BMC FootPrints Service Core vs SCSM comparison

BMC and Microsoft are both solutions in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category. BMC is ranked #30, while Microsoft is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.6. BMC holds a 1.0% mindshare in ISM, compared to Microsoft’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of BMC users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 64% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

BMC FootPrints Service Core

Read 10 BMC FootPrints Service Core reviews

428 Views
312 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SCSM

Read 27 SCSM reviews

977 Views
821 Comparison Views

64% willing to recommend

BMC FootPrints Service Core

SCSM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

SCSM and BMC FootPrints Service Core are two popular IT service management solutions. SCSM stands out for its integration with Microsoft services, while BMC FootPrints Service Core is favored for its comprehensive feature set, including customizable workflow automation and asset management.

Features: SCSM offers integration with Microsoft ecosystems, automatic ticketing systems, and strong reporting services. BMC FootPrints Service Core boasts customizable workflows, a relational database for history and audit trails, and the ability to auto-generate email messages and approvals.

Room for Improvement: SCSM could improve its user interface for better accessibility and streamline its setup process for users outside the Microsoft environment. Enhancements in customizable features and support documentation could also benefit its users. BMC FootPrints Service Core could improve its pricing model, offer more scalable solutions, and enhance its integration capabilities with non-relational databases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SCSM is easily deployable in Microsoft-aligned environments but can require more configuration for others. Its online training resources are helpful for new users. BMC FootPrints Service Core offers a straightforward deployment with extensive support resources, ensuring a smooth setup process for a wider audience.

Pricing and ROI: SCSM provides an economical setup for Microsoft environments, which can translate into a favorable ROI for such organizations. BMC FootPrints Service Core, while potentially demanding a higher initial investment, presents strong ROI potential owing to its expansive feature set, making it a worthy investment for those seeking robust IT management.

To learn more, read our detailed BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

August 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

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

BMC FootPrints Service Core

Ranking in Help Desk Software

31st

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

30th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SCSM

Ranking in Help Desk Software

10th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

9th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of BMC FootPrints Service Core is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SCSM is 1.4%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Service Management (ITSM)

Featured Reviews

reviewer1765752

System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees

A flexible, comprehensive, integrated IT service and asset management platform with good technical support

We use BMC FootPrints Service Core to manage network issues, infrastructure issues, software issues, and ERP. We also use it to manage our facility. So, we do some work orders and also use it as an extra ticketing system Technical support is good. It would be better if it were more…

Read full review

LuisSanchez3

Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees

Current setup enables smooth problem-solving but lacks comprehensive guidance and local support

More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring us to hire external companies for maintenance hours to fix small issues that could be resolved faster in-house if we had better information. We have been looking for an upgrade version, but finding local service has been difficult. It has been challenging trying to get things done. Speaking with the Microsoft office, we found there are no local companies with substantial experience with SCSM. What we have now was installed five or six years ago. It has been difficult to change configurations and look for upgrades, even with all the manuals. Our office is considering moving away from SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft. For me, it has been a good tool to get help and solve internal problems in the office. It is a very good tool, but the difficulty in getting local service or more information is pushing us to look for another tool.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Ability to auto-generate email messages, process email messages, and approvals."

"Implemented system-wide process for approving and tracking "employee move" requests for over 15,000 employees."

"We can track issues easier and run reports on issues to see if there are patterns."

"I like the fact that FootPrints is a relational database, so every item in the database can be linked to another. This helps create history and audit trails for each CI."

"Having a one stop shop for linked assets and tickets has improved end user adoption and led to a reduction in phone/email tickets."

"I have used Tier II BMC support a few times. They were very responsive and recreated my environment in their lab to support me."

"This product solidly handles incident management, problem management, and change management."

"The discovery feature is very flexible."

More BMC FootPrints Service Core pros

"The reporting is very good."

"It is one of the most stable solutions in the market."

"We use SCSM to manage all of our IT operations, including incident and service requests and problem management."

"For our cloud-based deployment of SCSM, the Autopilot is the best feature."

"The solution's setup process is relatively straightforward due to the familiar deployment steps similar to other Microsoft solutions."

"We've been in contact with Microsoft technical support mainly. After doing the research ourselves and troubleshooting, etc., if we can't find a permanent solution, we contact Microsoft to help us fix the issue. Sometimes the issue never gets fixed even by Microsoft. It can sometimes require us to reinstall the solution. However, these are very rare instances."

"The call logging is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting of incidents."

More SCSM pros

Cons

"The mobile version of this product does not support asset management."

"We need more customizable reporting functionality. We could also use more collaboration of service desk tickets. This will allow for two departments to share the same information, track the progress of the total task scope no matter how complex the request is."

"It is pretty clunky and not very intuitive. Even though I have used it for many years, I don't think it is a very good ITSM platform in general. In the telecom space, a lot of telco providers use this solution, but from my perspective, it is not very user friendly. It is a bit more laborious. There are still too many human touchpoints. There can be a little bit more automation. It would also be good to integrate it with other tools. Integration is quite difficult, especially in the telco space."

"It would be nice if they added the ability to go directly to a form via a deep link URL."

"Reporting could be improved along with the option to create more fine tuned reports and to create specific fields for each type of ticket."

"The workflow should be made to be more user-friendly. It should also have more granular scalability."

"The pricing could be a little lower and the product should cover more iTel versions."

"Hyphens are not allowed in the quick search bar. This has created a problem in our environment where we use hyphens in our asset names."

More BMC FootPrints Service Core cons

"Mobile application integration would be an improvement."

"The major issues with SCSM include its severe slowness, especially on the client side, and the lack of comprehensive reporting tools."

"The user interface needs to be improved."

"We have had some issues with the SCSM on-premise deployment version in the imaging aspects."

"Once we had an issue with a desktop download that would not open."

"They need more integration with open-source products."

"I have found SCSM not adequate enough to carry out some functions."

"The patch management aspect of the solution should be improved. It's quite complicated and not user-friendly. If your systems are not patched properly, you are unable to pull reports."

More SCSM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost was on par with other service desk products, and well below Remedy, while still being a BMC product."

"Our costs are well over $250,000."

"The licensing for FootPrints is a perpetual license with an annual support fee."

"This solution has good pricing."

"The platform is competitively priced."

"It is an expensive solution."

"I would rate the pricing as two out of five."

"Licensing can be complex and confusing."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"It is a lower price vs. other things on the market."

"The license for SCSM is cheap."

"It comes free with the enterprise agreement that we have, but the expense really is in having to buy another product to sit on top of it to make it work properly. You wind up having to buy additional support and additional product with their own support and maintenance costs on top of that."

More SCSM pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Government

25%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about SCSM?

The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?

I am not sure about the pricing as I do not have experience with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SCSM?

See all answers

Comparisons

ServiceNow vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 40% of the time

Rezolve AI Platform vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 38% of the time

Zendesk vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 12% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 11% of the time

More BMC FootPrints Service Core Competitors

ServiceNow vs SCSM

Compared 53% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SCSM

Compared 26% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SCSM

Compared 12% of the time

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs SCSM

Compared 9% of the time

More SCSM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IT Service Management (ITSM)

August 2025

Download BMC FootPrints Service Core product report

Buyer's Guide

SCSM

July 2025

Download SCSM product report

Also Known As

FootPrints Service Core

System Center Service Manager

Overview

FootPrints Service Core integrates IT service and asset management for end-to-end business services, and it's easy to install, use, and support. With configurable capabilities that streamline service delivery, FootPrints improves customer satisfaction and IT's reputation with your business users.

BMC

System Center Service Manager is a software product by Microsoft to allow organizations to manage incidents and problems. Microsoft states that the product is compliant with industry best practices such as the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). SCSM has integrated ITIL compliant fulfillment of service requests. Service requests are submitted by the end user in order to obtain information, access to a new application or the most common of all, password reset.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Cast & Crew

Fibabanka, UMC Health System

Buyer's Guide

BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

August 2025

Free Report: BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM report.

See our list of best IT Service Management (ITSM) vendors and best Help Desk Software vendors.

We monitor all IT Service Management (ITSM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.