Magic Quadrant for integrated it portfolio analysis applications

13/12/15 Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications

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Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT PortfolioAnalysis Applications

19 November 2013 ID:G00247059

Analyst(s): Daniel B. Stang, Jim Duggan

VIEW SUMMARY

The IIPA software market helps IT leaders link, monitor, analyze and communicate their activities on

a single portfolio-level software platform, providing CIOs and other executives with holistic views of

the IT portfolio while IT plans and executes in response to business and IT strategies.

Market Definition/Description

This document was revised on 20 November 2013. The document you are viewing is the corrected

version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com.

Integrated IT portfolio analysis (IIPA) bridges the gap between the formulation of IT strategies and

the actual management of the physical changes made to the IT footprint in response to these

strategies.

The resulting IIPA software market consists of vendors providing the integration of individual

portfolios — for investments, projects, assets and IT services — to present a more holistic story

regarding the true state of the IT portfolio. Integrating these views enables IT leaders to see the

cost, effort, technical complexity, feasibility and interrelated effects of a proposed IT change or

initiative.

For the full IIPA market definition, see "Examine Alternative IT Portfolio Strategies With IIPA

Practices and Products." For further details on putting the need for IIPA software in context, see

the Context section near the end of this Magic Quadrant.

Products in this market strive to serve up the correct, interrelated perspectives, views and

considerations that are needed to make strategic execution decisions in IT, without forcing users

into the depths of detailed management and process automation within any specific functional

domain. IIPA vendors offer versatile portfolio analysis and management that enable users to

create, connect and share portfolios of the IT department's investments, projects, assets and IT

services. Integrated visibility across different IT silos or domains can bring their often unique

perspectives to the table to enhance capital and strategic IT investment prioritization and decision

making for a CIO, an IT steering committee, a governance board or council, an IT program or project

management office (PMO), or others requiring this type of visibility.

By design, IIPA is about using a portfolio management software system to enhance communication

among different IT portfolio managers (for example, those responsible for the infrastructure

portfolios, the application portfolios, the project portfolios and so on), and with the CIO after the

business has set a strategic direction and an IT strategy has been defined.

IIPA functionality should be implemented with a focus on the portfolio level, not at the deep tactical

process level in specific IT silos, where other solutions would be a better fit.

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Magic Quadrant

Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications

EVIDENCE

Vendor-submitted forms detail allproducts and services for each vendorcited in this research.Multiple briefings were conducted witheach vendor cited in this research.Interviews or written surveys wereconducted with user references fromeach vendor cited in this research.This Magic Quadrant follows themethodology outlined in "How GartnerEvaluates Vendors and Markets in MagicQuadrants and MarketScopes."More than 1,000 client inquiries on PPMand IIPA software tools and applicationswere conducted from September 2012through October 2013.

EVALUATION CRITERIA DEFINITIONS

Ability to ExecuteProduct/Service: Core goods and servicesoffered by the vendor for the definedmarket. This includes currentproduct/service capabilities, quality, featuresets, skills and so on, whether offerednatively or through OEMagreements/partnerships as defined in themarket definition and detailed in thesubcriteria.

Overall Viability: Viability includes anassessment of the overall organization'sfinancial health, the financial and practicalsuccess of the business unit, and thelikelihood that the individual business unitwill continue investing in the product, willcontinue offering the product and willadvance the state of the art within theorganization's portfolio of products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor'scapabilities in all presales activities and thestructure that supports them. This includesdeal management, pricing and negotiation,presales support, and the overalleffectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability torespond, change direction, be flexible andachieve competitive success asopportunities develop, competitors act,customer needs evolve and marketdynamics change. This criterion alsoconsiders the vendor's history ofresponsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality,creativity and efficacy of programs designedto deliver the organization's message toinfluence the market, promote the brandand business, increase awareness of theproducts, and establish a positiveidentification with the product/brand andorganization in the minds of buyers. This"mind share" can be driven by acombination of publicity, promotionalinitiatives, thought leadership, word ofmouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships,products and services/programs that enableclients to be successful with the productsevaluated. Specifically, this includes theways customers receive technical support oraccount support. This can also includeancillary tools, customer support programs(and the quality thereof), availability of usergroups, service-level agreements and soon.

Operations: The ability of the organizationto meet its goals and commitments. Factorsinclude the quality of the organizational

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Source: Gartner (November 2013)

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Vendor Strengths and Cautions

BMC Software

BMC Software's IIPA product is IT Business Management Suite.

Strengths

BMC Software's IT Business Management Suite offers an IT operations approach to IIPA, with

support for integrating demand and resource management with IT service and IT project

portfolio management.

When evaluating and prioritizing IT investments, users can link IT projects to resulting

operations costs in time, people and money; they can assess a project's level of complexity; or

they can apply application or service dependencies.

BMC Software provides a cloud-hosted deployment option for its customers.

Cautions

IT Business Management Suite's strength in IIPA is its foundation in IT operations. However,

out of the box, the product does not provide strong support for application portfolio

management (APM).

IT Business Management Suite does not yet provide application road-mapping capabilities,

including graphical views of an application's life cycle in relation to other application life cycles

within an application portfolio.

IT Business Management Suite is customizable, configurable and well-positioned to support

IIPA. However, at this time, we found little evidence in the field of BMC customers using the

suite for IIPA.

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CA Technologies

CA Technologies' IIPA product is CA Clarity PPM.

Strengths

CA Clarity PPM provides IT portfolio management and decision-making support. Version 13

introduced foundational APM support, and users can cross-reference applications and projects

to track financials, resource allocations and support costs at the application level.

CA Clarity PPM supports IT service portfolio management capabilities for tracking and

managing IT service costs to rationalize IT decisions affecting IT operations.

CA Technologies provides a cloud-hosted deployment option for customers.

Cautions

CA Clarity PPM does not yet provide out-of-the-box graphical application road-mapping that

represents the application life cycle and its associated projects in one holistic view.

CA Clarity PPM cannot yet call up a graphical enterprise architecture (EA) model for reference

structure, including skills, experiences,programs, systems and other vehicles thatenable the organization to operateeffectively and efficiently on an ongoingbasis.

Completeness of VisionMarket Understanding: Ability of thevendor to understand buyers' wants andneeds and to translate those into productsand services. Vendors that show thehighest degree of vision listen to andunderstand buyers' wants and needs, andcan shape or enhance those with theiradded vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiatedset of messages consistently communicatedthroughout the organization andexternalized through the website,advertising, customer programs andpositioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for sellingproducts that uses the appropriate networkof direct and indirect sales, marketing,service, and communication affiliates thatextend the scope and depth of marketreach, skills, expertise, technologies,services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor'sapproach to product development anddelivery that emphasizes differentiation,functionality, methodology and feature setsas they map to current and futurerequirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logicof the vendor's underlying businessproposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor'sstrategy to direct resources, skills andofferings to meet the specific needs ofindividual market segments, includingvertical markets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementaryand synergistic layouts of resources,expertise or capital for investment,consolidation, defensive or pre-emptivepurposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor'sstrategy to direct resources, skills andofferings to meet the specific needs ofgeographies outside the "home" or nativegeography, either directly or throughpartners, channels and subsidiaries asappropriate for that geography and market.

http://www.bmc.com/

http://www.ca.com/



and/or comparison with applications, services and projects that are stored within it.

CA Technologies customers that are on releases prior to version 13 need to evaluate upgrade

options to version 13 soon to ensure that they have access to the latest Clarity functionality,

including any APM capabilities introduced as part of version 13.

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Cardinis Solutions

Cardinis Solutions' IIPA product is Cardinis Suite.

Strengths

Cardinis is increasing its global presence slowly over time, extending into France, Brazil,

Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the U.S. and the U.K.

The Cardinis Suite offers top-down portfolio management and IT decision-making support,

including top-down budget and financial planning as well as fast function point analysis (FFPA).

Italian companies that are interested in applying IIPA in their IT departments cite Cardinis'

local presence as a differentiator, along with the vendor's strong consulting services in the

practice of IT portfolio management.

Cautions

Cardinis' native support for APM is very limited compared with other IIPA vendors evaluated in

this Magic Quadrant.

Cardinis Solutions has been acquired twice in the short span of two years. As part of solution

selection, potential customers should fully evaluate how the Cardinis product will be

maintained and supported under its new parent company, GFT Group.

The Cardinis Suite cannot yet call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison

with applications, services and projects that are stored within it.

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Compuware

Compuware's IIPA product is Changepoint.

Strengths

Changepoint includes an APM Accelerator, which offers out-of-the-box APM metrics, reports

and portal views.

Users can catalog hundreds of individual application records, and then associate different

types of IT work requests with these records within Changepoint.

Portlets can be created in Changepoint to help users see what applications stored in the

product have not been edited or enhanced for a specified period of time, thereby ensuring

currency of the application data stored in Changepoint.

Cautions

Changepoint does not yet provide application road-mapping for graphically depicting and

planning the life cycle of an application — and all its iterations, sprints or stages — in one

holistic view.

Although Compuware offers a cloud-hosted deployment option for Changepoint, cloud hosting

is a smaller part of the overall business relative to other vendors in this research.

Changepoint cannot yet call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison with

applications, services and projects that are stored within it.

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EOS Software

EOS Software's IIPA product is Integrated IT Portfolio Management.

Strengths

Integrated IT Portfolio Management offers independent top-down portfolio management, and

can integrate different IT portfolios (such as IT project, application, technology, services, and

IT asset portfolios).

The product provides a deep and flexible data model that supports varying levels of discipline

and maturity that have been observed in different silos within IT.

EOS Software has a strong track record in the field; it can implement its IIPA product in three

months or less on a significantly consistent basis.

Cautions

Although EOS Software displays significant IIPA vision, the company is small and will need to

grow quickly to support a global IIPA market.

EOS Software should enhance its product support beyond consultative interactions.

Improvements should include additional out-of-the-box templates and workflow models, best

practices, computer-based training, and other self-help assistance so customers can explore

and apply the directions they wish to take to evolve and grow with the product.

EOS Software's marketing is currently limited, which may inhibit its ability to build brand

awareness in the IIPA market.

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HP

HP's IIPA product is HP Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) Center.

http://www.cardinis.com/

http://www.compuware.com/

http://www.eossoftware.com/

http://www.hp.com/



Strengths

HP PPM Center includes top-down portfolio management and IT decision-making support.

HP PPM Center offers on-premises and software as a service (SaaS) deployment of an APM

module for application-portfolio-level governance.

HP PPM Center supports portfolio-level tracking, analysis and decision making for IT service

portfolio management, and can integrate with HP's IT service management (ITSM) products.

Cautions

Although HP PPM Center is well-positioned in IT for use as an IIPA system, Gartner was only

able to verify limited use of the product as an IIPA system.

The on-premises version of HP PPM Center requires the use of Oracle Database exclusively.

HP's SaaS option, however, nullifies the need for customers to supply their own skilled Oracle

Database administrators to use HP PPM Center.

Customers asking HP to fulfill complex APM requirements as part of an IIPA implementation

report longer-than-average implementation times involving a combined use of HP PPM Center

and HP's APM module.

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Innotas

Innotas' IIPA product is Innotas.

Strengths

Innotas provides all its IIPA features and functions through a cloud-native IT portfolio

management system.

Innotas allows users to build application portfolios, create an application inventory inside the

system and create links to assets.

Innotas provides graphical representations of the application landscape, allowing users to see

how specific applications relate to one another and/or support the business.

Cautions

Innotas continues to build its financial viability and customer count, and it is profitable, yet it

may still choose to reach out for investor funding to increase its current growth capital.

Innotas provides hierarchy charts and Gantt-style views, but does not currently provide an

application road-mapping capability that allows users to graphically depict and plan the life

cycle of an application.

Innotas cannot call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison with applications,

services and projects that are stored within it.

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Planview

Planview's IIPA product is Planview Enterprise.

Strengths

Planview provides a core set of top-down portfolio management features for connection and

communication between the business and the IT PMO, application management, and IT

operations management.

Planview Enterprise includes independent APM capabilities, which allow users to associate

applications with projects and projects with applications.

Planview Enterprise's application road-mapping allows application portfolio managers to plan

the life cycle of an application, and to graphically map iterations, sprints or stages within the

application's life cycle.

Cautions

Planview must continue to evolve its product's ability to filter, view, cross-reference and

analyze — from different perspectives — the state and health of the application inventory,

such as, in relation to end of life, the level of compliance with IT strategy, or the criticality to

key business processes.

Planview Enterprise cannot call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison with


Planview will need to increasingly improve its APM consulting services to help customers use

Planview Enterprise as an IIPA solution.

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Software AG

Software AG's IIPA product is alfabet.

Strengths

Alfabet includes native project and portfolio management (PPM) and APM functionality in one

product.

The Portfolios Live product brings IIPA capabilities to the cloud, and is slim enough to perform

well over the Internet.

Alfabet can recalculate and amortize project costs over time, deriving amortization from the

project cost values that were originally captured in alfabet.

Cautions

http://www.innotas.com/

http://www.planview.com/

http://www.softwareag.com/



The user interface and general usability need improvement to counter the inherent complexity

of the product. In August 2013, Software AG announced plans to deliver a new alfabet

graphical user interface (GUI) in 2014. It will be based on HTML5 to improve usability.

Better mapping is needed between the vendor's proprietary alfabet query language (AQL) and

SQL. Using workflows and wizards included in the product improves its overall usability.

Enhancements to consulting services are needed, including additional core best practices and

additional consulting. In response to customers' need for more out-of-the-box workflows and

configuration starting points, Software AG has deployed a catalog of best-practice solutions for

alfabet users.

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UMT

UMT's IIPA product is UMT360 for IT.

Strengths

UMT360 for IT provides IIPA using the Microsoft SharePoint Server platform.

UMT360 for IT includes graphical road-mapping of application life cycles in one holistic view.

UMT360 for IT can decompose a business and IT strategy into a tactical or strategic execution

plan involving financials, projects, applications and IT services.

Cautions

UMT360 for IT does not provide graphical representations of the application landscape, which

would allow users to see how specific applications relate to one another and/or support the

business.

UMT360 for IT cannot call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison with

applications, services and projects that are stored within it. However, linkages to dedicated EA

tools would offer a work-around for customers that wish to do this.

UMT should improve its deployment model to reduce the overall time it takes to implement

UMT360 for IT.

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Upland

Upland's IIPA product is PowerSteering.

Strengths

PowerSteering provides cloud-based IT portfolio management and decision-making support.

Users can decompose a business initiative into programs, projects and services using a

hierarchical structure within PowerSteering.

Recent additions in version 10 include an enhanced GUI and improved usability, as well as

editable dashboards that allow users to make changes directly in the dashboards.

Cautions

PowerSteering does not provide graphical representations of the application landscape, which

would allow users to see how specific applications relate to one another and/or support the

business.

PowerSteering does not provide an application road-mapping capability that allows users to

graphically depict and plan the life cycle of an application.

PowerSteering cannot yet call up a graphical EA model for reference and/or comparison with


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Vendors Added and Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets

change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or

MarketScope may change over time. A vendor's appearance in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope

one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of that

vendor. It may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria,

or of a change of focus by that vendor.

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Added

EOS Software

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Dropped

Oracle Instantis

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Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Vendors must provide a top-down, stand-alone and dynamic IT portfolio analysis system.

Products in this Magic Quadrant must:

Allow users to natively create and manage at least two IT-domain-specific portfolios (for

http://www.umt360.com/

http://www.uplandsoftware.com/



example, investment, asset, service or project).

Combine and cross-reference many types of objects and portfolios.

Include the ability to incorporate unstructured data, such as survey results; support the

identification, cataloging and analysis of risk factors; and support the ability to graphically

depict, value and analyze an application inventory.

Support the creation and management of role-specific views for IT and non-IT

management and domain experts, with material to support portfolio analysis and

management (for example, views for financial management and financial analysts, as well

as views for their IT counterparts).

Provide native (that is, not as a third-party add-on or outside of the core product, nor

through third-party OEM or other integration partnership) portfolio management features

and functions, such as demand management, investment and budget planning, initiative

prioritization and selection, resource planning and allocation, financial and project and

application road map simulation, and reporting.

Import or otherwise include the potential operational costs and service impacts related to

the decision making that affects any IT portfolio.

Support IIPA without requiring the use of outside bolt-on software or ancillary, general-

purpose development environments.

Be generally available, and vendors must have three reference customers in production.

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Evaluation Criteria

Ability to Execute

Product or Service: Providers scoring well display:

Above-average R&D commitment

Strong, independent, and dynamic portfolio creation and management features

A strong, independent, portfolio-level workflow that supports the intersection and

integration of multiple IT portfolios and perspectives

Support for automated portfolio prioritization

Strong resourcing features (beyond skill searches — for example, loading/leveling,

named-resource use and performance management)

Configurable planning/scheduling features

An ability to reflect IT strategy and/or EA reference models derived from third-party tools

An ability to formulate a strategic execution model or plan involving applications, projects

or both

Graphical road-mapping of different types of portfolio objects (for example, assets and

applications)

Overall Viability: A vendor rated favorably in viability typically has a balanced revenue stream

that includes:

Substantial new license revenue (not necessarily a majority of revenue) that drives

services and future maintenance.

Healthy profits (or strong investor support with a positive profitability outlook).

A sizable, loyal installed base.

Strong innovation and attractiveness to potential large acquirers, which can contribute to

the assessment of a solution's (as opposed to a company's) viability. This subcriterion

measures company viability. Those companies that score relatively low may have had to

cut staff, close offices or undergo investor-driven restructuring.

Sales Execution/Pricing: Providers with higher scores demonstrate a motivated direct sales

force with a strong, incentive-based plan and training for the product. Experienced and

sufficient technical sales support is needed, and ratings improve with a well-trained secondary

partner channel. The ability to sell and market globally (especially in North America and the EU,

but also in Asia/Pacific and Latin America) improves ratings. However, ratings are reduced by

significant turnover in the sales force or marketing team, or if providers are unable to give

support outside their immediate regions.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Market-responsive vendors have innovated in a timely

manner, and in ways that complement their existing target markets and traditional

development patterns (for example, by adding independent functionality that supports one or

more IT subdomains, such as PMO, investment management, application management or IT

operations). Releases of new versions and features should be as announced. Lower scores

will result from slow or inaccurate responses to demands or technology changes.

Marketing Execution: This criterion involves the design of specific marketing plans that include

multiple portfolio managers, as well as the execution of those plans in the form of marketing

messaging that is consistent with integrated portfolio analysis supporting the interdependent

domains within IT.

Customer Experience: Vendors scoring higher in this category offer direct IIPA services as

part of doing business, and they can produce customer references confirming the use of their

portfolio management products specifically for IIPA. Consulting isn't restricted to

implementation services because process change is often key to success. These vendors'

service partners supplement (but don't replace) their own capacity. Support staff members

consistently provide quality service with good response times. Lower ratings result from lack of

evidence in the field of customers using the product for IIPA.

Operations:

Higher operations scores are supported by:

A senior management team whose members have an average of at least 15 years

of industry experience among them, including several years in senior management

roles

A strong IT and business educational background



An understanding of market evolution in integrating the different portfolios, and an

understanding of the rationale behind the decision making occurring in the PMO, in

application management and in IT operations, including support for the fusion of

strategic prioritization based on more than just cost-benefit analysis

Those providers scoring poorly may have shown inconsistency between expressed plans

or views and execution.

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Product or Service High

Overall Viability Medium

Sales Execution/Pricing Medium

Market Responsiveness/Record Medium

Marketing Execution Low

Customer Experience High

Operations Low


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Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: The vendors that are targeting CIOs and their portfolio managers

should have a strong, clear understanding of the market opportunity, which is exemplified by

direct support for an integrated platform across the IT domains through product innovations,

marketing campaigns and portfolio integration. All these value-added capabilities should be

clear and apparent in vendors' marketing campaigns. Market understanding should drive the

innovation of products and the development of functions outside vendors' normal "comfort

zones." Partnering indicates some market understanding, but the optimal understanding is

indicated by direct dedication to the new opportunity.

Marketing Strategy: The vendors that are targeting CIOs' portfolio managers should have a

strong, clearly defined strategy for marketing to these target customers as individual domain

leaders and as part of CIOs' leadership teams.

Sales Strategy: The vendors that are targeting CIOs and their portfolio managers should

have a strong, clearly defined strategy for selling solutions to these target customers,

especially those who are not customers of the vendors' legacy products as they move into this

integrated space.

Offering (Product) Strategy: Our evaluation of product strategy is wide-ranging, but includes

assessments in a number of areas. The offering (product) strategy should include the

development of the following features and functions continuously over time:

IT strategic execution definition (supporting several types of portfolios)

IT strategic execution and portfolio metrics and measurement

IT portfolio creation, management and integration (projects, assets, investments and

services)

Application portfolio generation (out-of-the-box application portfolio capabilities that are

not dependent on or associated with project records creation)

Graphical road-mapping of portfolio elements

IT project portfolio management (standard project portfolio support)

IT program management (managing programs as entities and associating projects

defined with an overarching program or programs)

Visibility into costs and other impacts on the IT service portfolio

IT-portfolio-level visibility into the interrelationships and impacts shared among the

various domains

Business Model: Because this is a newer market, we are looking for evidence that the vendor

identified the new market opportunity by adjusting its business model to support it. This also

requires a capable sales force that is accustomed to high-level sales and longer sales cycles.

In addition, we assess the provider's commitment to customer success by offering a modular

solution with "phaseable" implementation, as well as a full range of fairly priced services.

Multiple modes of deployment should be supported, although supporting all possible options is

not required. This criterion measures the level of reliance on partners for service and sales,

and favors a commitment to maintain significant, direct system integration and other services.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: Technology providers often provide industry- or discipline-specific

features. In this Magic Quadrant, we have a low weighting for this criterion because we tend

to expect horizontal use within IT for many solutions. For clients in IT and application

development (AD) organizations, we continue to credit the special strength of solutions in

supporting IT/AD projects, processes, roles and interfaces. Because IT can manifest as

different "flavors" — that is, IT runs the business versus IT is the business — vendors scoring

high marks in this area will provide features and functions that can support both of these IT

scenarios (for example, IT-based "product" management).

Innovation: Vendors that exhibit business and technology innovation rate higher on the

Completeness of Vision axis — for example, via architectural evolution, including "thinking

outside the traditional sandbox," or, in other words, developing independent features and

functions that are not part of an existing business or product offering (for example, PPM

vendors adding independent APM features and functions, rather than partnering for it). Other

innovations include independent strategic execution design and measurement, which are not

tied to other system objects and activities, but are true independent functionalities that



enable high-level analysis and planning. Vendors receiving high marks in innovation also

address integration of the portfolios, strategies and rationale of the subdomains in IT (for

example, tying and linking interdependencies among application management and application

portfolios, the IT project portfolio, and IT operations). For example, their products can often

call up, reference and map strategic execution to the overall IT strategy, as derived and

defined from third-party tools and planning.

Geographic Strategy: In this emerging market, vendors that score "high" will have a strong

global presence, as well as detailed plans for leveraging that presence to target different

customers in many parts of the world that are interested in integrated portfolio analysis.

Table 2. Completeness of Vision

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding High

Marketing Strategy Medium

Sales Strategy Medium

Offering (Product) Strategy High

Business Model Medium

Vertical/Industry Strategy Low

Innovation High

Geographic Strategy Low


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Quadrant Descriptions

Leaders

Leaders in this Magic Quadrant meet many portfolio management needs of multiple domains within

IT; they can also support many different IT portfolio scenarios, as well as multiple IT domain roles

for IIPA. Leading IIPA products can interweave these IT portfolios and IT scenarios by identifying

the interrelationships and interdependencies among the elements within and across them.

Product features of Leaders often include detailed organization, modeling, and what-if planning and

other scenario planning to map IT's planned physical response to directives that are handed down

as part of the overall business strategy and the proceeding IT strategy.

Leading products aggressively strive to integrate the planned execution of change to the IT

footprint, in response to the needs of the business, using portfolio management as a foundation.

These products can analyze the cost and progress of the IT response to the business and IT

strategy, and serve up the right perspectives, analysis and impact views required by CIOs, IT

portfolio managers, and other business leaders.

Many identified Leaders not only provide strong capabilities to support IIPA, but also they can

furnish evidence of customers' use of their products in the field specifically for IIPA purposes.

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Challengers

Challengers in this Magic Quadrant are similar to Leaders in their ability to execute a go-to-market

strategy targeting the complex environment of integrated portfolios within IT. Challengers can often

demonstrate product functional depth for some specific IT domains, and leverage sales experience

to target IT departments as IIPA customers.

Challengers often have the financial viability, existing IT installed base and market understanding to

compete in this market more effectively over time, and respond to new requirements through

product development and innovation. However, they might not yet provide enough support for one

or more IT domains or roles identified in this research; they may rely on partnerships to deliver

certain functions; or they may not yet easily integrate courses of action or policies of multiple IT

domains efficiently or intuitively.

Challengers provide IIPA capabilities in their products, but may not be actively pursuing the market

as aggressively as other vendors. They may lack a well-defined IIPA strategy and value proposition

in their marketing and sales strategies. Challengers often cannot provide strong evidence of

customers' use of their products specifically for IIPA purposes, and/or their deployment of IIPA could

be lengthy or costly or both.

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Visionaries

Visionaries resemble Leaders in many ways, especially when comparing them on the basis of

specific criteria, such as product vision and innovation. Although they may lack functionality in some

areas of IIPA, Visionaries alternatively demonstrate a strong vision for innovative thinking around

holistic, configurable IT portfolio management.

For example, products from Visionaries often provide the ability to reflect the IT strategy definition

for reference when planning, measuring, and tracking IT's response to the business strategy and

the resulting IT strategy. This can often be done without the need to construct and define a

program or project hierarchy in the product. Other vendors, however, may have a more restrictive



data model forcing them to be more "creative" as it relates to helping customers manage different

types of elements and portfolios in their products. "Creative," in this context, refers to cosmetic

changes to the product, and not always to the underlying structures that could improve the

product's ability to support IIPA more dynamically.

Visionaries may or may not be as financially sound as Challengers or Leaders in this new market, or

they might not have the global reach of IIPA Leaders.

Some of the vendors populating the Visionaries quadrant are SaaS vendors. Thus, they can provide

strong IT portfolio management capabilities, while offering customers a low-risk investment option

in technology via 12-month, subscription-based software agreements.

Some of the Visionaries in this Magic Quadrant, and other vendors in this Magic Quadrant that

scored quite high on the Completeness of Vision axis in relation to others, can often provide

significant evidence of dynamic IIPA functionality in their products, and can also produce strong

customer references for IIPA.

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Niche Players

From a technical perspective, Niche Players have underlying components or "plumbing" in their

products to support the generation and modeling of different IT perspectives using their core,

independent IT portfolio management features and functionality, workflow, and reporting

capabilities. These vendors may also target other portfolio management scenarios outside IT.

Niche Players may be limited in global reach, focusing on certain areas of the world. Niche Players'

products focus strongly and almost exclusively on cost-value analysis, and many of their current

customers are focused on cost-value as the prevailing driver for IT portfolio management.

Niche Players typically cannot provide strong evidence of customers' use of their products for IIPA in

the field. Niche Players have the potential to make further inroads into IIPA as their customers

begin asking for it, but they have not responded to IIPA as quickly as other vendors have via

product development.

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Context

The road to IIPA begins with the creation and management of two or more IT-specific portfolios. In

some cases, Gartner observes IT departments engaging in IIPA by first creating, as an example, an

IT project portfolio and a corresponding organizational and management structure supporting IT

investment management and PPM.

In other cases, the IT department may engage in IIPA by first creating an application "book of

record" or application portfolio, designing an application governance model, and rationalizing an

inventory of applications against the application governance model and the corresponding IT

strategy.

In both cases, the IT department comes to the realization that both projects and applications are

linked and interdependent, and that understanding both portfolios and these links helps to justify

the IT changes needed in either practice area.

As they mature, IT departments engaging in IIPA begin cross-referencing different IT portfolios.

These early IIPA practitioners are now able to see and understand the costs, risks and business

value associated with managing work that results in physical changes in IT, as well as for the

existing inventory of assets that IT leverages to support the business's strategic and operational

needs.

IIPA also helps the IT department map its technical plan and response to the defined business and

the resulting IT strategy. IIPA bridges the gaps between the formulated IT strategy and IT's tactical

response as it changes the IT footprint in accordance with the IT strategy.

IT departments should evaluate any existing software providers that are identified as IIPA vendors,

and seek to understand their ability to provide portfolio analysis capabilities that support the

integration of multiple IT views.

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Market Overview

The ability to integrate IT project, application, asset and service portfolios is emerging in PPM,

application life cycle management, ITSM and other types of software applications. To do so, the

software must be versatile enough to support portfolio definition, creation, analysis and integration

across these native portfolio types.

One functional hallmark of IIPA software tools involves bridging the gap between technical change

analysis in the silos by translating those findings into resource consumption estimates and overall

cost estimates; another hallmark involves financial investment decision support and planning

capabilities.

Using software that supports IIPA, individual portfolio managers can expect to do many of the

following within their portfolios:

Model and manage the elements of their IT portfolios within a native portfolio structure

(without repurposing project management features or customizing the same to support this IT

modeling and planning).

Design IT-based metrics and manage centralized data, providing value markers for the

elements they manage.

Graphically depict the overall life cycle of each of their IT portfolio elements using road-



mapping capabilities.

Prioritize and select the best plans, allowing for more than just cost-value analysis by including

consideration of the impacts on interdependent IT portfolios or the architecture.

Model future views of their domain-specific IT portfolios and compare them with current models

or portfolio views, while highlighting and rationalizing the changes required to move from one

view to the next to assist in planning.

Analyze the effects of proposed IT changes, whether those changes manifest as new projects,

changes to the application inventory, or changes to IT operations or services.

Articulate and communicate to the CIO or other portfolio managers any potential impacts or

effects (positive or negative) that a proposed IT change may have on the part of IT that they

manage.

Additional research contribution and review: Audrey Apfel, Donna Fitzgerald, Robert Handler, Mike

Hanford, Matt Light, Lars Mieritz, Elise Olding, Julie Short

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