additional ITSSM capabilities, beyond what Cherwell offers in its core ITSSM product, may need to license additional capabilities from third parties, which can lead to additional costs.
• Cherwell's efforts to additionally develop and market its product as a platform for business activities outside of ITSSM may lead to a lack of focus on the ITSSM market in the future.
• Customers in some regions report difficulty in sourcing implementation partners for Cherwell's ITSSM products.

EasyVista

EasyVista offers one ITSSM product called EasyVista IT Service Manager that is targeted at organizations with medium I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• EasyVista has added support resources in North America, which has resolved language issues reported by customers in previous years.
• EasyVista's customers have reported success in configuring workflows and custom forms within the tool without needing to write code.
• EasyVista IT Service Manager can run on-premises and via SaaS, and the installed customer base is uncommonly well-balanced across both modes.

CAUTIONS

• Revenue growth is modest, but EasyVista is not keeping up with market leaders in terms of sales performance.
• EasyVista invests relatively little of its revenue in research and development compared with its competitors.
• EasyVista has limited presence in Asia; its focus is stronger in Europe and improving in North America.

Heat Software

Heat Software offers one ITSSM product called Heat Service Management that is targeted at organizations with medium I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• Heat Software is marketing effectively through channels that cater to organizations with low to medium I&O maturity.
• Heat makes effective use of sales partners to close a good number of lower-value deals without expending many sales cycles.
• Heat improved customer satisfaction through initiatives such as annual customer advisory boards, which allows customers to provide input influential to the future direction of the product.

CAUTIONS

• An appreciable number of customers are using older versions of Heat Software's ITSSM product, and often chose to switch to competing products rather than upgrade.
• Heat Software's marketing of its ITSSM product as "cloud service management" is confusing as it does not actually provide cloud management software.
• Despite the cloud branding and investment in a multitenancy SaaS platform, few of Heat's customers are using the tool via the cloud subscription offering.

HPE

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) offers two ITSSM products (HPE Service Manager and HPE Service Anywhere) that are targeted at organizations with high to medium I&O maturity, respectively. Both are evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research, with HPE Service Manager's score contributing to the "product or service" factor of Ability to Execute.

STRENGTHS

• HPE has a strong brand and global reach, with its professional services organization available in all major regions.
• HPE offers a broad portfolio of ITOM tools that integrate directly with its ITSSM products.
• HPE's big data capabilities enable its customers to improve search and analytics in areas such as incident management, change management and knowledge management.

CAUTIONS

• ITSSM is a minor part of HPE's software portfolio, and Gartner's market share analysis concludes that HPE's share of the ITSSM market revenue has declined each year from 2009 through 2015.
• Customers report concerns that HPE Service Manager is not getting sufficient attention as investment in research and development has focused on Service Anywhere and other products.
• Many of HPE's ITSSM customers are running older versions of HPE Service Manager, and many of those customers have not updated recently.

IBM

IBM offers one ITSSM product called Control Desk that is targeted at organizations with high I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• IBM maintains its strength through its ability to sell into its existing customer base.
• IBM has extensive global partnerships and resources in Europe and Asia where many other vendors lack significant local presence.
• IBM has an opportunity to leverage Watson technology for artificial intelligence and service desk automation purposes.

CAUTIONS

• IBM has not developed Control Desk to compete aggressively in the ITSSM tools market, and it rarely appears on client shortlists.
• A majority of IBM's ITSSM customers are running older versions of its ITSSM product.
• IBM primarily markets Control Desk to existing IBM customers, and often relies on it being sold as part of a larger outsourcing or ITOM purchase.

Landesk

Landesk offers one ITSSM product called Landesk Service Desk that is targeted at organizations with intermediate and high I&O maturity. This tool is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research.

STRENGTHS

• Its Total User Management suite that includes the Service Desk product gives Landesk a solid portfolio of ITSSM tools backed by good automation for enterprise devices.
• Landesk continues to expand its workspace initiative to provide a unified user experience across the range of its products.
• Landesk has been active in seeking to improve its software portfolio in the ITSM 2.0 minisuite, via acquisitions of Xtraction Solutions and AppSense during the past year.

CAUTIONS

• Landesk's acquisition of Xtraction in late 2015 has yet to result in fully integrated improved reporting capabilities for its ITSSM toolset.
• Despite an increase in ITSSM marketing efforts, Landesk is still commonly recognized for endpoint management but not for its ITSSM portfolio.
• Landesk has invested in a dual-licensing model where the tool can be provided either on-premises or in the cloud, but relatively few of its customers are using the SaaS option.

ServiceNow

ServiceNow offers two ITSSM products (ServiceNow Service Management Suite and ServiceNow Express) that are targeted at organizations with high and low I&O maturity, respectively. ServiceNow Service Management Suite is evaluated in the Critical Capabilities companion research, with its score contributing to the "product or service" factor of Ability to Execute.

STRENGTHS

• ServiceNow dominates customer shortlists, making it the prime target for technology and implementation partners, and subsequently resulting in a wide choice for its customers.
• ServiceNow has improved wider ITOM capabilities through the maturation of earlier acquisitions (Neebula, rebranded as ServiceWatch and Mirror42, rebranded as Performance Analytics).
• ServiceNow Express (which offers an upgrade path to the Enterprise product without reimplementation) has been integrated into the main product strategy, and we have seen better penetration into the midmarket as a result.

CAUTIONS

• Recent changes in pricing and the bundling of noncore product features make it confusing for ServiceNow's customers to negotiate favorable deals.
• ServiceNow's strategy to promote its products for activities outside of ITSM 2.0 suggests a relative lack of focus on its core ITSSM tool in terms of ongoing research and development.
• On-premises customers pay the same as SaaS customers, even though they cover the hosting directly and do not benefit from automatic upgrades.

Vendors Added and Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants as markets change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant may change over time. A vendor's appearance in a Magic Quadrant one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of that vendor. It may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria, or of a change of focus by that vendor.

Added

IBM

Dropped

Hornbill

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

For inclusion in the 2016 Magic Quadrant for ITSSM tools, Gartner focuses on vendors that offer not only IT service support functions that focus on product usability and the ease of use of out-of-the-box best practices, but also next-generation support capabilities specific to mobility and the use of social collaboration capabilities to increase effectiveness and efficiency levels.

To be included in the 2016 Magic Quadrant, vendors must:

• Sell and market an ITSSM product that includes functionality for IT incident management, problem management, change management, configuration management, release governance, IT user self-service (for knowledge and request management), IT knowledge management, IT service support analytics and reporting, and SLA management with regard to incident and service requests. Also a graphical process designer must be available to manage the above workflows.
• Have at least 35% of customers using versions of software across the ITSSM product portfolio that are less than 18 months old (released after 1 September 2014).
• Have at least $19 million in annual revenue derived from ITSSM products.
• Have sales presence or a partner network that includes at least two offices (regional office or reseller partner) in each of three or more of the following regions: North America, Latin America, Europe (Western, Eastern and Eurasia), Middle East and North Africa (including sub-Saharan Africa), and Asia/Pacific (Mature, Emerging, Greater China and Japan; Gartner's market definitions for global regions are defined in "Market Definitions and Methodology: IT Markets" ).

Gartner also asks for five qualifying customer references (with at least two being customers for at least two years); these references should meet the following criteria:

• They should involve ITSSM tool solutions for which the customer has paid and which are being used in production environments.
• The tools implemented should support and automate at least five of the following processes: incident management, problem management, change management, configuration management, release management, knowledge management or request management.
• They should have an organizational size of at least 5,000 business users of IT.
• The references should be located in at least three of the following regions: North America, Latin America, Europe (Western, Eastern and Eurasia), Middle East and North Africa (including sub-Saharan Africa), and Asia/Pacific (Mature, Emerging, Greater China and Japan).

Because Gartner bases its main evaluation on real user experiences, rather than on future releases or recent releases that have been broadly tested, the product versions considered as part of this evaluation must have been generally available by 1 March 2016.

Evaluation Criteria

Ability to Execute

Product or Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor for the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and detailed in these 11 critical capabilities:

1. Incident and Problem Management: Incident ticketing and problem management is required by all IT organizations that use ITSSM tools. This enables them to manage the life cycles of IT incidents and problem records from recording to closing. These are core capabilities in which all ITSSM tools must be competent.
2. Change and Release Management: Integrated change and release management is important for organizations focused on intermediate and advanced IT service support capabilities to control the governance and risk of changes to I&O.
3. Configuration Management: Configuration management is important for organizations focused on intermediate and advanced IT service support capabilities to maintain an overview of service assets to aid other processes such as change and incident management.
4. Self-Service/Request Fulfillment: Service request fulfillment is important for IT organizations focused on providing business users with a convenient way to interact with the IT organization by presenting incident and request tracking services, technical IT components and IT services in the form of an orderable service catalog.
5. IT Knowledge Management: Knowledge management is a key area of differentiation for all use cases. The knowledge portal should enable end users to resolve simple incidents themselves. The tools should create knowledge bases for relevant, updateable content that is useful for IT and business users.
6. Collaboration: Collaboration features are key for digital workplace use cases to help IT staff work together to solve IT incidents and problems, to enable business users to solve their own IT issues and also for those business users to help colleagues.
7. Reporting and SLA Management: Reporting and dashboards are key for all use cases, because they support, enhance and extend collaborative decision support (strategic and tactical) and communication with IT and business leaders.
8. Process and Workflow Design: IT organizations in all use cases need out-of-the-box, preconfigured forms, fields, workflows and reports that are compatible with industry best practices and standards for IT service support.
9. Data Source/ITOM Tool Integration: The tools' ability to integrate with other tools and the ability of those tools to integrate with ITSSM tools is increasingly important, particularly for organizations that use software from other ITOM minisuites.
10. Total Cost of Ownership: License and subscription costs for ITSSM tools vary considerably, as do ongoing costs for support and administration. Many organizations overbuy when selecting an ITSSM tool.
11. User Experience and Flexibility: Product configuration flexibility is an important factor that distinguishes different ITSSM tools for different maturity levels. IT service desk users, in particular, benefit from a streamlined and intuitive UI.

These product criteria are evaluated in the critical capabilities research for IT service support management tools (see "Critical Capabilities for IT Service Support Management Tools" ). The critical capabilities score for the ITSSM product that is targeted at large enterprises with medium-to-high I&O maturity is used where multiple products from a vendor qualify for inclusion in that research.

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

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

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

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

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and 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 to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen to and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product Strategy): The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current and future requirements.

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

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.

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 Leaders quadrant. Both vendors have executed well, and own 21.3% and 34.4%, respectively, of the ITSSM market. Both vendors exhibit the levels of marketing and sales capabilities required to drive market acceptance.

Challengers

Cherwell Software is positioned in the Challengers quadrant. This vendor has also executed well, growing its market share and improving its ITSSM products and its overall viability levels enough to participate well in the general-purpose market with competitive products.

Visionaries

Vendors appearing in this quadrant deliver innovative products that address operationally important I&O organizational challenges — namely, business-user engagement and IT collaboration — but have yet to gain significant market or mind share. This year, no vendors fit this description as they have focused on innovation outside the scope of ITSSM tools.

Niche Players

Niche Players have strengths in particular areas of ITSSM, but generally have not invested in satisfying all the requirements to demonstrate Completeness of Vision and the Ability to Execute. The vendors in this quadrant focus on a small segment, or are in the process of ramping up go-to-market efforts and have yet to develop the vision to break out.

Context

The Magic Quadrant for ITSSM tools assesses the viability of vendors and their competitive strength in the ITSSM marketplace. The vendors featured here produce ITSSM tools that are of interest to large I&O organizations that have an intermediate-to-high I&O maturity (Gartner ITScore for Infrastructure and Operations of 2.5 or higher).

It is not a direct evaluation of the ITSSM products that these vendors offer. This analysis complements the "Critical Capabilities for IT Service Support Management Tools," which applies nine critical capabilities that differentiate the most popular large-enterprise-focused products on the market, and three I&O-maturity-related use cases (plus one for digital workplace). The use cases filter and prioritize the capabilities that will have the greatest beneficial impact of ITSSM products offered by these vendors. Gartner strongly recommends that organizations use this research in conjunction with the Critical Capabilities, inquiries with analysts, and other Gartner research to define their requirements and select solutions that match their needs.

Organizations should not base choice of vendor solely on its proximity to the Leaders quadrant. IT leaders must create a list of criteria that describes their needs, and select vendors that best meet those requirements (see "Redesign Your ITSSM Tool RFP Process for Better Results" ). The best vendor will meet the organization's requirements and provide integration with broader IT operations management capabilities (see "ITSSM Tool Selections Require an ITSM and ITOM Tooling Strategy" ).

Capabilities for processing workflows such as HR, facilities, business asset management and others that are not activities associated with IT service support management are not evaluated in this research (see "Be Wary If Buying an ITSSM Tool to Use Beyond ITSM 2.0" ).

Plan to select a vendor that can work with you for at least five years, and that invests in the ITSSM market. Prioritize skills, training, process and proper product implementation, because these factors will influence your experience with a product more than the specific functional capabilities. Finally, select a vendor that can truly help your I&O organization reach its maturation goals.

The predominance of low I&O maturity within this market will ensure that demand for basic tools remains significant. Gartner regularly advises clients to also consider ITSSM vendors not found in this Magic Quadrant.

Market Overview

The IT service support management tool market consists of more than 450 products that claim to provide IT organizations with the ability to track and resolve issues that affect the IT production environment. 1 Although all ITSSM tools provide those core ticketing functions, the true value that IT organizations can gain from ITSSM tools comes from their ability to offer and support tightly integrated processes and functions that correlate with the activities of the broader IT organization. I&O organizations looking to increase IT process maturity have looked to ITSSM tools aligned with and preconfigured to industry best-practice frameworks — to integrate responsibilities across technology silos with common processes, collaboration and the reinforcement of an organizational commitment to shared objectives.

ITSSM tools integrate processes and functions that correlate with the broader IT support organization. Features should include incident and problem management capabilities for the IT service desk function, and change, configuration and release management tools for process leaders, infrastructure engineers and domain administrators. They often include a configuration management database (CMDB) that provides change management impact assessment and visibility into service configurations for speeding service restoration. The ITSSM tool market has grown from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $2.2 billion in 2015. 2

ITSSM tools are a component of the ITSM 2.0 IT operations management tools minisuite (see Note 1). The ITSM 2.0 minisuite focuses on improving the overall levels of quality and efficiency with which the I&O organization supports end users. ITSSM tools may optionally integrate with other tools from the automation minisuite or the availability and performance minisuite for deeper overall ITOM capability (see "Choose IT Operations Management Tools Based on Your Requirements" ).

Many I&O organizations don't adequately understand how to choose ITSSM tools that address current needs and requirements. This is due to a lack of I&O roadmaps that establish the people, processes and technology resources needed to reach the desired state of I&O maturity. Without a roadmap, I&O often purchases ITSSM tools that have more functionality than it needs (incurring higher costs), or that lack the capabilities or integration abilities it will require as it grows (see "IT Service Support Management Tool Acquisitions Must Be Based on I&O Maturity" ). ITSSM vendors are keenly aware of this and compete aggressively for new business and for partnerships for broader ITOM capabilities and integrations.

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Small & Midsize (<1000 Employees) Context

Market Differentiators

The IT service support management (ITSSM) tools that appear on the "Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools" are designed and built to meet the needs of large global enterprises with deep IT service management (ITSM) capabilities and broad IT operations management (ITOM) functionality and integration. Consequently, midmarket organizations (fewer than 1,000 employees) run the risk of buying overly expensive and complex solutions. Most midmarket organizations lack the resources to fully use all of the capabilities bundled in these large ITSSM tools.

The versatile nature of typical midmarket IT resources weighs heavily on both product requirements and the criteria used to select potential vendors. However, some midmarket organizations can have a requirement for a higher level of maturity that dictates a need for a more advanced ITSSM tool, with deeper capabilities.

Most midmarket organizations report, via client inquiry and Gartner events, that they have an average of 10 to 40 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in IT, and that they prefer to start with just a handful of licenses. In addition, midmarket infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders prefer a "pay as you grow" licensing model, with most midsize organizations never needing to exceed 50 licensed users. Although there are cost implications for this licensing model (see "Before Purchasing an ITSSM Tool, Compare Pricing and Licensing" ), there is no predisposition to SaaS or to on-premises deployment models.

Most midmarket organizations place a premium on service and support quality, as well as ease of administration and management. Products designed for resource-constrained midsize organizations are typically lower cost, and they require fewer resources to implement and maintain. Although they support core ITSM processes, they tend to be less-feature-rich and to align more closely with midmarket buyer criteria. However, I&O leaders who focus too much on price and soft costs may adopt products that are ill-equipped to meet their long-term maturity goals (see "IT Service Support Management Tool Acquisitions Must Be Based on I&O Maturity" ).

Most midmarket organizations require enterprise-class functionality in a few keys areas, such as incident, problem and knowledge management; however, in others (such as change and release management), varying degrees of good-enough functionality is all that may be required. In certain situations, the benefits of an industry-specific approach (e.g., legal and education) may trump the specific benefits of competing products by delivering fit-for-purpose pricing models, configurations and professional services.

IT leaders in midmarket organizations evaluating ITSSM tools should analyze the characteristics of the many different offerings and delivery models. They should select solutions that provide the capabilities they need, while aligning with their financial means and skill sets.

Considerations for Technology and Service Selection

Objectively evaluate people, processes and existing tools first:

• Changing platforms or adopting more-robust ITSSM solutions will not resolve the symptoms that result from internal process and people deficiencies.
• In most cases, changing platforms or adopting more-robust ITSSM solutions will exacerbate the situation.

Determine maturity objectives:

• Organizational maturity weighs heavily on ITSSM vendor selection in the midmarket, with many midmarket I&O departments aligning with the basic and intermediate maturity I&O use cases (see "Critical Capabilities for IT Service Support Management Tools" ).
• For less mature, midsize enterprises with moderate maturity goals, the SaaS model may represent a more pragmatic approach, due to the shorter deployment cycles and fewer resources required for support, compared with on-premises solutions.

Assess postsales support and services:

• Most midsize organizations have smaller infrastructure and application portfolios than large enterprises, which makes each critical. Validate each vendor's capabilities to integrate its ITSSM solution with existing infrastructure and data sources.
• Evaluate the vendor's ability to provide high-quality, postsales support assistance (integration, configuration, customization, and postimplementation support), especially if these skills are absent or deficient internally.
• Price should not affect the quality and availability of support.

Don't assume SaaS is synonymous with simple or inexpensive:

• SaaS is not always the least expensive option (see "Before Purchasing an ITSSM Tool, Compare Pricing and Licensing" ).
• Before midmarket I&O leaders sign a contract, they should fully review the delivery model, pricing, licensing and maintenance costs to ensure that the total costs are economical.

Seek out out-of-the-box functionality where possible:

• Customizations add complexity to the environment and require ongoing support to upkeep and manage upgrades.
• Out-of-the-box reports, workflows, templates and integrations can reduce the need to heavily customize the tool.

Notable Vendors

Vendors included in this Magic Quadrant Perspective have customers that are successfully using their products and services. Selections are based on analyst opinion and references that validate IT provider claims; however, this is not an exhaustive list or analysis of vendors in this market. Use this perspective as a resource for evaluations, but explore the market further to gauge the ability of each vendor to address your unique business problems and technical concerns. Consider this research as part of your due diligence and in conjunction with discussions with Gartner analysts and other resources.

The notable vendors chosen below were referenced frequently in midsize enterprise surveys, Peer Insights and client inquiry data as offering commonly referenced incumbent products for midmarket organizations.

This is a mature market, and, for basic service desk workflow requirements (e.g., for service desk agents to document and track incidents and requests), there is a level of commoditization. Although some low-maturity organizations will look to leverage in-house CRM tools, the products listed below are built around ITIL-aligned capabilities. Products addressing the midmarket are usually lower-cost than solutions designed for large enterprises, and they are also easier to maintain. Their vendors are able to provide references of similar size and requirements. The following vendors meet these requirements.

Atlassian

Atlassian's Jira Service Desk offers tight integration with other Atlassian products, including Jira Software, Confluence and HipChat, for midmarket organizations seeking greater linkage between ITSSM and software development processes. Jira Service Desk is available as SaaS and as an on-premises product.

BMC

BMC's Remedyforce is a multitenant SaaS product built on the Salesforce platform. Remedyforce provides graphical representation of each ITIL process, with specific work instructions for each to aid midmarket organizations in building out and training new hires on ITSM processes.

Dell Software

Dell's KACE K1000 system management appliance is sold as a turnkey solution. The K1000 includes service desk, IT asset management (ITAM), configuration management and endpoint security capabilities that reduce the resources required to manage endpoint devices. Dell announced that KACE will be included in the divestiture of the Dell Software business to Francisco Partners and Elliott Management. Dell KACE has historically been designed for the midmarket, and has not indicated any change of focus.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk's ITSSM product, Freshservice, is available as a SaaS offering. Freshdesk offers multiple pricing tiers that scale up with functionality (starting with incident, request, knowledge, and service-level management in the initial tier), as well as a day pass option for organizations with unknown growth trajectories that need occasional agents or temporary staff for volume spikes.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine's ITSSM product, ServiceDesk Plus is delivered on-premises and as SaaS. It integrates with other elements of the ManageEngine portfolio, such as OpManager, ADManager Plus and Desktop Central. When combined, these products automate the conversion of network alarms into service desk tickets, enable IT service desk agents to perform some desktop management activities and handle Active Directory (AD) functions from the ServiceDesk Plus console.

Samanage

Samanage's ITSM product (of the same name) offers ITSSM and ITAM solutions separately or as a unified offering. Integrations with other common platforms, such as Salesforce, LogMeIn, Jira, and Okta, provide midmarket leaders with broader tie-ins to their ITSSM tools. Samanage is available as a multitenant SaaS offering.

ServiceNow

ServiceNow Express provides a subset of functionality of ServiceNow's enterprise solution focusing on core ITSM processes (e.g., incident, problem, change and knowledge management). It is a good entry point for organizations looking for a path to grow into the full suite, as new requirements demand. ServiceNow Express is provided as a SaaS solution, and is built from the same codebase as the enterprise version.

SunView Software

SunView Software offers ChangeGear, an ITSSM tool, as both on-premises and SaaS. ChangeGear has codeless design and is configurable without technical expertise, which makes it attractive to organizations with limited IT resources.

SysAid

SysAid produces SysAid ITSM, which is offered as an on-premises and SaaS model, includes a basic benchmarking feature that enables customers to compare several metrics against averages from other SysAid customers.

TOPdesk

TOPdesk produces an ITSSM solution, of the same name, that is available on-premises and as SaaS. TOPdesk is modular, enabling midmarket IT organizations to size their implementations according to their immediate requirements and to grow with modules, such as asset management or self-service.

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Europe Context

Market Differentiators

Research into the IT service support management (ITSSM) tool market includes a review of the distribution of the number of customers vendors have across various geographies. One particular focus of this data collection is to look at the prevalence of the different vendors within the European market. Table 1 shows the aggregated European customer base of ITSSM vendors in this Magic Quadrant. The vendors in this table are categorized by the location of their primary headquarters. (The customer information was taken from "Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools." )

Table 1.   Percentage of ITSSM Customers That Are European

Category of ITSSM Vendor	Average Percentage of Customers That Are European
Europe-based ITSSM tool vendors	72%
All ITSSM tool vendors	39%
U.S.-based ITSSM tool vendors	31%

Source: Gartner (October 2016)

The table shows that European infrastructure and operations (I&O) managers are more likely to select an ITSSM tool from a Europe-based vendor featured in this Magic Quadrant versus a U.S.-based vendor. Gartner also finds the same story in the United States: U.S.-based organizations purchase from U.S.-based vendors the vast majority of the time. Localization and support for multiple languages play an important role in the selection of ITSSM tools for European I&O managers. Among Gartner client inquiries between September 2015 and August 2016 on the topic of ITSSM tools, 16% were from clients based in Europe.

All the vendors covered in this Magic Quadrant have established a sales presence and partnerships across at least three geographic regions (see the inclusion criteria in "Magic Quadrant for IT Service Support Management Tools" ), including Europe (Western, Eastern and major countries in Eurasia [Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine]).

Considerations for Technology and Service Selection

Europe-based vendors are only marginally better than non-Europe-based vendors at tool language localization on average, but some ITSSM tools from non-European vendors actually support more languages. (Supported local languages are as provided by the vendors on or before 1 March 2016.) Vendors headquartered in Europe support an average of 6 (between 2 and 9) of the 14 major European languages. The following 14 languages are frequently spoken in European countries (at least 3% as a primary or secondary language in 2012, according to the European Commission's Report No. 55, entitled "Eurobarometer: Public Opinion in the European Union" ): Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. This is compared with vendors based outside of Europe, which support an average of 8 (between 4 and 11) of those European languages. All the products evaluated support English, with German, French and Spanish most often provided for. Gartner found that none of the products natively support Romanian, and just one tool had support for Greek. Some products offer additional language support in the business-user-facing portal that is not available for IT users in the main application. All of the vendors featured in this Magic Quadrant have multiple local offices and a strong European customer base (at least 20%).

Any of the ITSSM tool vendors in this Magic Quadrant, regardless of their headquarters location, can be a good option for European I&O managers, as long as they evaluate the options according to the specific requirements of their organizations. European I&O leaders should look beyond the regional heritage of vendors, and base their vendor selection on tool language localization and business hour support, as well as their other specific needs. Limiting vendor options by proximity risks excluding viable options from consideration.

Notable Vendors

Vendors included in this Magic Quadrant Perspective have customers that are successfully using their products and services. Selections are based on analyst opinion and references that validate IT provider claims; however, this is not an exhaustive list or analysis of vendors in this market. Use this perspective as a resource for evaluations, but explore the market further to gauge the ability of each vendor to address your unique business problems and technical concerns. Consider this research as part of your due diligence and in conjunction with discussions with Gartner analysts and other resources.

The headquarters location of vendors has little impact on the suitability of their ITSSM tool for a European company in most cases. All of the vendors in this Magic Quadrant have local offices in multiple locations in Europe (Gartner's market definitions for global regions are defined in"Market Definitions and Methodology: IT Markets" ), and provide local language support. Support for other European languages may be provided.

Magic Quadrant Vendors Headquartered in Europe

AXIOS SYSTEMS

Axios Systems is headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and has a significant percentage (50% to 84%) of its customer base in Europe. It has local offices in 13 European countries, covering the Western and Eastern European subregions (including Eurasia). Axios' ITSSM product contains local language support for 8 frequently spoken European languages.

EASYVISTA

EasyVista is headquartered in Paris, France, and has a significant percentage (50% to 84%) of its customer base in Europe. It has local offices in 6 European countries, covering the Western European subregion. EasyVista's ITSSM product contains local language support for 9 frequently spoken European languages.

Magic Quadrant Vendors Headquartered Outside of Europe

BMC

BMC is headquartered in Texas, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 19 European countries covering the Western and Eastern European subregions (including Eurasia). BMC's ITSSM products contain local language support for 7 frequently spoken European languages.

CA TECHNOLOGIES

CA Technologies is headquartered in New York, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 16 European countries covering the Western and Eastern European subregions (including Eurasia). CA's ITSSM products contain local language support for 5 frequently spoken European languages.

CHERWELL SOFTWARE

Cherwell Software is headquartered in Colorado, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 3 European countries and covers the western European subregion. Cherwell's ITSSM product contains local language support for 5 frequently spoken European languages.

HEAT SOFTWARE

Heat Software is headquartered in California, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 6 European countries, covering the Western European subregion. Heat Software's ITSSM product contains local language support for 5 frequently spoken European languages.

HPE

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is headquartered in California, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 34 European countries, covering the Western and Eastern European subregions (including Eurasia). HPE's ITSSM products contain local language support for 11 frequently spoken European languages.

LANDESK

Landesk is headquartered in Utah, United States, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 13 European countries, covering the Western and Eastern European subregions (including Eurasia). Landesk's ITSSM product contains local language support for 7 frequently spoken European languages.

SERVICENOW

ServiceNow is headquartered in California, United States, and has fewer than 25% of customers based in Europe. ServiceNow has local offices in 14 European countries, covering the Western European subregion. ServiceNow's ITSSM product contains local language support for 11 frequently spoken European languages.

Other Vendors Based in Europe

The following vendors are not featured in the Magic Quadrant, but are headquartered in Europe and may be of interest to I&O leaders who are focused in a specific country. This sample list is not comprehensive, and inclusion of a vendor is neither an indication of quality nor a recommendation.

ALVAO

Alvao is headquartered in Vysočina, Czech Republic, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in 5 European countries, covering the Western and Eastern European subregions. Alvao's ITSSM product contains local language support for 4 frequently spoken European languages.

EFECTE

Efecte is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in 4 European countries, covering the Western European subregion. Efecte's ITSSM product contains local language support for 3 frequently spoken European languages.

ISILOG

Isilog is headquartered in Nantes, France, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in France. Isilog's ITSSM product contains local language support for 2 of 13 listed European languages.

MATRIX42

Matrix42 is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in 6 European countries covering the Western European subregion, plus Eurasia. Matrix42's ITSSM product contains local language support for 7 frequently spoken European languages.

PAT

Pat is headquartered in Milano, Italy, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in 3 European countries, covering the Western European subregion. PAT's ITSSM product contains local language support for 5 frequently spoken European languages.

PROACTIVANET

ProactivaNET is headquartered in Gijón, Spain, and has a moderate percentage (25% to 49%) of customers based in Europe. It has local European offices in Spain. ProactivaNET's ITSSM product contains local language support for 2 frequently spoken European languages.

TOPDESK

TOPdesk is headquartered in Delft, Netherlands, and has a predominantly European customer base (at least 85%). It has local offices in 6 European countries, covering the Western and Eastern European subregions. TOPdesk's ITSSM product contains local language support for 9 frequently spoken European languages.

WENDIA

Wendia is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland, and has a significant percentage (50% to 84%) of customers based in Europe. It has local offices in 9 European countries, covering the Western European and Eurasian subregions. Wendia's ITSSM product contains local language support for 5 frequently spoken European languages.

Evidence

1 As of 17 June 2016, ITSM Portal shows 415 products. Although some are duplicates, there are products that Gartner has encountered that are currently missing from that list.

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

Based on 515 inquiries with Gartner clients purchasing ITSSM tools during the past 18 months. In addition, Gartner collected ITSSM tool statistics from anonymized client inquiries detailing ITSSM tools in use, scheduled for replacement and on shortlists for selection.

Note 1 
Minisuites

Minisuites are composed of a small number of tools that address a defined need (for example, end-user management, server provisioning or configuration) or specific IT operations processes (for example, incident and problem management), or that are aimed at a specific user or buying center (for example, network administration). Minisuites can also reflect how vendors group, integrate, market and sell their products.

Evaluation Criteria Definitions

Ability to Execute

Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor for the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and detailed in the subcriteria.

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

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

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

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

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and so on.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis.

Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen to and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current and future requirements.

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

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

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.

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