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BMC Helix Client Management vs BigFix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BigFix
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (9th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (35th), Patch Management (6th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (9th)
BMC Helix Client Management
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Device Management (MDM) (7th), Endpoint Compliance (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Endpoint Security solutions, they serve different purposes. BigFix is designed for Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) and holds a mindshare of 1.1%, up 1.0% compared to last year.
BMC Helix Client Management, on the other hand, focuses on Mobile Device Management (MDM), holds 6.0% mindshare, up 3.7% since last year.
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BigFix1.1%
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint8.1%
CrowdStrike Falcon7.0%
Other83.8%
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
Mobile Device Management (MDM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix Client Management6.0%
Jamf Pro13.6%
NinjaOne7.2%
Other73.2%
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
 

Featured Reviews

JC
Technical Director at SYSTEX
Comprehensive client management and software distribution made efficient
Implementing a business solution with BigFix has some issues, primarily concerning the time required for distribution to clients if there are too many. Building a management console is quick and simple, taking only one to two hours for setup. However, a demo or trial may take over a week or two for completion.
Cristian Testa - PeerSpot reviewer
Presales Manager Product Manager - Latin America Region at tdi
A stable solution that allows you to manage IT clients from receipt to retirement
The initial setup is straightforward and easy to use, but you need to understand the different functionalities and modules. The console version and the Hub application are different, and you need some knowledge to make the process easier. Deployment typically takes about two months. You start with the initial setup and then continue with operations. The deployment process is straightforward. The master installation takes about thirty minutes. After that, you deploy different relays to discover the endpoints and create the credentials and sources to install the agents. Once the agent is installed on an endpoint, you can manage it as needed. The first step is always the installation. BMC Client Management can be deployed both on cloud and on-premises. After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increased need for remote solutions, so we have customers using both models. In BMC Client Management, I'd rate the initial setup as an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Being able to intelligently create reports, gather data, export CSVs and give that to the leadership of some of the client groups that my team supports has helped my organization."
"It's very straightforward."
"It has plugins development options, which are great."
"The most valuable feature is the patching."
"It is user-friendly."
"My company provides support services to a lot of customers and companies. We have reduced a huge amount of man-effort. Along with the man-effort, we have reduced the timeline to fix the compliance and security gaps. We have an unbroken record. The documentation clearly says that we have done the patching of newly released patches, including Microsoft and third-party patches, in up to 80% of the computers, within 72 hours of the release of the production. That was a very massive benefit that we have seen. When I talk about the 80% endpoints, it is 100 or 200. I am talking about 25,000 endpoints."
"Software distribution and patch management are the most valuable."
"We rely on BigFix as part of our consulting engagements. It's more efficient from a visibility and discovery standpoint on the initial phase, the consulting engagement. It also increases our efficiencies on the remediation phase of our engagements."
"BMC Client Management is a stable solution and one of the best in the market. It allows me to manage all recipe endpoints, including iOS, Android, Linux, Unix, and Windows, all within the same solution."
"The support from BMC Client Management is very good."
"The most valuable features of the solution are its patching capabilities and the help it offers when it comes to use cases, like prompting for the reboot after a certain period of time."
"One feature I like, that was especially valuable during the pandemic, is remote control. Remote control grants administrators and support personnel access to the laptops and PCs of employees (who might be working from home) in order to fix any issues that come up as and when they come up, even without having to wait for a support request."
"It's a scalable solution. We have deployed it for customers using 3000 nodes to those using 300,000 nodes."
"The most valuable features of the solution are patch management and software license management."
"The inventory and patch management tools are very valuable."
 

Cons

"I would request them to build a robots, or an easier way for integration with the other tools, like ITSM tools."
"The solution needs to improve console speed. I would like to see one console that does everything. It doesn't need to have a big client console."
"License management isn't quite as easy as it should be to deal with the licensing. You need to take the server down to import the new licenses which I find to be annoying."
"The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned."
"The reporting still needs improvement since customers want specific reporting, such as N-1 month patching reports."
"I would like to see more custom content."
"Its pricing should be improved. It is too costly."
"I'm looking for them to make big web UI improvements."
"In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. The latest version includes more endpoints, but they do not cover everything the operations team needs. Additionally, I think improving the hierarchy for managing endpoints is crucial. Extending the endpoint capabilities would be highly beneficial."
"BMC Client Management supports only iOS devices. It would be good if they would support Android as well."
"BMC Client Management could improve in the area of integration."
"The on-premises version of BMC Client Management has powerful remote control functionality and decent compliance features, but these features both rely on the discovery tool in order to gain a complete set of insights about the endpoint's environment. Now, BMC's discovery solution depends on having an agent installed in each endpoint and sometimes the agent doesn't work properly, making it difficult to get an accurate understanding of the environment (including special topologies) even with BMC's discovery tool."
"It would be good if BMC Client Management can perform vulnerability assessment scanning at the endpoint on its own and mitigate that. Then, we wouldn't have to rely on a third party VA tool. I would like to see this application move to being a web-based one."
"The solution does not offer the functionality of remote access to users."
"The solution needs to add whitelisting because many customers request it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"So, the pricing is slightly more expensive than the others. I have to keep buying licenses every time I add a new device."
"The price is reasonable, but our customers find it expensive."
"The license is subscription-based."
"It is too costly. It is one of the best tools, but because of pricing, not all clients support it. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"It might be about $23 a client."
"The price of BigFix is better than the solutions. You are able to pay monthly or annually. There are not any hidden costs with BigFix. There is an additional cost for the SQL database."
"The price is very fair."
"You are charged per server and per workstation when using BigFix. ManageEngine is a lot cheaper than BigFix. There are some additional costs, such as support."
"BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe there is an additional cost of around two hundred dollars."
"BMC Client Management is a very affordable solution. There is one main server license which I believe is around $1,000 per year, and then there is the license for the actual solution. With the solution license, you can opt for a suite license where you get access to all the features and benefits, or alternatively you can buy any of the five main components of the suite license individually."
"The solution is low cost."
"To use BMC Client Management they charge annually per node."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
12%
Government
12%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise66
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to other major software solutions, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
The reporting still needs improvement since customers want specific reporting, such as N-1 month patching reports. In addition to reporting improvements, there should be a feature for application c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Client Management?
BMC Client Management is a high-priced solution, but given its performance and capabilities, I think it offers great value. I don't have the exact number for the yearly licensing costs. I believe t...
What needs improvement with BMC Client Management?
In BMC Client Management, I would like to see more features for executing commands remotely. For example, with SAP, there isn't the capability to execute all the commands available in the console. ...
What is your primary use case for BMC Client Management?
The most common use cases for BMC Client Management among my clients include managing inventory and deployment of a software package.
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Endpoint Manager
BMC Helix Client Management, Helix Client Management, BMC Fromdistance Mobile Device Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
Charter Manufacturing
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