If you’re still waiting for the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management Platforms to appear, it’s not coming. It’s why we didn’t publish a “Want the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management Platforms for Free?” article last year. Instead, Gartner published a Market Guide for IT Service Management Platforms. So our annual(ish) article now has a new name, but the intention is the same – to publicize any IT service management (ITSM)-related industry analyst reports made available by ITSM tool vendors.
Here you'll find links to free-to-access industry analyst #ITSM reports, including the latest @Gartner_inc Market Guide for ITSM platforms. Click To TweetGet free-to-access industry analyst ITSM reports, including the latest Gartner Market Guide for ITSM Platforms
Many of the ITSM-focused industry analyst research reports sit behind paywalls. They’re exclusively for clients or perhaps available to non-clients for a not-insignificant fee. However, ITSM tool vendor marketing teams will often license the ITSM reports they do well in (or for Gartner reports, simply appearing is often considered justification). Hence, you can read various ITSM-related industry analyst reports for free (if you think of sharing your email address as “free”).
In my new 2024 article, you’ll find links to ITSM tool vendor landing pages that offer access to these ITSM-related industry analyst reports for “free” (the Forrester ones are ungated):
- 2023 Gartner Market Overview of ITSM Platforms
- The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Service Management, Q4 2023
- Gartner Hype Cycle for ITSM 2023
- The Forrester Wave: Process-Centric AI For IT Operations (AIOps), Q2 2023
- GigaOm Radar for IT Service Management 2023
- Gartner, A Buyer’s Guide to ITSM Platforms.
For each of these ITSM-focused industry analyst reports, I list the ITSM tool vendor(s) I saw offering it (when creating this article). Choose the one you want to provide your email details to. Unless I’m doing something wrong when visiting ITSM tool vendor websites and Googling this year, there are very few licensed industry analyst ITSM reports to share with you at the start of 2024. Although it could be a lower level of ITSM coverage, too.
Get the @Gartner_inc Market Guide for ITSM Platforms reports, the @Forrester Wave for Enterprise Service Management, and the @Gigaom Radar for ITSM reports for free in this article. #ITSM #ESM #ServiceDesk Click To Tweet1. 2023 Gartner Market Overview of ITSM Platforms
The Gartner Magic Quadrant had long been the “biggie” of the industry analyst reports for the ITSM space. Perhaps even providing long or short lists for customer organizations seeking a new ITSM tool. It was also a good “skim through” document for anyone looking to better understand the top end of the ITSM tool market.
The new Gartner Market Overview of ITSM Platforms report benefits the tool vendors because more are included (19 versus the 12-13 in the Magic Quadrant), and it involves less work than the detail of Magic Quadrant submissions (trust me, I’ve helped fill out the Magic Quadrant submission forms).
The 2023 Gartner Market Overview of ITSM Platforms report is currently available to download from:
These are five of the 19 ITSM tool vendors and tools included in it.
2. The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Service Management, Q4 2023
Getting insights into the relative ITSM tool enterprise service management plays has always been hard, even in industry analyst reports. This refresh of earlier enterprise service management Forrester Waves provides both scoring and ranking across what Forrester deems to be the most enterprise service management focused ITSM tool vendors.
The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Service Management, Q4 2023 report is currently available to download from:
- BMC Software (ungated)
3. Gartner Hype Cycle for ITSM 2023
Gartner Hype Cycles are great for seeing the breadth of “trends” currently in play – in this case, for ITSM – and where Gartner’s client conversations see them placed in maturity or lifecycle terms.
The Gartner Hype Cycle for ITSM 2023 is currently available to download from:
- BMC Software (no longer available)
4. The Forrester Wave: Process-Centric AI For IT Operations (AIOps), Q2 2023
It’s not really an ITSM industry analyst report, but it’s close enough to be included in what appears to be a very limited landscape of licensed ITSM-focused industry analyst reports.
The Forrester Wave: Process-Centric AI For IT Operations (AIOps), Q2 2023 is currently available to download from:
- BMC Software (ungated)
5. GigaOm Radar for IT Service Management 2023
It’s hard to include this industry analyst report without mentioning the various signs that it was created without a thorough knowledge of the ITSM space. However, it does offer some helpful granular insights on the included ITSM tools.
The GigaOm Radar for IT Service Management 2023 is currently available to download from:
6. Gartner, A Buyer’s Guide to ITSM Platforms
This Gartner paper offers five steps for selecting an ITSM tool. Please note that it was published in August 2022, not 2023, but given the absence of 2023 industry analyst reports for the ITSM space, it felt okay to include it.
The Gartner A Buyer’s Guide to ITSM Platforms is currently available to download from:
Old report: Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management Platforms 2022
Finally, if you really want to see the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management Platforms, it’s still available via:
Well, at least for now.
A quick reminder: the Gartner Magic Quadrant report covers the ITSM tool vendors, whereas the sibling Gartner Critical Capabilities report shares details about the ITSM tools based on common ITSM use case needs. Sadly, the Critical Capabilities report is no longer licensed by any of the ITSM tool vendors.
Hopefully, the above list of ITSM-related industry analyst reports, including the new Gartner Market Guide for ITSM Platforms, is helpful to you. It’s definitely getting harder to find “free” ITSM-related industry analyst reports to include in these articles – I used to include 10+. So, if you see any more good ITSM research that anyone can download, please add it/them in the comments below. Thank you.
Sophie Danby
Sophie is a freelance ITSM marketing consultant, helping ITSM solution vendors to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
She covers both traditional areas of marketing (such as advertising, trade shows, and events) and digital marketing (such as video, social media, and email marketing). She is also a trained editor.
