ServiceNow beats the competition: ITSM tools at a glance

Cars are only fun when you can drive-not everyone is born to drive sports cars. Every driver knows that there is a good workshop nearby, which is also reassuring. These images get stuck when you talk to Mathieu Poujol, a middleware expert at Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), about the IT Service Management (ITSM) market. “You should realize that ITSM tools are not important in the beginning,” Poujol said. “The hand that handles it is important.” The PAC analyst arranged the preferred procedures chosen by ITSM in the following order: first, clarify your specific needs, second, ensure the necessary support, and third, first, select the best tool. Poujol has repeatedly emphasized the importance of support-in the picture above, logically speaking, it is the workshop.

Support pre-tool functions

For German users, for example, this may mean that providers like Cherwell Software undoubtedly provide excellent ITSM tools—for example, Gartner ranked it among the world’s top six in the new Magic Quadrant. However, Cherwell Software is headquartered in Colorado Springs and is mainly responsible for the US market, so it may be too difficult for German users to master. In turn, none of this precludes Cherwell from providing the best solution for one or another company in the country. This is related to the huge diversity of the ITSM market, and related to the “broad field” described by Theodor Fontane as the self-requirement listed in point 1. How unique is your own IT legacy application? How important has ITIL become in your own company? How are you striving for the speed and comprehensiveness of the cloud? To what extent do you depend on specific industry conditions? These are just some of the questions that Poujol raised in this situation.

So this is a broad field. If you want to introduce a small selection of the most important ITSM tools today, then this seems essential. This adventure may inevitably end in burning nettles. Last year, the reaction elicited by a knowledgeable article from Computerwoche was the best tool, but in any case, it was partly harmful. “There are tools that can do more and are very common, but don’t show up here!” one user wrote. Another commenter commented: “Analysts and tool experts believe that many vendors related to similar research on this topic are completely absent from this overview.” The reader’s criticisms are perfectly valid, but these shortcomings are in this broad The field seems inevitable-the Cherwell example above should illustrate this point.

For example, Gartner listed 14 suppliers in the Magic Quadrant and added some other names to the study that currently do not meet the inclusion criteria-including well-known names such as Microsoft. Analysts said that as the IT department matures, the need for advanced tools for IT Service Support Management (ITSSM) has become apparent. However, the demand for basic tools is still great. This is why one-namely Gartner-clearly recommends evaluating good suppliers outside of the quadrants you create yourself. Gartner is also protecting itself from the dangers of the ITSM jungle—except for the special label ITSSM that essentially describes the traditional ITSM market.

The following selection of the most important tools is based in particular on the assessment of the Gartner quadrant and PAC analyst Poujol. In addition, it also refers to Forrester Research’s latest assessment of the ITSM software as a service (SaaS) market segment. By the way, the cloud is an indicator of the very different characteristics of each solution. For example, Mathieu Poujol described IBM as the Rolls-Royce among ITSM suppliers—a complete range and high quality, but some of the high prices are also paid for the brand. On the other hand, ServiceNow is very powerful, especially in the cloud field-a Sherpa who will not lead you across the Himalayas, but safely into the cloud.

Localization is underestimated

PAC divides the market into heavyweights, and these heavyweights tend to meet first-class demands because of their weight: IBM, HP, BMC Software, and CA Technologies. In many lighter suppliers, they can also emit light in a specific shape. Gartner ranks ServiceNow and BMC as the highest category of market leaders; Landesk and Axios Systems stand out as visionaries, and CA Technologies and Cherwell Software stand out as challengers. With two exceptions, these vendors and the equally well-received IBM, FrontRange and HP are introduced here. TOPdesk is expected to be included in the Gartner quadrant for the first time, although it is at the bottom of the ranking. Nevertheless, Dutch ITSM experts still included it on our hot list, because according to PAC, it meets the support needs of German users in a special way. “Gartner and Forrester often underestimate the importance of localization in Europe,” said PAC analyst Poujol.