BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Management Associates
(EMA), (http://www.enterprisemanagement.com), a leading IT management research
and consulting firm, announced the release of a new research report titled,
"10 Best Practices: How Real-World IT Organizations are Succeeding with
Service Catalog." Based on a survey of more than 100 corporations, the report
examines recent trends in Service Catalog deployments and provides guidance
based on real-world implementations to organizations embarking on a Service
Catalog project. In conjunction with this study, EMA is providing a variety of
services to help companies reap the benefits of the Service Catalog, including
a new, 4-hour online workshop to be held Oct. 30, 2008.
"The Service Catalog has become an essential part of many IT departments,"
said EMA study leader Stewart Cole. "Results from multiple EMA surveys
indicate that IT budgets are flat. When properly implemented, the Service
Catalog can help organizations make the most of their limited budget by
allowing them to better manage resources, cut costs and eliminate
redundancies."
According to EMA research, the top three IT goals are: aligning IT with
the business; improving IT service quality; and reducing IT costs. The desire
to meet these goals increases the motivation for enterprises to implement ITIL
best practices, especially the Service Catalog. According to Cole, Enterprise
Management Associates' new Service Catalog study indicated a few distinct
trends. They include:
-- Service Catalog Management has come into its own. While 50 percent of
the respondents came from financial, banking, insurance, healthcare, medical
or pharmaceutical areas, the benefits of the Service Catalog are being
realized regardless of industry and company size.
-- Success rates of Service Catalog implementation efforts have been a
mixed bag. Of companies that had initiated the Service Catalog, 57 percent
said their implementations were successful. However, 12 percent found their
projects to be either somewhat unsuccessful or completely unsuccessful.
-- The Service Catalog offers a variety of benefits to the enterprise.
The most significant benefits from Service Catalog implementations include
reducing the number of access points to IT and achieving transparency of
costs.
While the Service Catalog offers much promise, companies embarking on a
project must understand the Service Catalog itself, as well as learn from the
experiences of those who have successfully deployed it. During this study, EMA
explored best-practice suggestions from companies that had successfully
implemented a Service Catalog. Key findings include:
-- Sponsorship is widely recognized as crucial to project success. Ninety
six percent of survey respondents identified solid executive sponsorship as
either very important or somewhat important to a successful Service Catalog
implementation.
-- Effective communication also is critical to Service Catalog success,
with 100 percent of respondents identifying good communication across IT as
very important or somewhat important when implementing a Service Catalog.
-- The effective definition of IT services is causing problems for nearly
every Service Catalog implementation. EMA found that more than 30 percent of
ITSM projects are unable to move forward because of this roadblock. "Overall
Service Definition" came in second only to "Business Resistance to Change"
when respondents were queried on the biggest challenges to Service Catalog
success.
Companies with Service Catalog deployments can testify to its tangible
benefits as the Service Catalog is one of the few Service Management projects
to deliver immediate value to the business. With the emphasis for alignment of
IT to the business and pressure to provide more transparency of costs, EMA
predicts that companies with no plans to implement a Service Catalog will be
left behind.
Based on the study findings, EMA is providing a series of services to
assist companies embarking on a Service Catalog project. These services
include:
Service Catalog Online Workshop on Oct. 30, 2008:
This 4-hour online workshop uses a combination of interactive lectures,
real-world case studies and exercises to help enterprise IT organizations
effectively kick-off, revitalize, and accelerate their organization's Service
Catalog initiatives. Attendees will learn how to secure and maintain
sponsorship; develop a comprehensive communications plan; and define their IT
services. Cost - $295 per person.
http://www.emausa.com/ema_lead.php?ls=scworkshopws1008&bs=scworkshop1008
To purchase a copy of the report, "10 Best Practices: How Real-World IT
Organizations are Succeeding with Service Catalog," contact
sales@enterprisemanagement.com or +1.303.543.9500.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
For more information on this topic or to arrange an interview with Stewart
Cole, please contact Guy Murrel at gmurrel@catapultpr-ir.com or 303-581-7760
x17
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading
industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market.
The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective
insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging
technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM)
to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and
service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never
lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and
convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm's
extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management
Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit
http://www.enterprisemanagement.com.
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