BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow comparison

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8,391 views|4,725 comparisons
86% willing to recommend
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19,138 views|11,633 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Aug 18, 2022

We performed a comparison between BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Multiple BMC Helix ITSM users say that the initial setup can be complex. Some ServiceNow users say the initial setup is straightforward (when using out-of-box settings), while others say it is complex.
  • Features: Many BMC Helix users mention difficulties with stability and scalability. Users note that it has the power to automate several different tasks in the ITSM world, but it falls short when it comes to integrating with other systems.

    ServiceNow users are happy with its stability and scalability, but some users report that the dashboards and reporting could be improved.
  • Pricing: Both solutions’ users report that their solutions are expensive. BMC Helix ITSM is more affordable than ServiceNow, but users mention that it offers fewer capabilities.
  • ROI: BMC Helix ITSM users make no mention of ROI, whereas numerous ServiceNow users are very pleased with the ROI.

  • Service and Support: Some BMC Helix ITSM users report that support could be better. ServiceNow users report being very happy with their quality of support.

Comparison Results: ServiceNow is the winner in this comparison. Though more expensive, ServiceNow offers more features and better stability, scalability, ROI, and customer support.

To learn more, read our detailed BMC Helix ITSM vs. ServiceNow Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: What Is The Biggest Difference Between BMC Helix and ServiceNow?
Answer: I agree with above analysis, But both tools fit the profile of a big Lego box, a toolbox where you can do almost everything with it but seldom need it. You need for both a lot of technical background to use it properly and the cost are for both on the top of market. you should ask yourself do I need this Best-of-suit approach from both vendors or do I look for better tools for part of the suits : Best-of-breed solution. These days with API's widely available integrations are becoming really easy, so no need anymore for the monolithic best of suit approach from the big tech vendors. And if you look closely to the big Lego boxes under the hood, it's still is a very complex integration spaghetti from all the different acquisitions and technologies. Why not go for best of breed approach and compare the fundamental difference between a "Lego" based vendor and a "Playmobil" vendor. Happy to help out.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Currently, the Service Catalog has the most value to it. Mainly, because we are able to offer IT functionality to non-IT people.""Provides a clean front-end for our users to log requests and has rich ITSM functionality.""BMC Helix ITSM gives us email and SMS notifications, we can check the tickets, and give feedback. All the basic features that we need are available.""The most valuable features are the simplicity and the in-duty features.""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.""In general, for incident management, it's okay.""It's one of the top solutions on the market for ITSM capabilities.""With service requests, we have been able to give visibility to the business users."

More BMC Helix ITSM Pros →

"It's great to do statuses or to review tasks.""Easy to implement and consolidate different platforms and users with useful functionalities.""I really like ServiceNow and all of the features. The way incident management is built is very helpful. You have a lot of options to optimize it, customize it, and automate it. You also have a lot of options for reporting. There are plenty of possibilities to do preference management within your customer CMDB file. These are very useful features, which I missed in BMC Remedy ITSM. ServiceNow is the best ticketing tool I have used so far.""Very easy to implement and to respond to my clients' needs.""The Idea Portal and the PPM platform are most valuable. Their out-of-the-box dashboards and reporting are fantastic. I use them almost on a weekly basis. I have developed a couple of PMO dashboards for reporting. It is user-friendly. Everything is done through a navigation bar, and it makes things a lot easier that way.""The pricing of the product is quite good. It's not too expensive.""For the nuts and bolts running of an IT organization, I can't really say there's anything lacking feature-wise.""Flexibility is the most valuable feature of ServiceNow, that is, being able to modify it to do what we need it to do."

More ServiceNow Pros →

Cons
"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.""Our middleman provider limits the available functionality so we cannot even do our own analytics.""Provide documentation on the content of the REST API interfaces. Right now, it is pretty much non-existent.""It needs a more organic workflow, so every field you create is labeled throughout the stack. BMC has a few products that they try to bundle together. Generally, that solution works. BMC should take a step back and think about the overall solution—not only ITSM but also CTI Integration along with chat. They have all that, but it's not an end-to-end holistic solution with the added reporting analytics.""I have customers that always would like to adapt and personalize BMC Helix ITSM more.""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.""BMC Helix ITSM should improve its price.""The interface isn't that great."

More BMC Helix ITSM Cons →

"Loads slower than expected, and its user interface needs improvement. Support for this product also needs to improve on their response time.""I know that discovery tools are not meant to be simple, but somehow, if they could make it more simple and robust, that would be great.""All the screens are similar. It's the same platform for everything and you need to familiarize yourself with it. In the past, you used to have one screen per application. Now, you have everything integrated into one. Everybody will manage the same screen and they need to navigate into the same screen as the Internet Explorer with a toolbar with the categories and look for the things you want to see or the models you want to use.""Needs additional software titles and easier normalization.""There's always a room for improvement in terms of the ServiceNow UI. For customers, the UI is something that is a continuous improvement.""I would like to see Advanced Intelligent Automation.""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.""The scalability needs improvement."

More ServiceNow Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "If Customer and IT agents are happy, that is one of the greatest ROI. However, one of the major factors is Leadership, because at the end they have to justify the cost."
  • "It is costly, but it is well worth it."
  • "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."
  • "If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
  • "It is too expensive for a small business."
  • "It is not very expensive and not very cheap. It is somewhere in-between. Some of the features are more expensive. There are also additional costs. If you want to use most of the features, you need to pay more."
  • More BMC Helix ITSM Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "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 has a higher cost compared to local/regional solutions."
  • "We know that ServiceNow is not cheap, it's more expensive than other solutions. But we are trying to increase our ability to handle tickets so that the cost per ticket is less."
  • "It's sold as a less expensive solution, but it has to be highly modified. That's where you get into the cost."
  • "ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."
  • "ServiceNow is a leader and its pricing is quite good, quite competitive... Sometimes some plugins are not priced reasonably but, generally, the platform itself, its modules, are priced reasonably."
  • "Isn't pricing always too much? We really do chafe at the ITIL licensing. ITOM is also pretty expensive."
  • "Initially, the licensing model ServiceNow came up with was very good. But now, from a licensing perspective, they are changing their model day by day. It is becoming a bit expensive for customers."
  • More ServiceNow Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Miriam Tover
    JS4 - PeerSpot reviewerJS4
    User

    BMC Helix (Remedy) is not a new product release from BMC. This is a relaunched SaaS offering from BMC under a new Package called as Helix previously known as RemedyOnDemand. Having said that, the Helix seems much more than RemedyOnDemand used to offer. With Helix, the customer has the option to choose a cloud - BMC Cloud, AWS and MS Azure. The core products are Remedy ITSM, Digital workplace (MyIT/SmartIT) mobile apps, BMC Discovery, BMC Business workflows (case management solution for LOB). The supported products are Remedy Single-Sign-On, BMC Client Management, and BMC Client Gateway. These are all available today On-Premise as well. The deployment technology is no longer the old method of installations and configurations on a VM. The new technology that BMC Helix brings is Containerisation. The Docker and Kubernetes container technologies help in provisioning the Helix Products within a day and thus you are ready to configure/customized to suit your business needs from day two itself. Further, Helix offers cognitive capabilities for your ITSM with solutions completely built on cloud - Chatbot and AI automation powered by IBM Watson. Innovation suite platform - a microservices based architecture and integrations through REST APIs. The innovation suite offers an integration studio with few in-built connectors as well like Jira, Service Cloud, etc. You can further build your own connectors using the integration controller within the innovation suite platform.

    So to summarise my view - Helix offers a lot to the customer within one single package and must be given a shot as it brings a choice of cloud, container technology and cognitive capabilities for the products which are already known and popular in the ITSM world.

    RahulPriyadarshy - PeerSpot reviewerRahulPriyadarshy (Tata Consultancy Services)
    Real User

    BMC Helix- BMC Applications As Service (ITSM, Discovery, Monitoring) deployable on any cloud as per your choice using Containers. I think BMC is now making things to work in Cloud and work as SaaS.

    ServiceNow- Hosted on in Its own Dcs . You do not have Choice to Choose Cloud but you can choose DC/Region as per your PO. Still I feel ServiceNow ECO System is designed for Pure SaaS model.

    Akansha Bakshi - PeerSpot reviewerAkansha Bakshi
    Reseller

    There are several differences between in Service and BMC Helix ITSM As BMC Helix ITSM is a fully internationalized environment: one can localize the labels, messages (system-generated messages), notifications, and the currency used in an application.AI is affecting every part of our lives, including IT Service Management. IT operations are connected to every other part of the business and thus ITSM plays an important role in the business to improve the overall performance. Here are the top ITSM Trends we feel will impact businesses in 2020. BMC Helix- BMC Applications As Service (ITSM, Discovery, Monitoring)

    deployable on any cloud as per your choice using Containers. I think BMCis now making things work in Cloud and work as SaaS.



    Digitalization is rapidly changing the face of ITSM. The traditional service desk is evolving into an AI-powered service management platform. Employees are demanding a consumer world-like experience that is intuitive, omnichannel, fast, and seamless. Employee experience has taken a center stage now.


    According to Gartner reports, 40% of the enterprises will adapt AIOPS (Artificial Intelligence for IT operations) by 2022. AI-enabled customer-facing service desk support will increase by 25% by 2020 leveraging virtual customer assistants and chatbots. Let’s take a look at the new advances in the ITSM platform. From my point of view,  Helix offers a lot to the customer within one single package and must be given a shot as it brings a choice of cloud, container technology and cognitive capabilities for the products which are already known and

    popular in the ITSM world.

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It is suitable for the present circumstances, providing reliability and adhering to the necessary procedures Having ITSM and proper knowledge is essential for our work to be acknowledged and… more »
    Top Answer:Regarding reporting, when sharing information with leadership, we utilize BI support and data or more analytical tools. These tools provide accurate and comprehensive reports, covering various… more »
    Top Answer:We used to support VMware applications, focusing on distributed applications such as data from ETW, Snowflake, and SAP. Our role involved processing critical data systems through internal mechanics… more »
    Top Answer: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 the… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:It is user-friendly and simple to use.
    Ranking
    3rd
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    8,391
    Comparisons
    4,725
    Reviews
    20
    Average Words per Review
    425
    Rating
    7.6
    1st
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    19,138
    Comparisons
    11,633
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    452
    Rating
    8.5
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy
    Learn More
    Overview

    BMC Helix ITSM is a cutting-edge IT service management platform that leads the service management industry. It is built natively for mobile with an intuitive, beautiful, people-centric user experience that makes your whole organization more productive. This platform leverages artificial intelligence to automate and streamline various service management processes. In doing so, it will ultimately make your organization more efficient. This simple-to-use platform is capable of handling even your organization’s most advanced management requirements.

    BMC Helix ITSM is a predictive platform that does not simply wait for problems to occur. The advanced analytics software aims to improve your organization’s efficiency by spotting weak areas and then proposing solutions. This platform can improve your resource deployment efficiency by as much as 45% .This is why it is trusted by corporations across a variety of industries.

    Key Features

    Some of BMC Helix ITSM’s key features include:

    • Solves service issues in a way that makes you more efficient. BMC Helix ITSM employs advanced analytic software that searches for areas where your organization can drive efficiencies to provide the best possible service.
    • Groups issues that recur in a way that streamlines both analysis and incident management. It uses artificial intelligence to identify and solve groups of incidents in real time. The AI automates these processes, which can prove both tedious and time-consuming.
    • Securely and seamlessly provides services across multi-cloud environments with “a single pane of glass” interface. This allows you to be highly flexible. You can configure your services in a number of different ways without having to worry that your multi-cloud environment won’t be able to support your service management.
    • The ability to view all of your management data in a way that provides you with clear insights into your system’s management. BMC Helix ITSM enables you to create custom reports and dashboards. This makes it possible for you to see any and all significant trends in your operations and services data.

    Reviews from Real Users

    BMC Helix ITSM’s software stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two of these are the robust activity tracking features and the lightweight nature of the solution.

    A PeerSpot user who is a technical Program Manager and Site Lead at a computer software company notes the nature of Helix’s task tracking when they write, “The most valuable features I have found are the activity logs. Additionally, the other features where you are able to continuously address issues and are able to annotate notes inside to convey them to the customer. The customer can read the notes and are able to know where you are in the procedures and process of fixing the problem for them. It has a good interactive piece for dialogue with customers where you do not have to interact with them personally, but they can do it on their own just by going into that activity log. This is great for the customer to have the ability to find out how things are being progressively taken care of.”

    Another PeerSpot user, who is a Practice Director of Global Infrastructure Services at a computer software company, notes, “Many other tools are similar. I've used these tools and find that they meet my requirements. Helix is more lightweight than these tools. It's a traditional tool that was developed more than 10 years ago. Ease of use is the operative word.”

    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
    Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
    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    
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Government10%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization22%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise61%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise71%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise65%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise30%
    Large Enterprise56%
    Buyer's Guide
    BMC Helix ITSM vs. ServiceNow
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Helix ITSM vs. ServiceNow and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    BMC Helix ITSM is ranked 3rd in Help Desk Software with 75 reviews while ServiceNow is ranked 1st in Help Desk Software with 210 reviews. BMC Helix ITSM is rated 8.0, while ServiceNow is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of BMC Helix ITSM writes "The leading service management platform for delivering intelligent, user-centric experiences". On the other hand, the top reviewer of ServiceNow writes "A stable and scalable solution that has excellent features and is useful for collecting data and building KPIs". BMC Helix ITSM is most compared with JIRA Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, Freshdesk, IBM Maximo and IFS Cloud Platform, whereas ServiceNow is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, Pega BPM, IBM Maximo, Appian and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. See our BMC Helix ITSM vs. ServiceNow report.

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

    We monitor all Help Desk Software 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.