Hydrasight notes that Microsoft has quietly announced a significant delay in the initial release of its service desk product. Even though the delay will provide further short–medium term opportunities for existing service desk vendors, we believe it only postpones the inevitable consolidation of the lower-end of the market for IT help/service desk software.

Microsoft announced its intention to offer a service desk product in April 2006. It claims that the primary cause for the recently-announced delay is the need to improve product performance as well as to increase integration with other System Centre products. While internal development undoubtedly provides Microsoft with greater control over the eventual product, and its functionality, we note that suitable acquisition targets already exist—as an example, service desk products built on the Microsoft .NET platform (e.g., Infra). Irrespective, and given their current position, we believe that Microsoft's service desk product development strategy has only delayed the inevitable consolidation of the service desk market. Moreover, we do not believe Microsoft's strategy will change significantly due to the delay.

Through 2010, Hydrasight advises that investment in sub-enterprise scale service desk software should be delayed or minimised. This position is due to Microsoft's eventual arrival and the impact we believe it will have. As our previous research infers, we believe Microsoft's entry into the service desk market will be disruptive within two years of its release—particularly for IT operations within mid-sized enterprises. We do not expect however that Microsoft's arrival will significantly impact the dominant enterprise-class service desk products (e.g., BMC, CA and HP). Given these factors, Hydrasight advises IT organisations to ensure that they review their tactical planning assumptions in regard to IT service management (ITSM) tools and processes.