What is our primary use case?
We are migrating to BMC Helix Platform, and we are also using BMC Control-M product, Control-M. We have seen their monitoring platform but haven't decided yet whether to choose Datadog. There is a unified monitoring application, which is acquired by BMC, and BMC is promoting now.
For BMC Helix Platform, we use it for line of business automations and for ITSM services, including the internal development life cycles, application lifecycle, and everything is being controlled.
There are predictive analytics capabilities in BMC Helix Platform, and although I have not fully explored, I am going through the training on that platform because Helix version 23 and 24, the recent releases have inbuilt AI capabilities into these intelligence analytics and proactive monitoring for prediction onto what's occurring with tickets.
We have seen cognitive automation in BMC Helix Platform in action through Helix GPT, which works in many different areas to automate tasks, including designing new line of business vertical forms and service requests. These things seem to be promising with interactive customization and designs that provide drafts of what we have asked, and once reviewed and approved, they will be live to utilize.
We have already adopted low-code application development environment for BMC Helix Platform, but we are still in dev mode. We have three different environments and are now coming to UAT, after which we'll go to production in the third quarter of this year.
We are using BMC Helix Platform in the banking sector.
BMC Helix Platform helps in digital transformation and internal workflows and processes being adopted from different departments in line of businesses. It brings the SLAs and other practices to other line of businesses. The non-IT departments such as admin, HR, and marketing are using it for internal operational efficiency and accountability of their operation.
What is most valuable?
We are utilizing the search in BMC Helix Platform because there are numerous different things, and it's not easy for users to navigate, so they usually search. The search has become smarter based on category and can give interaction search results.
The licensing part for BMC Helix Platform should be easier to understand.
What needs improvement?
It depends on the tier level - for the front-end users, BMC Helix Platform is easy with minimal training required. For mid-tier and back-end, training is required as the product is vast and has many different capabilities that need to be learned to extend those capabilities into other platforms.
The licensing should be simplified. The functionality of the product is divided into many versions, and offerings are not bundled. We have to obtain different modules, and that complexity can be standardized.
The website doesn't have much information about offerings until you engage with them. More information should be clearly mentioned on their website and product sites regarding licensing. Product features and capabilities shown in their marketing materials are limited. Their PDFs focus heavily on TrueSight but don't emphasize outcomes and real offerings of features for ITSM or line of business service requests.
They can provide template-based solutions for departments as functionality remains similar throughout different business verticals. Out-of-the-box offerings for service requests and catalogs for HR and admin departments could help expedite implementation and gain more momentum and trust from the market.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with BMC Helix Platform for more than three years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
The setup experience of BMC Helix Platform is not easy. Without vendor help, establishing this would not have been possible. There are many things involved that require vendor assistance.
On a scale where 10 means easy setup, I would rate the setup of BMC Helix Platform a five.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We faced some stability issues with BMC Helix Platform's cloud version. Services and integration to AD weren't working properly at times. This could be due to vendor issues or implementer issues from the beginning. The complexity has been carried forward, making it difficult to optimize and work without issues.
We had ongoing issues with AD integrations from the older version that remained unresolved. The system is spread across different servers, and services must start in a sequential manner. If it goes down, it won't restart unless you follow a particular pattern, which was concerning.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
BMC Helix Platform is scalable for our environment. I would rate it a ten in terms of scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support from BMC for Helix Platform is good. I would rate it nine or ten out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The decision to choose BMC was influenced by our legacy system being BMC, making migration easier. We wanted to migrate legacy data to the new platform without disruption or missing information. BMC was already adopted, making it easy to upgrade while maintaining current line of business portals. The price was within our budget, and the cloud version offered five C compatibility compliance, which was already adopted into BMC practices.
How was the initial setup?
I cannot comment extensively about BMC Helix Platform's initial setup as I am still exploring and going through the official BMC training. I need more time with the administration part to provide firm feedback.
What about the implementation team?
BMC Helix Platform requires dedicated resources to manage. It is not suitable for non-technical personnel to manage. Someone needs to have training and hands-on experience to manage effectively.
What was our ROI?
Regarding ROI for BMC Helix Platform, I would rate it as moderate, around seven out of ten.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of cost for BMC Helix Platform, it falls in the middle range, rating about six or seven out of ten. It is less expensive compared to ServiceNow, which is very expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before working with BMC Helix Platform, I evaluated other tools including ServiceNow, Symphony, and ManageEngine.
What other advice do I have?
A rating of five means it is difficult to set up.
I recommend evaluating if BMC Helix Platform is really needed because it requires dedicated resources to manage. It is not suitable for non-technical personnel. It requires training and hands-on experience. Administration navigation is challenging as you have to remember many URLs to navigate inside. It isn't a simple UI interface where every screen appears in front of you.
The biggest benefit of BMC Helix Platform for our company is that it makes it easy to comply with auditors and industry standards and compliance.
Overall, I would rate BMC Helix Platform 6.5 to 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
*Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
