A couple of years ago, my then-colleague Patrick Connaughton wrote a market overview about service-level management tools, which included a discussion of specific toolsets intended to help customers manage both internal and external services-based relationships. Among the technologies in this space include Digital Fuel, Oblicore, Compuware’s APM, Enlighta, Appirio, and others. Such service-level management tools, as we described them then, reflects one key aspect of toolsets like Digital Fuel and Oblicore, to monitor service levels for both internal and outsourced delivery. But the technologies also have other capabilities, including the ability to create catalogs and manage financial implications of services consumption, both internal and external.

Since that time, challenges in service consumption, including measuring and managing services relationships, have only gotten harder, complicated by the widespread trend toward multisourcing and multi-supplier relationships and new categories of cloud-based services like IaaS on the other. Given these challenges, tools like those described above would seem to have some possible value. Big industry suppliers sure seem to think so: Since we wrote our last report, NewScale has been snapped up by Cisco and Digital Fuel was bought out by VMware, with the goal in part to help customers of virtual solutions and cloud services meter their usage and help charge back for consumption. In addition, KPMG acquired Equaterra, meaning that KPMG also took ownership of Equaterra’s EquaSiis, an outsourcing governance suite developed in conjunction with Microsoft. Oblicore was acquired by Computer Associates just months prior to our report. The acquisitions have in some cases meant a change in focus for the technologies acquired, to fit more cleanly to the broader product and services agenda of the acquirer.

While clearly of interest to suppliers, what about their value to enterprise customers? We will be updating this research shortly and we would like to know how your experience has been. Do these tools add value in helping you manage your services relationships? Let us know.