The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Service Management Platforms, Q4 2025
The ESM market is experiencing unprecedented expansion driven by a shift from process-centric and reactive IT operations to proactive enterprisewide service management. AI is rapidly transforming the market, with genAI and agentic AI capabilities now embedded into core ITSM practices rather than being experimental. IT monitoring and observation are playing a prominent role in providing data to train LLMs, improving IT decision-making and enhancing AI agent results. Vendors are expanding offerings to include endpoint management, digital experience management, and enhanced analytics focused on business outcomes. The market is moving beyond traditional ITSM to encompass IT, business, and development service management with improved chat resolution, unified employee portals, and proactive endpoint diagnostics.
No common features specified.
Vendors must, among other requirements:
A: This research evaluates 15 enterprise service management platform providers across current offering capabilities and strategic vision. It assesses vendors on process workflow, collaboration, infrastructure monitoring, incident response, asset management, endpoint management, self-service portals, virtual agents, change risk automation, knowledge management, analytics, and agentic AI development. The evaluation also considers strategic factors including vision, innovation, roadmap, partner ecosystem, pricing transparency, and supporting services.
A: ESM customers should use this evaluation to inform purchase decisions by considering their organization's agentic AI adoption readiness, quality of knowledge sources for AI training, and governance/regulatory requirements. The report helps buyers understand vendor positioning, strengths, weaknesses, and fit for specific enterprise needs. Organizations can adapt findings based on their priorities using Forrester's interactive provider comparison experience. Buyers should consider whether they need transformative AI capabilities or core ITSM functionality, and match vendor offerings to their specific requirements around collaboration, monitoring, endpoint management, and service experience.
A: Vendors included in this evaluation must provide broad enterprise-level support by natively offering all core ESM functions with a demonstrated track record of supporting large enterprises. They must generate at least $100 million in annual revenue from their ESM product. Vendors must have significant mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients, meaning they are frequently mentioned in inquiries, advisories, and consulting engagements as products being considered for purchase. Additionally, other vendors in the market must mention them as competitors.
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A: Strength of Offering evaluates current product capabilities across 16 functional criteria including core ITSM features (workflow, incident management, asset management), AI capabilities (virtual agents, agentic AI), monitoring and remediation, collaboration tools, and analytics. Strength of Strategy assesses the vendor's future direction through 6 strategic criteria including vision for market transformation, innovation investments, product roadmap, partner ecosystem strength, pricing models, and support services. Offering focuses on what the platform can do today, while Strategy evaluates where the vendor is headed and how well-positioned they are for future market needs.