Recently PRD Software / HelpMaster were approached by a large government organization that are looking to replace their current service management software. At the helm of the product replacement team are seasoned ITIL practitioners and long-time helpdeskers who, in their words, are the “vanguard” of ITIL implementation.

The software to be replaced is one of the leading, top-tier products on the market today.

The reason for the replacement?

• Not because it lacked functionality,
• Not because it was clunky
• Not because it did a bad job at aligning with ITIL

None of these things

The basis for replacement was because the maintenance costs were too expensive!

The cost of service management software

To be sure, the annual cost of software maintenance and support is a factor in ROI and TCO, and its cost should never be overlooked in any software purchase decision. Industry norms for software and maintenance renewal for perpetual licensing seems to hover between 20-30% give or take. Subscription licensing is another beast altogether.

What makes this case interesting though is the economic statement it makes about the following things:

• The ROI of ITIL
• The ROI of a top service management solution
• The total cost of ownership of an ITIL based, helpdesk and service management focus

ITIL advocates and evangelists around the world have long spruiked about the cost savings that ITIL can bring to a organization that effectively implements the service management framework. Although quantifying the savings and return on investing (ROI) ITIL delivers is tricky, many believe that it’s worth the effort. Others are sceptical and many more just don’t know where to start.

The debate seems inconclusive at best.

From what I can tell about the ROI of ITIL, the jury is still out - particularly on how to measure it.

Predictably though, service management solution vendors are quick to highlight the economic benefits of implementing their solution. There is no end the number of pages, posts, blogs and white papers that vendors pump into the industry to evangelize their economic efficiency and cost-savings potential. Some even go so far as to provide Excel ROI calculators where you can plug in operational metrics and watch the numbers come out in your favour before your very eyes!

It’s compelling stuff… however…

Is it true? Does ITSM Software pay for itself in efficiency?!

The big question remains though…

If both ITIL and service management software solutions claim to have a positive ROI, surely there is no reason to ditch existing software on the merit of cost. Why is it then that some companies and organizations around the world who have, or are implementing ITIL, dropping support for the big tools in favour of lower-cost alternatives?

What happened to their ROI?

Has ITSM software changed? Are there just more option available now that are delivering similar if not better ROI? Does ITIL really deliver cost-savings in a helpdesk/service desk environment?

….or was it just industry and vendor hype all along?!

Need helpdesk / ITSM software at a sensible price?

Support software (helpdesk/service desk/ITSM - whatever you want to call it) has these features and capabilities:

• Incident and Problem Management
• Change Management with approvals, CAB support
• Web self-service and request catalog
• Knowledge base for self-help
• Workflow and process automation
• Email to ticket conversion
• Triggers, Rules and automation
• Asset linking, Helpdesk history, Audit logs, Stop the clock SLA, Business hour calculations and many more helpdesk software features
• PROPER software support!

If you’re looking to replace your existing expensive solution, or looking to move on from email/spreadsheet-based support, check out our pricing page here , and please contact PRD Software and let’s discuss what you need to know and how we can help.