BOULDER, Colo., May 22, 2008 – Recent research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) shows that the promise of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) has led to a 24 percent increase in adoption rates during the past two years. As part of its continued focus on this IT market sector, EMA surveyed 91 IT professionals primarily at companies with at least $1 billion in revenue to explore adoption rate trends, challenges that hamper success and emerging best practices for CMDB implementations.
“EMA has been closely monitoring the CMDB market for years and our latest research shows that CMDB has clearly crossed into the mainstream of IT practices,” said Chris Matney, the lead research analyst on the project and consulting director of IT services for EMA. “All of our research on CMDB over the years shows steady growth among large organizations looking to unify IT and remove siloed barriers that have hampered organizations for many years.”
This latest research study also uncovered real-world best practices that are crucial for the success of any enterprise CMDB implementation. Based on first-hand input from survey respondents and the firm’s direct involvement in CMDB projects at some of the world’s leading organizations, EMA has identified a number of keys to CMDB success, including:
- Securing Upper Management Support – obtaining executive support/sponsorship, such as a formal mandate, dedicated communications and budget for the long-term project, was tops and vital for CMDB success
- Pre-Implementation Planning – solid strategic and tactical planning, including extensively evaluating CMDB tools, identifying ITIL process integration points and defining maturity roadmaps both for both processes and technology, is also a critical step
- Taking an Incremental Approach – identifying short-term, achievable goals with clear metrics for success and a defined scope for the project is crucial to gaining acceptance and building momentum
- ITIL and Process – implementing ITIL and related processes for change, configuration and release management is necessary as a means of moving away from the “CMDB is just a tool” mindset
- Limiting CI Scope and Data Issues – this was the number one piece of technical advice, with a common refrain to limit the number of Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB and taking care to produce a standardized data structure
Some additional key CMDB findings in this survey include:
- The biggest driver for the initiation of a CMDB project is support for change management
- The most significant challenge facing successful CMDB deployment is how to maintain and support the CMDB
- Eighty four percent of those surveyed expect a break-even ROI for their CMDB project in six months to three years
- The deployment of a CMDB has many benefits – the most significant of which are improved service levels, reduced downtime and fewer outages
- Integration is the most important functionality to an organization’s core CMDB, according to those polled
For more information on the EMA Advisory Note CMDB Best Practices Survey Highlights, click here or contact sales@enterprisemanagement.com to purchase this report. EMA also offers comprehensive CMDB Consulting Services, including an 8-week CMDB Assessment Service designed to help enterprise organizations lay out an actionable roadmap for CMDB success. To learn more, click here or contact sales@enterprisemanagement.com.
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.www.enterprisemanagement.com.