BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management vs ServiceNow comparison

BMC Helix Enterprise Servic...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

ServiceNow and BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management are competing enterprise service management solutions. BMC Helix appears to have an upper hand due to its comprehensive data analysis capabilities, offering perceived higher value.

Features: ServiceNow stands out for its robust integration options, custom workflow automation, and adaptability to various business needs. BMC Helix is notable for its AI-driven automation, predictive capabilities, and proactive incident management, thanks to enhanced data analysis features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ServiceNow offers a cloud-based, flexible deployment model that ensures straightforward, scalable implementation. BMC Helix provides hybrid deployment options suitable for complex infrastructures. Though ServiceNow offers robust support, BMC Helix's personalized, comprehensive service reduces resolution times.

Pricing and ROI: ServiceNow entails a significant initial investment but promises substantial ROI with efficiency improvements and lower operational costs. BMC Helix is seen as cost-effective initially, delivering strong ROI through predictive insights and efficient resource management, with its long-term value often justifying higher initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed IT Service Management (ITSM) Report (Updated: December 2025).

IT Service Management (ITSM)

December 2025

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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 Helix Enterprise Servic...

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

24th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ServiceNow

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

224

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (1st), IT Asset Management (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)

Featured Reviews

Ravi ShankarSundarasan

Senior Enterprise Cloud Architect at Blue Yonder

Integrated multi‑cloud discovery has improved incident control and change workflows

The best features BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management offers include scalability, robust ITIL service management, and excellent discovery for the multi-cloud infrastructure, particularly excelling in change problem management. In terms of features, particularly around change management, the product works very well, allowing me to create multiple kinds of changes such as normal change, expedited change, emergency change, and I can track the changes by logging into the respective portals. BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management has a positive impact on my organization by greatly improving workforce productivity; it creates dashboards for different personas within the organization, including the IT service management leadership team and the infrastructure operations engineering team, which is very useful for the day-to-day ITSM process. Specific metrics showing productivity improvement include our ability to reduce the number of incidents; since cloud workloads are always dynamic, BMC Discovery discovers the products every 24 hours, allowing me to get newly provisioned resources in any cloud platform used in Blue Yonder, which truly helps the infrastructure operations and engineering teams to easily track incidents and the recently provisioned resources.

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Shafqat Paracha

General Manager at sPerception IT

Adopting flexible workflows with customized automation delivers measurable benefits

There are things that I would like to see improved in ServiceNow, such as the pricing, as it is a very costly solution compared to other tools. Additionally, its presence in the local market is very limited; in Pakistan, for example, I don't see any vendor or distributor of ServiceNow available. They need to increase their sales spectrum globally so people can easily access them and engage them for client meetings and more. From a functionality perspective, the features in ServiceNow are acceptable as, at the moment, the ITSM modules rank highly, being 13 plus Pink Elephant certified, which is a good aspect to have. When providing advice to users, I would suggest they consider making strategic decisions about their per user pricing since it is very high. In our region, people normally start with 5 to 10 users, but the per user price is quite steep. Moreover, ServiceNow does not charge based on data uploaded or downloaded, so they should reconsider their pricing and data policies to align better with the financial capabilities of the region.

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

"The support of BMC is generally good and better compared to some competitors."

"Overall, I find BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management to be a powerful and comprehensive platform that has significantly improved incident resolution, team coordination, and service delivery in our organization."

"BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management has really shaped Mahle, my last company, and their IT operations support system in a very formal way."

"BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management is truly an enterprise-class product that assists global enterprises in day-to-day incident, change, and problem management, improving workforce productivity while being scalable and resilient, supporting all multi-cloud infrastructure platforms."

"We had fewer breaches, ninety-nine percent service uptime, and all these features were very good."

"BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management has positively impacted my organization by sending event alerts."

"If you stick to the out-of-the-box solution, it's an easy setup."

"It enables us to meet SLAs, track issues across the environment, and report those issues."

"It has more extensive features as compared to the other competitors."

"ServiceNow helps to improve IT incident handling in a more comprehensive way, and the latest version provides extensive information, including AI that allows us to program it in such a way that our L1 support can be eliminated."

"The features of ServiceNow that I find most valuable include its ability to easily access ticket details if you know the ticket number, monitor the timeline of when the ticket was created, and see the current status, which makes ServiceNow the best tool I have ever used."

"It provides internal clients with greater transparency about their projects and deliverables."

"ServiceNow has been implemented to streamline team workflows across different departments in our company. Users, including traveling leaders, were able to approve requests and authorize additional rights through the mobile platform."

"I find the incident management part to be the most valuable. That's how the service desk tracks tickets."

More ServiceNow pros

Cons

"BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management is powerful, but there are areas where I think it could be improved, such as user interface simplification, faster AI learning, and context awareness."

"There are several areas where BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management could be improved. Currently, ServiceNow has an edge when it comes to the ease of discovering Configuration Items (CIs)."

"Regarding my main use case or how BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management works with cloud environments, I believe it needs more interoperability and integration with data platforms such as Salesforce, Snowflake, and Databricks, which requires improvement."

"BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management could use improvements on the dashboard; having a ready-to-use dashboard that just needs asset information instead of building one from scratch would be helpful."

"For me, there was only one thing that could improve BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management."

"The level of complexity and the level of discovery are the two areas that can be improved. Its UI needs to evolve. They focus a lot on cool colors and other little things, which don't bring value in terms of functionality. They need to focus less on presentation and more on the functionality within the UI. Its discovery mechanism should be improved. There is a component in ServiceNow that discovers the assets, but it doesn't do an immediate discovery, and there is a lag. If I want to open a ticket for a laptop or an asset, that asset needs to exist within ServiceNow for me to be able to say that I need to have its disk space or memory increased. It is referred to as a CI or configuration item in ServiceNow. Sometimes, ServiceNow doesn't discover these items, and as a result, I cannot open a ticket and tag that system or asset. If a system was introduced to the environment last week and it is still not listed, it becomes a problem. I will either have to wait or manually enter that system or asset. So, if I have a laptop with only 8 GB of memory and I want to request 16 GB of memory, I won't be able to do that in ServiceNow because my system or asset hasn't been discovered yet. Discovery is not immediate, and there is a lag."

"The pricing structure could be more budget-friendly."

"Performance could be improved."

"There should be greater integration with other enterprise applications. We're using Microsoft, Oracle, and other applications, and it would be good to have a greater integration on some of the immediate hiccups that you have with these services. It doesn't mean that when we have a problem with using another application, ServiceNow should be able to fix it, but ServiceNow should be able to alert us to things. There should be a bit more automation or integration."

"Most people are discussing UIs, but I'm a developer. I would say 80-90% of the people would appreciate that, that's easy for them, but from a developer perspective, it's hard for me, because for me it's clunky"

"The challenge with ServiceNow lies in its expansive portfolio of services. It can be complex, and users may find it expensive and challenging to understand. There is a need for a configurator within ServiceNow that guides users on how to utilize the tool effectively. This configurator should provide insights into licensing, team requirements, and the best licensing model based on whether companies prefer ownership or consumption-based models."

"We find it good in general. Obviously, there are areas of improvement for every capability. As they evolve more, if they keep on adding more intelligence into the capabilities, it will improve. The improvement areas are more integration across the landscape and more intelligence for the overall capability of the solution."

"The reporting, which also includes dashboards, needs to be improved, and there should also be the ability to turn on and off portions of Project Management. Currently, as soon as you install the new version, you've got to go back there and make all the tweaks. There should be just a configuration file that goes to the new version. The Project Management module does not leverage the knowledge base the way it should, and there is no built-in ability to get to the articles. Resource management should be easier. It would be amazing if they can make resource management a little bit more graphical. There are other solutions that I've seen where resource management was a more visual experience."

More ServiceNow cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The first impact for the customer is that it is expensive, but do not forget that it is a solution that includes infrastructure; a single cost, easy to justify."

"It's sold as a less expensive solution, but it has to be highly modified. That's where you get into the cost."

"I have found the solution very expensive."

"The setup cost is high compared to others, especially when the scope is not fixed."

"The pricing is on the high side, but if you look at the stability and option to work, it's kind of justified."

"The mandatory minimum is US$ 20,000 for licensing."

"The solution is priced for medium to enterprises sized businesses. However, it is expensive compared to competitors."

"It is an expensive platform."

More ServiceNow pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	35
Large Enterprise	166

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management?

While I am not very sure about the pricing, I have heard that the license cost of BMC is relatively lower than its competitors.

What needs improvement with BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management?

There are several areas where BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management could be improved. Currently, ServiceNow has an edge when it comes to the ease of discovering Configuration Items (CIs). In BMC...

What is your primary use case for BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management?

I use BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management ( /products/bmc-helix-enterprise-service-management-reviews ) primarily for IT service management. It supports modules like incident management, change...

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?

The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...

Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?

Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...

What do you like most about ServiceNow?

The solution has a user-friendly interface.

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Product Reports

IT Service Management (ITSM)

December 2025

BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management report

Download BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management product report

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January 2026

Overview

BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management is a comprehensive platform designed to deliver advanced service management capabilities, enabling businesses to transform their operations with intelligent automation and robust integration features.

Companies looking to streamline their service processes will find BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management an invaluable tool. It offers innovative solutions to common challenges with capabilities that span multiple domains. The system fosters efficiency through AI-driven insights and integrates smoothly into existing IT environments, enhancing service delivery and customer satisfaction. This powerful combination of tools supports a proactive approach to service management, helping organizations to remain agile and responsive in a fast-paced business environment.

What are the standout features of BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management?

AI-Powered Automation: Enhances process efficiency and reduces manual intervention.
Multi-Cloud Management: Provides seamless integration and management across cloud platforms.
Service Catalog: Offers a comprehensive catalog to streamline service requests.
Intuitive Reporting: Delivers actionable insights through advanced analytics.
Collaboration Tools: Facilitates easier communication among teams.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs through automation and efficient resource management.
Improved Productivity: Enhances user productivity by automating repetitive tasks.
Faster Service Delivery: Increases speed and quality of service delivery.
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Delivers better customer experiences through streamlined processes.
Scalability: Supports growth with adaptable solutions.

BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management is implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail. In finance, it enhances regulatory compliance and security. Healthcare organizations use it to improve patient service management, while retail companies benefit from streamlined logistics and inventory management.

BMC Helix

ServiceNow is a cloud-based task-management platform that specializes in IT operations management (ITOM), IT services management (ITSM), and IT business management (ITBM). ServiceNow allows users to manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions using a variety of different plugins and apps with which it easily integrates.

ServiceNow offers prebuilt applications to support any process, as well as a framework and tools that allow you to build your own.

ServiceNow’s service management solutions include change, request, incident, problem, and cost management, as well as HR, IT, field service, and facilities management solutions. They also cover business management solutions such as vendor performance management, financial management, performance analytics and project portfolio suite, as well as governance, risk, and compliance.

“The Smarter Way to Workflow”

ServiceNow’s activities, processes, and tasks are overseen as part of a comprehensive managed workflow that supports such features as real-time collaboration, communication, and resource sharing. ServiceNow’s suite of products allow for operation using serverless computing, and include the categories of Business Apps, Customer Service, HR, IT, and Security.

ServiceNow can be used to support most workflows because of the wide range of tools it offers. These include on-suite ticketing tools, predictive modeling to manage workflows, and benchmarking for the tracking of progress. ServiceNow can assist with artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and can be used to organize the cases of a help/service desk as well as for instance management and problem management. It also smoothly integrates with many legacy systems.

ServiceNow offers service management software for industries including:

Cloud services
Education
Financial services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Telecommunications

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot users prefer ServiceNow to its competitors because of its scalability, stability, and ease of use. It helps everyone in the company to be on the same page by creating a single source of record across all departments. One user stated that “I’ve definitely used over 20 project management solutions, but they can't be compared with ServiceNow.” Another said that “ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI.”

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow