Research Indicates Continued ITSM Growth in 2009

January 7, 2009
By ITSM Watch Staff

CIOs will advance ITSM programs to better align IT with business drivers.

Despite the unsteady economy, 87% of IT professionals are planning strategic, enterprise-level ITSM programs with the support of senior management. This is one of the key findings of a new Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) report: 2009 Trends and Best Practices Advice for ITSM Technologies and Processes.

"The coming year will certainly be a critical, pivotal year for IT executives,” said Chris Matney, EMA consulting director and study leader, in a press release. "Fiscal pragmatism will be weighed against the increasing challenges of IT, and IT leaders must carefully balance both. Successful CIOs will continue to advance ITSM maturity while closely watching business drivers and the corporate balance sheet.”

According to the survey, mid-size companies showed the highest levels of ITSM adoption. Smaller companies typically rely on traditional service/help desk implementations, while the largest enterprises continue to work through the challenges of complexity and scalability. Most companies are in a transition phase with their ITSM maturity, between an "active” and a "proactive” approach.

EMA believes that the most successful companies will push through the economic recession with IT advancements and investment, while unsuccessful organizations will adopt a more passive "business as usual” approach.

Additional key findings from the survey include:

- IT budgets are not in a total free-fall, but a growing number of IT organizations are cutting budgets by 10% to 25%.

- Change management was the most important ITSM initiative for companies of all sizes, followed by the other ITIL service support disciplines.

- Only three percent of respondents reported that all ITSM initiatives have been completed, and 80% said some have been finished.

- Most (74%) of respondents place primary responsibility for strategic ITSM planning on C-level executives, IT vice presidents and IT directors.

- Most (67%) of respondents are not planning to replace their ITSM tools. For those that are, functionality limitations are the primary drivers for mid-sized companies and lack of scalability is the motivation for enterprise organizations.

- ITIL is the biggest area of investment for advancing the adoption of ITSM best practices, with 62% of companies expecting to undertake training in 2009.

EMA believes short-term projects will gain favor in 2009 due to longer term budget uncertainties. Most ROI break-even expectations for ITSM projects are between six and 18 months. Some of the best practices recommended by survey respondents included creating an incremental ITSM plan and securing executive and business support early in the process.

Sign up here for the free Webinar on January 8 titled, "Make the Most of ITSM in 2009: Best-Practice Advice from Your Peers”

Methodology

For this report, EMA surveyed 143 IT professionals to uncover success factors and pitfalls of ITSM initiatives and recommended best practices based on real-world deployments.