New EMA Research on ServiceOps Quantifies the Impact of AI, Automation, and Modular Integration across Industries

Survey of 204 IT leaders reveals that ServiceOps has evolved into a unified operational approach combining IT service, ITOps, and ESM with AI, automation, observability, and cross-team collaboration to align IT delivery with business value

LAFAYETTE, Colo., Nov. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Management Associates (EMA™), a leading IT research and consulting firm, has released a new report, "Redefining Modern Service Management: ServiceOps, ESM, and the Rise of AI-Powered Services," by Parker Hathcock, research director at EMA. The study provides a comprehensive examination of how ServiceOps has reached a turning point at which technical convergence, collaboration, automation, and AI redefine how IT and business services operate.

Parker explains: "The 2025 survey shows that complexity is accelerating faster than ever, but the organizations that pair automation, AIOps, and shared visibility are turning that complexity into a competitive advantage."

EMA's new research finds that ServiceOps, originally rooted in traditional IT service delivery and aligned with practices such as ITSM, ITOM, ITAM, and ESM, has rapidly matured over the past five years. What was once defined by reactive workflows and siloed teams has evolved into a strategic, collaborative discipline that integrates observability, automation, AIOps, and agentic AI to drive measurable outcomes.

The shift is well underway: 77% of IT leaders surveyed report either an active initiative to improve collaboration between service and operations teams or a fully established ServiceOps function, demonstrating that convergence is no longer theoretical—it is operational reality.

The survey explores how organizations are adapting to this new era of ServiceOps, including:

• The tools and platforms used to deliver IT and business services
  
  
• How teams manage outages, incidents, and service resilience
  
  
• The ways organizations bridge technology, skills, and responsibility gaps
  
  
• Expectations for the future of ServiceOps and AI-driven service delivery

Some key findings in the report include:

• 56% said that they are "accelerating/expanding IT investments"
• 51% reported that the most important factors to their IT organization are reducing incidents, outages, and MTTR
• 42% of panelists responded that "automated ticket triage and routing, problem resolution suggestions and actions" were their top IT service / ITSM improvement goals for the next 6 to 18 months.

This independent research is sponsored by Virima, a leading innovator in IT discovery, CMDB, IT asset management (ITAM), and service mapping, and Xurrent, the AI-powered service and operations management platform 

A detailed analysis of the research findings is available in the report, "Redefining Modern Service Management: ServiceOps, ESM, and the Rise of AI-Powered Services."

Join Parker for a free webinar on December 2 to explore the results and what they mean for enterprise IT organizations.

About EMA 
Founded in 1996, EMA is a leading IT research and consulting firm dedicated to delivering actionable insights across the evolving technology landscape. Through independent research, market analysis, and vendor evaluations, we empower organizations to make well-informed technology decisions. Our team of analysts combines practical experience with a deep understanding of industry best practices and emerging vendor solutions to help clients achieve their strategic objectives. Learn more about EMA research, analysis, and consulting services at https://www.enterprisemanagement.com and follow them on X and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Raleigh Gould
Enterprise Management Associates
303-543-9500
[email protected]

SOURCE Enterprise Management Associates