BMC Helix ITSM vs. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BMC Helix ITSM
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
BMC 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
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management.
$0
Pricing
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Editions & Modules
BMC Helix ITSM
Contact Sales
Core Plan
$0
Premium
$6
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Features
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
BMC Helix ITSM
8.5
Ratings
5% above category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets9.10 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Expert directory8.60 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Service restoration8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service tools8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications8.10 Ratings9.00 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation8.20 Ratings6.00 Ratings
ITSM reports and dashboards8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
ITSM asset management
Comparison of ITSM asset management features of Product A and Product B
BMC Helix ITSM
8.3
Ratings
1% above category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
-
Ratings
Configuration mangement8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset management dashboard8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy and contract enforcement7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Change management
Comparison of Change management features of Product A and Product B
BMC Helix ITSM
8.5
Ratings
1% above category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
-
Ratings
Change requests repository8.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Change calendar8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Service-level management8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
BMC Helix ITSM
-
Ratings
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
BMC Helix ITSM
-
Ratings
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.9
Ratings
13% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Small Businesses
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.2 out of 10
SysAid
SysAid
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.6
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BMC Helix ITSMSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
BMC is the obvious choice for medium—to large companies. With all the functionality included, most of it will be used by more prominent companies. The cost vs. use makes sense for them. For smaller companies, the high cost of license implementation and running costs usually make BMC too expensive. Having a light version for them could increase BMC's market share.
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Spiceworks Help Desk from the user end is very simple. Once you submit your technology needs, I automatically receive an email stating that my ticket was received and is being processed. It's also helpful to have the VNC feature so that my IT department can automatically VNC into my computer if it's a quick fix. At times Spiceworks Help Desk can be tricky because as someone who's not in a Tech role at my company, it can be hard to describe what I need assistance with writing.
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Pros
  • Remedy is great for housing much of the ITIL process in one System: if you want a complete package with every bell and every whistle, Remedy is for you
  • Remedy breaks down the functions of ITIL into "consoles": separate areas of the System, that allow one to focus on Changes, Incidents, Assets, etc
  • The interface is VERY compatible with legacy web browser tech: The last surviving member of the browser wars is still the favorite for remedy users: IE 11
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  • It helps to multitask, even on the go with the mobile App.
  • We can customize to meet your needs with automated responses, notifications, and templates.
  • Detailed reports allow managers to keep track [of] and analyze data.
  • Allows for a database to store notes helpful for future tickets.
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Cons
  • Expandability is limited and once you make certain customizations the upgrade process can become difficult or impossible
  • Relationships between Configuration Items and Changes is clunky and difficult to setup/maintain
  • Service Desk functionality is not as robust as other tools and does not allow for easy configurations/customizations
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  • I have always wanted a way to redirect a support request into another IS bin, such as a development task.
  • It's possible to extract the data from the Spiceworks database, but it would be helpful if the process to do so were easier.
  • Improved ability to customize the system generated emails to improve the formatting and company branding.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
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There is no contract to renew, since it's free. Spiceworks has helped me so much that I couldn't imagine trying to replace it with a different product. I'd have a hard time finding a single product that does everything that Spiceworks does, let alone one that does it as well as Spiceworks and for free
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Usability
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.
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1. Its free. 2. Its easy to install. 3. You can have it up and running in under 1-hour. 4. You get dashboards that are easy to read so you know the state of your network. 5. You can create your own reports and not just the ones already installed. 6. Excellent tool for network administrators and security practitioners. 7. Did I mention that its free?
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Reliability and Availability
for now we are satisfied. first two months 😉
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We use it both locally on our own server so up time is decided by us and we also use the hosted help desk. We have never had an outage of that.
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Performance
could be faster. db is slower from introducing postgresql
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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.
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Spiceworks has been working out of the box, and some of the basic customizations have been successful with just our internal staff handling. We don't have any other issues with the tool. It provides us with the inventory information we want in a quick and concise report in a variety of formats for our team.
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Online Training
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
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
I was not a part of the initial implementation
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If you can spin up a VM to run it on, you'll thank yourself later. If you have remote sites, set up a local server (or dedicated computer) at each site and set them up as remote collectors for the main site. You'll save time and bandwidth
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Alternatives Considered
As I mentioned, as an MSP we are exposed to most ITSM products on the marketplace. On completeness of offering, we find BMC ahead of the rest. The only other comparable product is ServiceNow, and functionality is neck and neck with BMC ahead in ITOM, and with ServiceNow pricing is premium for the branding and marketing
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EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the right software.
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Scalability
the product is,probably, really scalable. however as it is in cloud,this theme isn't of our interest anymore
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • With the KPIs exported and reviewed semi-annually or quarterly the management can spot and attend to root causes affecting operations.
  • No more missed or forgotten tickets for work orders by the team - increased efficiency and performance.
  • Approvals hierarchy enforces controlled change management and responsible actions.
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  • Positive - Allow organizations to implement structured Help Desk procedures.
  • Positive - IT can begin to quantify their tickets and uncover needs within the organization.
  • Positive - IT can develop a solid roadmap with [the] management of future needs, equipment refresh schedules, etc.
  • Positive - IT can pinpoint employees who may need extra training or updated equipment based on historical ticketing data.
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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.