ISG Buyers Guide for IT Operations Management Classifies and Rates Software Providers

ISG Research is happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The IT Operations Management: ISG Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG Research.

Chief information officers and IT leaders face the dual challenge of optimizing IT operations while simultaneously driving innovation in an increasingly complex marketplace. The intricacies involved in managing a diverse array of technology environments require enterprises to harness a multitude of tools and platforms to address unique operational demands spanning various departments and functionalities. Technological advancements often outpace traditional strategies, so it is essential for IT leaders to have a comprehensive understanding of the software at their disposal.

IT Management and Operations software plays a pivotal role in aligning technology initiatives with business objectives. As enterprises strive to enhance efficiency, reduce costs and maintain a competitive edge, these approaches become critical enablers of streamlined operations and effective resource allocation. Furthermore, as enterprises transition to more agile and cloud-centric architectures, IT Management and Operations software platforms facilitate enhanced visibility, control and adaptability across the entire IT stack. This is particularly important as CIOs look to future-proof enterprise architecture and ensure that technology strategies are not only reactive but also proactive in addressing emerging challenges and opportunities.

ISG defines IT Operations Management as an overarching discipline that encompasses the strategic integration of artificial intelligence for IT operations and observability data. Together, these methodologies provide a comprehensive software framework for optimizing the delivery, performance and governance of IT services within an enterprise.

Integrating these systems specifically benefits enterprises by:

• Enhancing operational efficiency by maximizing artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. AIOps software automates complex IT processes, gathers and analyzes vast amounts of data from diverse sources and identifies anomalies in real time. This intelligent automation enables IT teams to streamline operations, enhance incident response times and predict potential issues before they escalate. The transformative impact of AIOps allows enterprises to deliver high-quality services while minimizing manual intervention and downtime.
• Providing a holistic view of IT system performance. Observability involves collecting, analyzing and visualizing data to understand the internal state of IT systems through their outputs. By implementing observability practices, enterprises can optimize IT operations, enhance incident response times and ensure service reliability. With a unified approach to observability data, IT leaders can proactively identify and mitigate issues, facilitate collaboration between IT and business teams and ultimately drive operational excellence.

By strategically integrating these approaches, enterprises can optimize the delivery of IT services, enhance operational efficiency and align technology initiatives with business objectives. This unified approach empowers enterprises to navigate the complexities of digital operations effectively. Aligning these technology initiatives with business objectives ensures that enterprises can achieve operational excellence, enhance service quality and respond proactively to challenges. For CIOs and IT leaders, investing in IT Operations Management practices is essential for long-term success and resilience.

Enterprises rely on digital technologies to drive growth and operational efficiency. The rapid convergence of technological advancements, evolving workforce dynamics and shifting market demands makes this an opportune time for enterprises to assess and realign IT Operations Management software strategies and partnerships.

Trends driving the adoption of IT Operations Management software include:

• Accelerated digital transformation. The urgency of digital transformation initiatives has intensified as enterprises maximize technology to optimize processes, enhance customer experiences and gain competitive advantages. CIOs and IT leaders must ensure that IT Operations Management software is agile and scalable enough to support these transformation efforts. By re-evaluating existing solutions and partnerships, enterprises can identify gaps in functionality, performance and integration that could hinder the ability to adapt to new business requirements.
• The rise of hybrid and remote work environments. The shift to hybrid and remote work models has fundamentally altered how enterprises operate. With more employees working off-site, the demand for robust IT Operations Management software approaches that cater to distributed teams has surged. Enterprises need to rethink strategies to ensure workers can access the tools and resources they require, regardless of location. Evaluating current IT Operations Management software providers will help identify approaches that promote collaboration, streamline communication and secure remote access—all critical in this new working paradigm.
• Cost management and resource optimization. Economic pressures resulting from global uncertainties necessitate a close examination of IT budgets and spending. IT leaders are tasked with optimizing resource allocation while delivering value and performance. Now is the time to scrutinize software contracts and partnerships for cost efficiencies, such as consolidating vendors or renegotiating licensing agreements. The goal should be to align IT expenditures with business outcomes, ensuring that every dollar spent on IT Operations Management software contributes to achieving organizational objectives.
• Evolution of cybersecurity threats. As reliance on digital platforms increases, so does the risk of cybersecurity threats. Enterprises must ensure that IT Operations Management software includes robust security features that protect sensitive information and safeguard against potential breaches. Assessing current software and partners confirms preparedness to mitigate risks. Strengthening the security posture of IT Operations Management software is essential not only for compliance but also for maintaining customer trust and brand reputation.
• Growing demand for innovation and agility: In a technology-driven economy, the ability to innovate quickly is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage. IT Operations Management software should facilitate agility by enabling enterprises to respond swiftly to changing market conditions. By re-examining software strategies and partnerships, enterprises can identify applications that support rapid deployment, seamless integration and enhanced functionality. Embracing cutting-edge technologies such as AI, ML and automation can propel enterprises forward and enhance operational efficiency.

By understanding the critical factors driving an IT Operations Management software review process—accelerated digital transformation, evolving work environments, cost management, cybersecurity threats and the demand for innovation—CIOs and IT leaders can effectively communicate the importance of this initiative to executive leaders, including the CEO and CFO, as well as the board of directors. A refined IT Operations Management software strategy not only aligns technology with business goals but also positions enterprises for sustained growth and resilience.

Generative AI plays a pivotal role in enhancing IT Operations Management software by automating complex processes, improving decision-making and driving efficiencies across various IT functions. By leveraging GenAI, enterprises can streamline service delivery, optimize resource allocation and proactively identify and resolve issues, ultimately leading to improved operational performance. Additionally, GenAI enables IT teams to generate insights from vast amounts of data, facilitating more informed strategic planning and enhancing collaboration among teams. As enterprises embrace digital transformation, IT Operations Management software integrated with GenAI capabilities becomes essential for staying competitive.

Generative AI offers substantial benefits across the core categories of IT Operations Management software—AIOps and observability—empowering IT teams to enhance service quality and operational efficiency. AIOps integrates GenAI to analyze operational data and automate incident responses, enabling faster identification of issues and minimizing operational risks. In observability, GenAI aids in automating performance reporting, enhancing anomaly detection and generating troubleshooting documentation, which supports proactive system monitoring and quick resolution of issues.

Applying Generative AI across these categories fosters a more efficient, responsive and data-driven IT Operations Management strategy. We assert that by 2027, software providers seeking to streamline enterprise IT operations will release GenAI-driven tools to optimize processes such as incident management, resource allocation and performance forecasting. By streamlining workflows, enhancing decision-making and improving resource allocation, enterprises can strengthen IT capabilities and establish a position for long-term success.

Agentic AI holds the potential to enhance IT Operations Management in the future by introducing autonomous decision-making and proactive management capabilities beyond those of GenAI. Its envisioned ability to automate routine tasks, manage incidents and initiate complex workflows in real time could allow IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives. Additionally, Agentic AI could enable self-healing mechanisms to resolve issues automatically, minimizing downtime and improving service reliability. In AIOps, it is expected to automate incident management and performance optimization. For observability, it may enhance system monitoring and incident response, supporting a proactive, data-driven IT strategy and helping enterprises optimize operations to achieve strategic objectives.

CIOs and IT leaders should approach IT Operations Management software that incorporates GenAI, LLMs and future Agentic AI capabilities with enthusiasm and caution. While these technologies offer significant benefits, they also come with unique challenges and prerequisites. A holistic evaluation must include technical aspects and business, ethical and strategic considerations. Other areas of focus include risk awareness, critical infrastructure, organizational readiness, governance and compliance and a long-term perspective on the sustainability and scalability of AI approaches.

ISG believes a methodical approach is essential to maximize competitiveness. It is critical to select the right software provider and product to improve the performance of your enterprise’s people, process, information and technology components.

Our IT Operations Management Buyers Guide research provides a 360-degree view of a software provider’s ability to optimize the delivery, performance and governance of IT services within an enterprise. Separate Buyers Guide research reports are available for ITSM, FinOps, AIOps and Observability software.

This IT Operations Management Buyers Guide evaluates products based on two software segments—AIOps and observability. Capabilities evaluated for IT Operations Management include collaboration and communications, data visualization, event correlation, GenAI and machine learning, intelligent automation, performance monitoring, predictive analytics, root-cause analysis, security and compliance, self-healing features, anomaly detection and proactive alerts, insight sharing, data collection and integration, open-source framework support, real-time monitoring and visualization, troubleshooting tools, scalability and integration with existing tools. To be included in this Buyers Guide, software providers must meet or exceed the inclusion criteria and have commercially available products in both AIOps and Observability categories.

The insights gained from understanding current IT Operations Management software providers are invaluable for IT leaders who aim to align their technology investments with organizational goals, optimize workflows and foster a culture of innovation. By investing in the right tools, CIOs can unlock new avenues for growth and transformation, paving the way for enterprises to thrive.

This Buyers Guide report evaluates the following software providers that offer products addressing key elements for IT Operations Management: BMC, Datadog, Dynatrace, Elastic, IBM, LogicMonitor, New Relic, OpsRamp, SolarWinds, Splunk and Zenoss.

This research-based index evaluates the full business and information technology value of IT operations management software offerings. We encourage you to learn more about our Buyers Guide and its effectiveness as a provider selection and RFI/RFP tool.

We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating IT operations management offerings in this Buyers Guide as both the results of our in-depth analysis of these software providers and as an evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can be used to evaluate existing suppliers, plus provides evaluation criteria for new projects. Using it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and the definition of an RFI.

The Buyers Guide for IT Operations Management in 2025 finds Splunk first on the list, followed by Dynatrace and BMC.

Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.

The Leaders in Product Experience are:

• Dynatrace.
• Splunk.
• Datadog.

The Leaders in Customer Experience are:

• BMC.
• Splunk.
• Elastic.

The Leaders across any of the seven categories are:

• Splunk, which has achieved this rating in six of the seven categories.
• BMC and Datadog in four categories.
• Dynatrace in three categories.
• Elastic and New Relic in two categories.
• IBM in one category.

The overall performance chart provides a visual representation of how providers rate across product and customer experience. Software providers with products scoring higher in a weighted rating of the five product experience categories place farther to the right. The combination of ratings for the two customer experience categories determines their placement on the vertical axis. As a result, providers that place closer to the upper-right are “exemplary” and rated higher than those closer to the lower-left and identified as providers of “merit.” Software providers that excelled at customer experience over product experience have an “assurance” rating, and those excelling instead in product experience have an “innovative” rating.

Note that close provider scores should not be taken to imply that the packages evaluated are functionally identical or equally well-suited for use by every enterprise or process. Although there is a high degree of commonality in how organizations handle IT operations management, there are many idiosyncrasies and differences that can make one provider’s offering a better fit than another.

ISG Research has made every effort to encompass in this Buyers Guide the overall product and customer experience from our IT operations management blueprint, which we believe reflects what a well-crafted RFP should contain. Even so, there may be additional areas that affect which software provider and products best fit an enterprise’s particular requirements. Therefore, while this research is complete as it stands, utilizing it in your own organizational context is critical to ensure that products deliver the highest level of support for your projects.

You can find more details on our community as well as on our expertise in the research for this Buyers Guide.