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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    BMC Helix ITSM

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ABMC Helix ITSM replaces Remedy. It is a broad suite of ITSM, tools with strong integrations to other BMC tools and in-built ITAM. The product is used mainly by global brands and is offered in on-premise and SaaS configurations.N/A

    SolarWinds Service Desk

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Service Desk (formerly Samanage) is a cloud-based, multi-tenant IT service desk and asset management software for IT and enterprise service management. Samanage is on a single, always new instance of software. The service desk includes a self-service portal, service catalog, knowledge base, and SLA management tool. The integrated agent-based asset management solution collects contracts and licensing data from Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix systems.N/A
    Pricing
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Editions & Modules
    BMC Helix ITSM
    Contact Sales
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Considered Both Products
    BMC Software Inc.
    Chose BMC Helix ITSM
    Although Spiceworks appeared to be easier to set up and use, we felt that BMC Remedy was more robust. We noticed that the user base for BMC Remedy was huge. Although this should never be the single deciding factor, it was definitely a big plus. The ability to have cloud-based …
    Incentivized
    SolarWinds
    Chose SolarWinds Service Desk
    The main business need was having a cloud-based product that can allow all employees to submit requests and be able to track and manage the tasks in an organized manner. ServiceNow is a robust software and requires a full-time engineer to manage, BMC remedy was lacking the …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Service Desk
    Solarwinds has a much better UI than Remedy. It's more modern and flows better than the older "Windows 95" view of Remedy. Spiceworks does offer a modern UI but is lacking on a lot of features that are considered basic for ITSM related tools. Spiceworks does work very well for …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Service Desk
    Samanage is much simpler to implement in a medium-sized organization of around 100 employees. Other software easily gets more complex, and would have taken too much time for an end user to learn as well as inexperienced IT gurus. Price etc also has a say, and with Samanage you …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Service Desk
    Samanage is much easier to maintain, to configure and to train users than either Kaseya or Remedy, and has much better features than some of the lower-end cloud-based or on-premise solutions.It's easy to navigate from a user's view and if properly configured by your IT staff, …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    61 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    86 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    56 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    85 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    62 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    86 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    78 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    84 Answers
    Features
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of BMC Helix ITSM and SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    Feature
    BMC Helix ITSM
    8.5
    92 Ratings
    5% above category average
    SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    7.0
    97 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets9.191 Ratings8.096 Ratings
    Expert directory8.662 Ratings6.057 Ratings
    Service restoration8.774 Ratings6.058 Ratings
    Self-service tools8.783 Ratings7.086 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications8.165 Ratings8.967 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation8.281 Ratings6.077 Ratings
    ITSM reports and dashboards8.382 Ratings7.087 Ratings
    ITSM asset management
    Comparison of ITSM asset management features of BMC Helix ITSM and SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    Feature
    BMC Helix ITSM
    8.3
    80 Ratings
    1% above category average
    SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    7.3
    82 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Configuration mangement8.777 Ratings8.074 Ratings
    Asset management dashboard8.473 Ratings6.980 Ratings
    Policy and contract enforcement7.957 Ratings7.064 Ratings
    Change management
    Comparison of Change management features of BMC Helix ITSM and SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    Feature
    BMC Helix ITSM
    8.5
    84 Ratings
    1% above category average
    SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
    7.0
    80 Ratings
    18% below category average
    Change requests repository8.883 Ratings7.064 Ratings
    Change calendar8.379 Ratings7.044 Ratings
    Service-level management8.479 Ratings7.072 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Small Businesses
    Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Score9.2 out of 10
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
    Score4.5 out of 10
    Ivanti Neurons for ITSM
    Score4.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (99 ratings)
    8.0
    (119 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.5
    (8 ratings)
    6.5
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    8.7
    (50 ratings)
    8.0
    (8 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (7 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    3.0
    (10 ratings)
    8.0
    (92 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.6
    (2 ratings)
    8.9
    (3 ratings)
    Configurability
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BMC Helix ITSMSolarWinds Service Desk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    BMC Software Inc.
    There are many ITSM platforms available - but only a very select few are true enterprise leaders. BMC Helix is one. When it comes to managing thousands of incidents daily, BMC Helix helps cut through the noise with incident correlation and predictive problem management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    If you are looking for a way to support a company and bill based on the outcome this software works really well. If it's a quick password change there was no charge, but if it's troubleshooting things you click the box to charge. It works really well for this. Also bringing all your assets into this and associating them to a client works well. I can't think of anything that this software would not be less appropriate for. It works well for what we use it for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    BMC Software Inc.
    • The Service Asset and Configuration Management capabilities of Helix ITSM are awesome. It can be used as a central repository for all SACM information and seamlessly integrated with Helix Discovery.
    • It has the most certified ITIL process modules of any ITSM system. These modules work seamlessly with each other and give you the power to manage any situation effectively.
    • As an Administrator of Helix ITSM you have many tools at your disposal to create customizations, workflows. BMC makes it easy to manage the system, leaving time to develop customizations and workflows.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Approval flows: You can have multiple layers of approval required for the tickets and service requests you design. This helps us show auditors that access to privileged systems and data was formerly reviewed and approved by the appropriate managers.
    • Easy to design forms: You don't need to spend hours reading the documentation to figure out how to create forms. It's simple enough that you can just jump right in and start creating them with minimal training.
    • Lots of options and features are available for you to include in your forms.
    • Integrates well with SAML-based SSO and has capabilities for MFA.
    • Easy and useful search function. Need to find that ticket from last year that you worked for a particular user or issue? Just search by keyword or username, and it'll quickly find the ticket.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    BMC Software Inc.
    • Customization can be lengthy due to the numerous features included in the software.
    • New staff members require some sort of hands-on training to get to know all the use capabilities.
    • The analytics can be improved to include forecasts and trend analysis.
    • Expensive compared to competitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • There is potential to greatly improve the capacity for cascading attributes. Currently, categories are limited to a top-level category and one subcategory. This leaves a fairly shallow decision tree.
    • Greater flexibility to modify the layout of incident request forms.
    • More integration options for cloud file-sharing platforms. Solarwinds Service Desk has tie-ins to Dropbox but not other vendors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    BMC Software Inc.
    It provides the tool we need and is able to be customised to meet new requirements. Cost to change in training and integrations would be considerable.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    My renewal is soon coming up, it is fairly likely I will renew again for the 5th year. I may consider evaluating what else is out there, It was requested by my staff to not make a change. They feel that SSD fits our needs, is easy to use and should keep it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    BMC Software Inc.
    At least Remedy is all contained in a single platform, so the interface is consistent. Also, the most heavily performed functions are generally usable. However, to use some of the more advanced modules can be a bit more cumbersome (such as Change Management and CMDB (Not Including ADDM)). So, overall BMC Remedy ITSM is better than some applications like CA SDM or HP SM, but not quite on par with ServiceNow.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Solarwinds Service Desk has a very "user friendly" interface. Everything looks nice and neat. And, learning how to use the system is very easy. It provides multiple services that are easy for most people to grasp, and allows for great organization of incidents and assets. Support for Solarwinds Service Desk has a good response and resolution time and are easy to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    BMC Software Inc.
    for now we are satisfied. first two months 😉
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Because the data is stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS) there are very rarely any outages. There have been some times when the product has been slow to load, but because the interface is web based it could be anything between my computer and AWS that was causing the issue. But also, because the application is web based it can be access from anywhere which makes it very convenient
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    BMC Software Inc.
    could be faster. db is slower from introducing postgresql
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    When the system is working, the pages load very quickly. We run reports all the time in the system. The reporting can be extremely complex or very simple. Either way, we have not had any issues with the reports. We do not currently integrate Solarwinds Service Desk with any other software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    BMC Software Inc.
    Their tech support is top notch. They respond and get back to us, even on lower level incidents and issues, very quickly. It is rare that we deal with a support technician who does not know what they are doing.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds support department will respond to you quickly from the time of purchase to after-purchase instructions & supporting, and the company is great in customers support. In buying a software, our organization always has a priority for the seller and support and accountability is very important to us, and the manufacturer or seller must be responsible and supportive.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    BMC Software Inc.
    the trainers dont have so much practical experiences. its mostly follow up and reading existing documentation withou own input. of course experiences people are on shore or have no free time. sad truth
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    When we first purchased Samanage (now Solarwinds) they provided us with an informational training session to show us all of the basics on how the service works and showed us everything we were interested in using. There are still some areas of Solarwinds that we do not yet utilize but I know if we choose to use them in the future we would be able to schedule another session with our representative to have them show us what we need to know.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    BMC Software Inc.
    Satisfied because I didn't have to do it!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    The implementation process for our organization was fairly simple. We set up an email address to receive the emails from the system (for incident creation), and we allowed the system to spoof our IT email to respond to requests. Solarwinds helped us with the rest of the implementation, and it took less than a week to get the system fully operational.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    BMC Software Inc.
    I did not select Remedy myself, so I am coming in from someone who is apart of the story, from somewhere in the midway. That being said: Remedy has begun a journey of understanding the problems associated with the implementation of ITIL, and indeed ITIL itself (it is a top-down process for management of an IT department). there are many alternatives out there. One, in particular, I am keen to investigate: Redmine. But in doing so, It will be evaluated via my experience with Remedy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    We chose SolarWinds Service Desk for its user friendly platform compared to what we had. Its was easier for requestors to submit tickets, provide feedback, merge tickets, build a suitable approval process. Our organization had a hard time going back and forth with the end user on providing a status on their request or issue, where most users just didn't follow through or lost interest in their issue. We would have to send multiple emails to get any type of feedback and that's something we did not want to keep on doing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    BMC Software Inc.
    unclear. lot of for less
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    BMC Software Inc.
    Again, always room for improvement, but a very stable product none-the-less.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    We have over 500 computers and tablets across our organization and this has helped us greatly in keeping track of where computers are and who is currently using it. I can see this product being useful to groups both larger and smaller than us and I really appreciate this product.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    BMC Software Inc.
    • The ROI was fine initially as we got what we paid for and it served its purpose
    • Over time, we got behind on releases due to limitations with customizations we made to the application. The product then became out of support and completely out of date, and we had to replace
    • Overall ROI was minimal and once the product was out of date we found more value in other tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • We are more easily able to quantify user satisfaction with support.
    • We are able to develop SLAs that quantify and define the obligation of our support teams.
    • The actual cost of Solarwinds Service Desk per agent user is high in our estimation. The more you implement this platform across your organization, the more tightly tethered you are to this solution.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    BMC Helix ITSM Screenshots

    Screenshot of BMC Helix Multi-Cloud Broker. This is where users can deliver a secure service experience across multi-cloud environments.Screenshot of Knowledge Management, available with intelligent recommendations to help bring the right information to end-users and agents to quickly and accurately resolve issues.Screenshot of the incident and problem management interface, used to create and resolve incidents faster with intelligent, context-aware, and proactive incident matching.

    SolarWinds Service Desk Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot