No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

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

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
633
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (1st), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
BMC Helix ITSM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (8th)
SolarWinds Web Help Desk
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (19th)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
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.
GANESAN K - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited
Has supported daily operational workflows and improved approval management across departments
We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does impact reducing IT staff workload overall. From technical standpoints, comparing SolarWinds Web Help Desk with TeamViewer, we need ease of configuration and ease of allocating, creating new fields or creating new layouts for many specific use cases. An organization can have a number of use cases when it comes to a ticketing tool. It's not a security solution; it's more of a service solution where you will be configuring the needed categories and needed fields for each department. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SolarWinds Web Help Desk an 8.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Automation Anywhere (AA) is easy to use and understand, even if the user didn't have previous experience with RPA (robotic process automation) software before."
"The feature of this solution that I like the most is that it is coding free - it is a coding free tool. It does not need much coding at all. For all the activities you just drag and drop. That is the best advantage of this tool."
"It is very easy to use and learn compared to a programming language, where you have to have a background in coding. Anyone can learn it. Learning the software is easy."
"This RPA solution really stands out because of its functionality, scalability, and stability, offers very good technical support, and is always innovating with new features that speak to various operational use cases."
"Workflow automation has helped a lot with cost reduction, greater accuracy, and delivery speed."
"The most valued feature of Automation Anywhere is its Excel functionality; earlier in my career, I used Process Studio as my RPA tool and there was no flexibility of retrieving single cells, but Automation Anywhere has the flexibility to extract data from Excel."
"The best part about Automation Anywhere is the easy to use UI. It's very user-friendly. You have everything that you want in front of your eyes. You just have to drag and drop, then build your logic accordingly."
"I like Automation Anywhere's cloud-based nature. You don't need any on-prem infrastructure to host it."
"Customer support is always fantastic and willing to help."
"In general, for incident management, it's okay."
"Improved our organization with better customer experience and reporting abilities."
"The self-service feature and knowledge base resolutions are helping the customers in resolving issues rather than opening tickets."
"It is flexible and can be used for any type of company, whether it's finance, or transport, etc., as it uses ITIL standards, has the flexibility to integrate with other applications, and can also be customized as needed."
"The solution's most valuable features are automation and orchestration."
"Call logging and escalation features are the most valuable for us because they are easy to use and with them, we can assign a request to a specific person or department."
"BMC Helix ITSM is a good product out-of-box, with a lot of functionalities built-in, so there is no need to worry—just plug and play."
"It is easy to use."
"The biggest advantage for SolarWinds Web Help Desk is the user interface; we were able to configure a different UI for administrators, employees, and HODs based on their hierarchy level."
"The solution scales well; currently is working for 60 help desk technicians (IT and non-IT) for over 2,000 users."
"It has a pretty good search function, and if you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field."
"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the assets management module."
"It has a pretty good search function. If you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field. If I do a search on the request field and just put in some terms I'm searching for, I can usually find the ticket that I'm looking for."
"A person who is not in IT, but has some good ITSM knowledge will be able to configure it directly on SolarWinds, and Manage Engine."
 

Cons

"Their bot runners could be made to handle multiple payloads at the same time because if I want to run multiple parallel operations, the number of bot runners that I have to buy just keeps increasing."
"MetaBot still needs to be optimized, though Version 11.3 did integrate all the commands into it."
"IQ Bot requires a significant improvement for its data detection and data retention, mainly from the previously trained documents: regarding the document's format, layout, data contained within the document, the type of data that needs to be extracted."
"I would like to have a cloud-based version with support."
"The version that I used (10.3) was not that stable. It easily crashed in-between processes."
"In a cost-sensitive industry like banking, where automation needs to prove clear ROI, a more flexible pricing structure would assist organizations in expanding automation more aggressively without feeling constrained by budget considerations."
"IQ Bot is bad and needs a lot of tweaking."
"There is a small thing from a development point of view. There should be a static site box for finding any command if I am writing a code."
"Needs to make customizable/configurable article templates in the Knowledge Management."
"Their customer service catalog (where a customer can order some products) could be improved. This product is not the best, but they are working on it."
"We found that there was numerous issues upgrading from 8.1 to 9.1 in that all our licenses were broken for almost a year and a half. We chased down a total of 14 hotfixes, patches, and service packs before things were finally resolved. During that time, said "fixes" also broke other things, so it was quite the sore spot with management for some time."
"It takes a long-time to plan and deploy the on-premise solution."
"Customer Service could use some improvement – while they are technically very good, some of the agents have poorer communication skills than others."
"There are some limitations or restrictions to using BMC Helix. For example, when we do some reporting, the reporting interface should be more user-friendly from my point of view."
"The User Interface still has the appearance of being clunky and not user friendly."
"They could be more responsive to feedback from their community board."
"Dashboards need some amount of work to be done. Ease of customization is desired."
"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."
"We would like to see automation included in the next release. We would like to eliminate the L1, and L2 support, by at least 80%. To do this, we need automation with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in combination with ML (Machine Learning)."
"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."
"This is a good solution, but the GUI is really old-fashion and needs to be updated."
"The program seems buggy to me. Not infrequently, when I click to add a Note, the Notes section disappears instead of opening a box to add a Note."
"The interface feels clunky to me compared to some other systems that I've used. I used ManageEngine Service Desk prior to this at my previous job and that had stuff like categories that we use that I don't see in SolarWinds."
"The working part, the deployment part, and the configuration part was a little bit complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is affordable and I would recommend beginning with the Starter Package."
"Automation Anywhere is cheaper than UiPath and Blue Prism. From a market point of view, Automation Anywhere is reasonable. Any organization can adopt Automation Anywhere."
"I don't know exactly what the pricing schemes are for the product as this type of negotiation is not my responsibility, but I think the basic pricing comes to $15,000."
"The licensing cost for Automation Anywhere is high."
"Automation Anywhere is flexible in terms of costing and licensing."
"The cost is high for small-scale businesses but it is fine for medium and large enterprises. Its high licensing cost may affect small-scale businesses. Reducing licensing costs would benefit many users."
"In terms of monetary savings, we automated a bot in three days that has saved us $30,000 in costs."
"The cloud-based version comes at an increased cost, although our clients are happy with the new features and have not complained about the pricing."
"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."
"The price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"The cost is relatively high, especially for the BMC Controller application. However, the expense is justified by the standard and reliable features it offers. This product's reputation in the market is strong, providing assurance in terms of data and other considerations."
"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."
"I am not sure the exact price we pay for the solution but I know it is in the high seven-figure amount annually."
"The solution's pricing should come down."
"There are licenses to use this solution."
"If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
"They charge by the technician. It costs $117 per technician per year."
"When you compare with ManageEngine and ServiceNow, SolarWinds is reasonable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
896,387 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Construction Company
11%
Retailer
11%
Performing Arts
10%
University
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business150
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise531
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise55
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
Although BMC Helix ITSM is a strong enterprise platform, there are areas where it could be improved. One key area is ...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
My main use case for BMC Helix ITSM is validating and automating core ITSM workflows, such as incident, change, and s...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Helix ITSM?
My thoughts on the pricing and licensing cost of BMC Helix ITSM are that it is flexible.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?
Areas of improvement can be enhanced regarding configuration. We had the deployment metrics and usability, ease of us...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Web Help Desk?
For Zoho, we did OP Manager, Audit Security, AD Security and Asset Management, Patch Management. These things we are ...
What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Web Help Desk?
We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does i...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy, BMC Helix IT Service Management
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
Instacart
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Helix ITSM vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,387 professionals have used our research since 2012.