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BMC Helix ITSM vs IBM Maximo 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

BMC Helix ITSM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (5th)
IBM Maximo
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (1st), Billing Software (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

BMC Helix ITSM and IBM Maximo aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. BMC Helix ITSM is designed for IT Service Management (ITSM) and holds a mindshare of 5.7%, down 12.0% compared to last year.
IBM Maximo, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), holds 15.4% mindshare, down 27.8% since last year.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
BMC Helix ITSM5.7%
ServiceNow15.9%
JIRA Service Management7.3%
Other71.1%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Maximo15.4%
Oracle Enterprise Asset Management8.5%
IFS Cloud Platform7.0%
Other69.1%
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
 

Featured Reviews

KN
Senior Application Developer BMC at Balfour Beatty
Self-service portal significantly reduces resolution time and transforms service process with advanced features
We initially had a lot of tickets generated via the service desk through calls and emails. Now, we have almost moved out of email creations by introducing the DWP features on the Studio pages, with about 90% of the tickets coming in via our self-service portal. Recent upgrades offer different types of views for particular business lines, which was missing earlier. The new landing pages have allowed us to add banners, images, and internal videos, encouraging most customers to use these DWP self-service features. Resolution time has decreased significantly since implementing the self-service portal. Additionally, the availability of knowledge articles, chatbots, and the new Helix GPT feature has improved service processes.
DM
Maximo Developer at Volvo Cars
Centralized asset tracking has reduced paperwork and now improves maintenance efficiency
The best features IBM Maximo offers are that it is a comprehensive tool where we can get the purchasing of assets or spare parts in the same application. The reports are also very good. Additionally, the barcodes are valuable. We can print barcodes for all things we need. The UI also has a very strong appearance. We use the reporting feature very often. We have multiple reports, not just one. For each module, there are multiple reports and we can customize the reports based on our needs. For example, for a work order, we can print a report which gives all the details so that it is easy to carry out the steps required to fix the issue. There are also barcodes for items which we can paste on a bin or the item so it can be scanned with a barcode scanner, which is very easy. IBM Maximo has positively impacted my organization because it reduced a lot of time and has saved a lot of cost. For example, prior to IBM Maximo, we were doing only paperwork. Now that we have IBM Maximo in place, it is useful for tracking all assets and everything in a single solution with no data loss. Previously, multiple people handled this work, but now very few people do. This has helped us significantly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has the power to automatize several different tasks in the ITSM world."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM are its customization ability and the addition of new features. As a built-in Suite, it covers all that is needed in the IT guidelines, which is good. Each customer has their own needs, and the customization the solution provides is beneficial."
"If we consider major players like Ford or BMW, their core focus is manufacturing products like cars. To ensure smooth operations, any arising issues, be it security concerns or issues within departments like HR or finance, require a swift resolution. This is where the product comes into play. It provides a platform for raising tickets and obtaining quick solutions."
"The digital workplace is appealing."
"BMC Smart IT is somewhat rigid, but they have a powerful backend that supports our complex need for extension versus customization. Between extension and customization, you can achieve complex business processes. That's one of the main advantages of BMC."
"The most valuable features are the simplicity and the in-duty features."
"Initial setup is straightforward, and if you follow best practices, then future enhancements will be smoother."
"It provides a good user experience."
"Reliable, very configurable, and it's all integrated in the same database."
"We were able to scale perfectly.​"
"The most valuable feature is asset management maintenance as well as asset management overall."
"IBM Maximo is a very strong and powerful tool in the market…Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"We were doing all kinds of paperwork for every type of order and to maintain our assets but with the use of the IBM Maximo application, we can automate a lot of the processes."
"We can manage, organize, and track incidents, claims, jobs, tasks, preventive and corrective maintenance, locations, and assets."
"The most powerful features are the database and integration with CMDB."
"There are not many enterprise asset management systems on the market and not many that have the categories that IBM Maximo has."
 

Cons

"Whenever you start exploring some new product features, you run into defects. It has been like this for the last six years."
"Some parts of the solutions are using the old interface."
"It takes a long-time to plan and deploy the on-premise solution."
"The tool needs greater customization flexibility, particularly concerning notifications and the progressive view web page. This is significant because it encompasses various aspects like incident management, problem management, change management, work orders, and tasks. Aligning the GUI interface with these functionalities requires more flexibility."
"We have experienced outages, because some other customers did something on the same cluster that we share."
"It needs to be more comfortable for the end-user."
"Support could be better."
"I would like to see the BMC add advanced DWP features and customization to the standard package. Furthermore, BMC does not have any leverage for non-IT services, so it would be nice if BMC could integrate something like HR Change Management into ITSM itself."
"Although you can create notifications with Maximo, the configuration and options could be improved."
"The initial setup was complex, because it is a complex product."
"Areas for improvement would be the user interface and support for Arabic. They could also be more customer-oriented."
"On a scale of one to ten, where ten is easy and one is difficult, I rate the setup process a two since it is very complicated."
"It was very slow due to the lagging issues. So that was kind of frustrating, considering how slow it was while functioning."
"​Maximo is a big system, so the initial setup is complex."
"It's quite reliable, but new versions often are not too stable. They bring in enhancements but they break other stuff."
"You can get lost using the application"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Just make sure you really sit down and look at what you will be using per user, therefore you will not be surprised with a big bill. You do not want every user having every license, it really is not needed."
"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."
"Please always get the latest quote from a BMC partner or from BMC. Check for the latest offerings."
"While purchasing, try to negotiate on per user licensing costs, associated maintenance, and purchase 20% more then what you think you should have. Bulk is always cheaper."
"There are licenses to use this solution."
"BMC Helix ITSM is a very cost-effective solution."
"The price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"I am not sure the exact price we pay for the solution but I know it is in the high seven-figure amount annually."
"You pay for what you get. There are lots of options depending on how you would like to implement Maximo."
"Explore the possibility of using DB2. You will avoid the cost of SQL Server or Oracle licenses."
"​Explore internal processes in order to evaluate the correct number of users in each Maximo module, then evaluate the different offers of pricing and licensing.​"
"The concurrent user license is much more effective in management and cost-wise, as it is more suitable for maintenance management."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low and ten is high, I rate the pricing a nine. The price is very high."
"IBM Maximo offers a licensing application, and you have to comply with the license."
"The price of IBM Maximo could reduce, it is expensive."
"Where available, concurrent licenses can be more cost efficient and provide more flexibility."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise54
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Helix ITSM?
If we consider major players like Ford or BMW, their core focus is manufacturing products like cars. To ensure smooth operations, any arising issues, be it security concerns or issues within depart...
What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
Currently, we are not utilizing the AI functionality in BMC Helix ITSM as we are still in the roadmap and development phase at this point in time. There isn't anything that I would suggest for impr...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
We use BMC Helix ITSM for the complete end-to-end ITSM suite, mainly for ticketing and service management. BMC Helix ITSM supports our IT service management processes primarily for all incident, pr...
What needs improvement with IBM Maximo?
IBM Maximo can be improved by providing developers with more documentation. I think IBM lacks a lot of documentation and hopefully the community who uses IBM Maximo can help if other developers hav...
What is your primary use case for IBM Maximo?
My main use case for IBM Maximo is as a technical consultant, so I help companies to use IBM Maximo. A quick, specific example of how I've helped a company use IBM Maximo is that it is quite generi...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Maximo?
IBM Maximo in their last version includes mobility functionalities which can use the offline mode for technicians that do not have internet connection, and that is really helpful for them. Addition...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
Maximo
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., DTE Energy, Swedish Match, Projetech, Fingrid, East Coast
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: January 2026.
881,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.