CA-Sponsored study highlights best practices for achieving IT service management excellence

Results Demonstrate Positive Impact of ITIL Change, Configuration and Release Processes on IT Performance

DUBAI, March 10, 2008 - CA (NYSE: CA) today announced the results of a study of 341 global IT organizations that highlights the positive impact that best practices for ITIL change, configuration and release processes has had on those organizations' overall performance. The study, conducted by the IT Process Institute (ITPI) and sponsored by CA, also pinpointed five specific best practices that are crucial for achieving excellence in IT service management.

"Although studies for the Middle East are still in process, initial results indicate that the best practices crucial for achieving IT excellence in the Middle East are in-line with the global study. However, local companies and organizations are lagging behind in terms of ITIL implementation, so there is extensive work that needs to be done on awareness and training levels in order to create a sustainable culture that will guide ITIL practice to higher maturity levels," stated Feras Abou Shackra, Executive Committee for itSMF Gulf.

The results revealed five sets of IT service management best practices that consistently improve the effectiveness of IT organizations' change, configuration and release practices. These improvements typically result in higher IT resource utilization, more consistent quality of end-user experience, and/or reduced overall risk from poor change management practices.

These best practices are:

Rigorous release management. Top performers roll back 46 percent fewer failed releases and measure 90% fewer unauthorized changes than others in the study. So, while change management may often be a logical starting point for ITIL implementations, IT organizations seeking the highest levels of performance should also focus on more rigorous build, test, and rollback process for releases.

CMDB deployment. Top performers with CMDB-enabled processes resolve 28 percent more incidents within SLA limits than others in the study.

Process. IT organizations that actively encourage compliance with documented processes and procedures achieve higher levels of performance. Top performers with a strong process culture have an 11 percent higher change success rate than others in the study.

Standardized configuration. Standardized configuration practices predict top levels of performance in configuration drift and security breaches automatically detected, with top performers able to automatically detect security breaches 42 percent more often than others in the study.

Tight control of access to production systems. Access control is also a key best practice for high-performing IT organizations. Top performers have 60 percent fewer emergency changes than others in these areas.

The study noted that these best practices are ideally adopted in conjunction with each other.

Complete study results and an online benchmark tool that IT managers can use to compare their organization to the survey participants are available at www.itpi.org.

An executive summary of the study is available for download at http://ca.com/us/products/category.aspx?ID=5318.

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About CA
CA (NYSE: CA), one of the world's largest independent software companies, provides software solutions to unify and simplify™ IT management. With CA's Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and expertise, organizations can more effectively govern, manage and secure IT to optimize business performance and sustain competitive advantage. Founded in 1976, CA serves customers in virtually every country in the world. For more information, please visit www.ca.com.

About CA in Eastern EMEA
CA's Eastern EMEA region comprises the Arab countries, Africa, Levant, Pakistan, Russia and the CIS, and Turkey. CA's strong local presence includes over 200 highly skilled professionals and a 24x7 multilingual Customer and Partner Support Center located in the region.

CA customers in the region include Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Akzo Nobel, Al Jubail Petrochemical, Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp, Arab Banking Corporation, Arab Financial Services, Bank of Beirut, Banque Misr, The Contact Centre, Dubai Department of Civil Aviation, Dubai International Financial Centre, Emirates Airlines, Emirates Bank International, Emirates National Oil Company, Higher Colleges of Technology, Hugo Boss, King Saud University, Mashreq Bank, National Computer Center, PWC Logistics, Salalah Port Services, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Takreer (Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company), and many other organizations large and small.

For more information, please visit http://www.ca.com/arabworld.

Media contact:
Cynthia Zacour
The Portsmouth Group
Tel: +971 4 369 3575
cynthia.zacour@theportsmouthgroup.com