This IDC study provides actionable advice to IT organizations that are considering the definition, selection, or deployment of a configuration management database (CMDB). This research is based on in-depth interviews and surveys with enterprise IT organizations, many of which have been early adopters of CMDB technology.

"8% of enterprise IT organizations have deployed a CMDB," states Stephen Elliot, research manager for the Enterprise Systems Management Software service. "However, over the next three years, 70% of enterprise IT organizations will consider deploying a CMDB. On average, these organization make 528 configuration changes a month, which causes an increase in complexity and a high rate of IT service failures. CMDBs are helping and will help IT organizations get infrastructure change under control."