Software AG named a Leader for 7th Year in a Row in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications

• Positioned highest in ability to execute in this Magic Quadrant
• Software AG was the only vendor positioned as a Leader in both the Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications and Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools
• Application Programming Interface (API) portfolio and lifecycle management added to latest Alfabet release
• IIPA combined with Enterprise Architecture (EA) helps align portfolio decisions with IT strategy

Software AG announced that Gartner, Inc., a leading industry analyst firm, named it a Leader in its ‘Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications’ report (published on Nov. 27, 2017) for its IIPA product, Alfabet, for the seventh consecutive time.*

Software AG’s Alfabet IT Planning and Portfolio Management platform offers management and governance capabilities across multiple IT portfolios to provide the CIO and other leaders with the information they need in order to make broad, directional and strategic decisions. It enhances communication and collaboration among different IT portfolio managers and helps them understand the symbiotic relationships between the business strategy and demand, technology, application and project portfolios while also taking finance and risk perspectives into consideration.

For the report, Software AG was evaluated for its Alfabet platform among 7 different software vendors on 15 criteria.

Software AG’s Alfabet helps manage current technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Cloud computing, API, bimodal IT, agile development, DevOps, and scaled agile frameworks that IT organizations need to master the support for an aggressive digital business strategy. The report states: “IIPA was initially pursued as a type of sophisticated self-management of assets and applications. However, it is now being leveraged by CIOs and their delegates, as well as business executives, to transform businesses in response to the effects digitalization, the algorithmic economy and digital ecosystems will have on them.”

Dr. Wolfram Jost, Chief Technology Officer, Software AG, said: “We believe Software AG’s positioning in this Gartner Magic Quadrant demonstrates the strength of our Alfabet product vision and roadmap. We feel that our focus on further development of our Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis offering continues to be centered on enabling our customers to keep pace with the key requirements of digitalization — for example, increased agility, greater productivity, transparent integration, effective compliance and the development of new digital business models.”

Alfabet 10.1 Adds Portfolio and Lifecycle Management for APIs

The newest release of Alfabet provides portfolio and lifecycle management support for APIs that are managed in their implementation and run-time phase in the webMethods API Portal and API Gateway. The data from the API Gateway regarding the current use of APIs can now be integrated into Alfabet to be used for API portfolio management and planning. Portfolio management is strengthened by leveraging information on who is using active APIs, how often, and if there are any exceptions. Other information such as ratings, likes, comments, and requirements can also be captured. This will help answer such questions as:

• Which new APIs should be developed?
• Where do we want to allow overlap and redundancy in the API landscape (e.g., to facilitate ecosystem partner onboarding)?
• Which APIs need to be retired or consolidated in order to lower costs and complexity?
• Which APIs pose threats to the overall portfolio and how can these threats be mitigated?

The integration with the API Portal can be used to start promoting APIs while they are still in the planning phase.

Enterprise Architecture ‒ A Component of IT Portfolio Decision-Making

The Gartner ‘Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications’ report notes that: “IIPA customers are generating integrated portfolio views of IT investments, IT projects and programs, IT assets and applications, and business capabilities. Identifying the points of intersection between elements in these portfolios and "desired state" models created from enterprise architecture (EA) helps IT align the decisions it makes in any IT portfolio with current IT strategy. Seeing the potential collisions or contradictions between future-state EA models and elements in different IT portfolios can help uncover areas of redundancy and waste.”

Software AG is also positioned as a Leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools” (authored by: Samantha Searle, Marc Kerremans; published: May 24, 2017).

* “Magic Quadrant for Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis Applications”, by Daniel B. Stang, Stefan Van Der Zijden, published: 27 November 2017 ID: G00321039. From 2011-12, Software AG was listed as Alfabet since it acquired the company in June 2013.

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