Analysts predict that soon, half of all new IT service desk tools will be adopted as cloud-based services. While shifting to an on-demand model can be a complex decision, requiring organizations to assess carefully the potential impact on their business operations, a growing number of companies are clearly finding the move worthwhile. This paper explores the reasons for the rapid growth of cloud-based IT service management (ITSM) solutions and the benefits they offer for enterprises.

The availability of SaaS ITSM tools offers new options for IT infrastructure & operations teams - but this new type of solution isn't a panacea. You'll still need to base your decision on the needs of your customers and your organization, and ask focused questions about areas such as ease of upgrade and total cost of ownership. To realize the full potential of SaaS to deliver technology services better, faster, and cheaper, you may also have to make new investments in people and process. This Forrester Research-market overview provides guidance to help you remain grounded and well-informed when considering the potential of SaaS for ITSM. Overviews of 21 SaaS ITSM vendors and 23 tools classified by target markets help you understand the available options.

Successful IT organizations today go beyond just keeping the lights on - they partner with the business to achieve broader goals. To fulfill this more strategic role, IT must shift their focus from technology implementation to the support, delivery, and operations of services to address specific business needs. A well-defined, business-centric service catalog can serve as the lynchpin of this approach, providing a strategic control point for the business to enable visibility, agility, and control. To date, though, few service catalogs have evolved beyond simple descriptions of IT capabilities and services. This report by Forrester Research, Inc. examines the crucial role of the service catalog for enabling business success, and how IT leaders can best realize its benefits.

A variety of IT research organizations predicted that by 2014 SaaS products would account for more than 40 percent of all new software sales. By any reasonable measure, SaaS is now considered to be an acceptable and, in some cases, a desirable means of supporting a company's business operations. Download this informative white paper to learn benefits of taking a SaaS-first approach to application portfolio management within ITSM.

The popularity of bringing your own device to work (BYOD), and interactions with social media, users are expecting and demanding far more in terms of IT support. They want services to be available when and where they need them. They want to accomplish their tasks as quickly as possible. And, when they have problems, they expect IT to fix them right then and there. In short, they want a positive experience in all their interactions with IT. Download this informative white paper to learn how to keep users happy by integrating IT Operations and IT Support.

With software as a service (SaaS) you are integrating an external service, hosted by an external party, with your internal systems. The SaaS integration is a matter of connecting the clouds and well articulated interfaces defining the data that is traveling back and forth. With the right integration strategy, SaaS integration can be simple, straightforward, and easy. Moreover, it can position your IT organization to effectively leverage SaaS and migrate from one SaaS solution to another to avoid vendor lock-in. Read this information white paper to understand the things to consider when developing your integration strategy.