IT Management Software Positioning Benchmark, Q4 2008

Forrester used its vendor positioning review methodology to re-evaluate the four leading IT management software vendors across 14 criteria and three product domains and determine where they are now positioning themselves on the continuum between information technology (IT) and business technology (BT). BMC Software continues to embrace BT in its corporate positioning and conveys a well-balanced position as a solution provider. Although improved since our analysis last year, none of the leading IT management software vendors have yet fully positioned themselves in alignment with BT; they all face the threat that an aggressive second-tier provider could effectively execute a BT marketing strategy and win share in this competitive and fast-growing tech category. We have also aggregated the vendor positioning of all nine leading vendors analyzed in this market: The tier one vendors are better positioned than the tier two vendors, although tier two vendor Symantec has the second-best product positioning. We illustrate how IT management software vendor strategists and their marketing peers can use our insights to improve their own positioning.