Service Catalogs Have Transformed from Simple IT Tools into Critical Enterprise Business Applications According to Report Service Catalog 2008

October 7, 2008 12:28 PM EDT

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/976f68/service_catalog_20) has announced the addition of the "Service Catalog 2008: Service Management Keystone, and Much More" report to their offering.

In August 2008, EMA completed this groundbreaking research study into service catalog, based on a survey of more than 150 IT professionals, plus many additional focal interviews. All participants were engaged materially with acquisition and implementation of the service catalog system. The research confirmed that the service catalog is not simply the latest incarnation of the venerable service desk/self-help system. In fact, with organizations of all types using service catalog as a foundation for IT service management and business service management, as well as leveraging it across non-IT functions including facilities and HR, the service catalog is well on its way to becoming the next "killer app."

Service catalogs have transformed from simple IT tools into critical enterprise business applications - this seems to sum up how IT managers and planners feel about their service catalog projects, according to a new survey carried out in the second quarter of 2008.

What we learned was the extent to which companies of all sorts have come to rely upon the service catalog as a core enterprise application. Interestingly, more service catalog implementations are driven by combined business and IT interests than are driven solely by IT. Additionally, 42% of respondents indicated that they include non-IT services (for example, human resources, facilities, legal, etc.) in their service catalogs. This seems to suggest that the service catalog is indeed moving into the category of enterprise application, and rising above its previous label as simply an IT tool. The report further bolsters the argument that service catalogs are not just self-help IT tools by the level of involvement of senior business and IT staff: 73% of respondents indicated business and customer involvement as having a positive or highly positive impact on deployment, and fully 41% of service catalog projects involve a C-level executive (CTO, CIO, CEO, CFO).

Clearly, the acquisition and deployment of successful service catalogs are not treated as internal IT tool projects, but rather projects with enterprise-wide significance. The degree to which the service catalog has risen in importance is not surprising to Elbit Systems of America (ESA), headquartered in Fort Worth, TX. ESA is a leading provider of high performance products and sub-system solutions focusing on the defense, homeland security, and commercial aerospace markets. Harry Butler, an IT project manager with ESA, spent time with EMA to share his company's story on service catalog adoption.

"We knew this would be an enterprise tool before we even started." Several years before their service catalog implementation, ESA had started automating service management with CA Service Desk. "Other (non-IT) functions were already using service desk. (Human Resources) had their on-boarding process in service desk and HR analysts would open tickets there." Harry and his team felt that applying service catalog as an enterprise tool would meet with equal success. In early 2007, ESA began a project to include a service catalog and selected the CA Service Catalog product. "HR, Finance, quality, plant operations, telecom... everyone is vying to use this. All these people want to streamline their processes."

Another illustration of service catalog importance is from one of the world's largest insurance companies. They needed a service catalog that would support IT financial management with the ability to support their service portfolio management and service level management needs as well. They selected Digital Fuel's ServiceFlow Catalog software as the platform to automate chargeback and these other customer-facing processes important for them to run IT as a business. These are just two examples from over 150 IT leaders who participated in EMA's Spring/Summer 2008 research project. All participants were engaged materially with acquisition and implementation of the service catalog system. Thirty three percent of survey respondents indicated their businesses had more than 20,000 employees, and 46% had annual revenues in excess of $1 billion.

The goal of this research was to learn as much as we could about successful service catalog deployments

and the current state of service catalog adoption and implementation. What was the use of the service catalog outside of IT? Is the service catalog just another IT tool, or has the service catalog transitioned into a true enterprise application? How are service catalogs implemented - as standalone products, or add-ons to existing IT systems and network management systems? Which is better? What are the market spaces or on-ramps for service catalog acquisition? How does automation fit into service catalog deployments in real life? Can the service catalog act as a starting point for IT Business Service Management (BSM)? What are the common pitfalls associated with deploying a service catalog? Will users rebel against them? What does it take to succeed?

The respondents to our survey answered all these questions and more. They clearly identified what it takes to succeed in implementing a service catalog, completely debunking the myth that users will not accept self-service driven from a service catalog. As long as the service catalog has an easy-to-use interface and automates results and activities, respondents indicated that users embraced the service catalog. They also firmly established evaluation criteria for those considering service catalog adoption - 87% indicated that "ease of use for customers and users" followed closely by "system stability" were the most important areas of concern for their organization.

Since all respondents to the survey had already implemented a service catalog, we asked about how they used their service catalog. Thirty-eight percent chose "automating service requests and common IT activities" when asked the primary purpose of their service catalog. This could lead one to believe that the service catalog is simply the latest incarnation of the venerable service desk/self-help system.

However, fully 77% rated "understand user behavior and needs" as important (49%) or very important (28%) - indicating that these respondents do not view the service catalog as simply a self-service tool. In fact, this result appears to reinforce the often discussed need to align IT services with the needs of users and the business. As further data will show, the service catalog provides additional unique value by providing insight to both the IT organization, as well as IT and business executives, on what services are most consumed and at what cost.

When asked what will be the primary function of the service catalog in 18 months, the largest expected gain was projected for "providing demand management information." While there does indeed appear to be significant self-help/automation utility being derived from service catalog deployments today, those with mature implementations are already beginning to consider how to manage demand and shape user consumption. This is true service portfolio management, and the basis of BSM.

    Key Topics Covered:

    Executive Summary

    How Service Catalogs Are Being Used

    Service Catalog 2008 Key Findings

    Other Business Functions and the Service Catalog

    Buy Versus Build

    The Service Catalog as a Core Business Application

    Standalone Versus Integrated Service Catalog Solutions

    Service Catalog Market Segments

User Enablement - Request Oriented, Blurring Service Desk with IT Transactions

Business Enablement - Business Services, Demand Management, Compliance, Charging

    IT Enablement - SLM, Metrics, IT Efficiency, Lifecycle Management

    Market Segments and Product Alignment

    The Service Catalog and Automation

    The Service Catalog and ITIL Best Practices

    Service Catalog for the Business

    Afterward

    Appendix A - Survey Demographics

    For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/976f68/service_catalog_20

Source: Research and Markets

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