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HaloITSM vs OpenText Service Management (SMAX) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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
662
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)
HaloITSM
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (23rd)
OpenText Service Management...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (12th)
 

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.
Ian MacFarlane - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at Elifiatek
Codeless with no customization required and excellent pricing
We have just displaced a ServiceNow installation, which is a major win. We have become partners with Halo and reduced our partnerships with other enterprise ITSM providers. We've actually become partners with Halo, and we've got rid of our partnership with Ivanti ITSM. It's a real market changer, for sure.
HugoAlmeida - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Delivery at Timestamp ITM
Centralized service processes have improved cross‑department visibility but reporting still needs work
The machine learning capabilities in OpenText Service Management (SMAX) are somewhat not published the way they should be. They work pretty well, but they are not used as much in the current experience of our customers. They have them; the solution has them, but they usually go a little bit below the radar in terms of visibility. I believe there is room for improvement when it comes to machine learning capabilities. OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has room to improve mainly on reporting components. The reporting components include dashboards, and while OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has a reporting module, it's somewhat limited, so I believe it has room to improve there, with more inclusion of artificial intelligence in the models and more in project management and portfolio management capabilities. We want to see better use and more functionalities enabled with the already existing capabilities such as AI and reporting in the next OpenText Service Management (SMAX) release, but one important thing we think should be included is a module for metrics, similar to Google Analytics, that focuses on the metrics of the tool usage. The module shouldn't just report on the components of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) but also track how the tool is used by end users, for example, what functionalities users utilize more frequently, the performance of those functionalities, and how long it takes them to open a ticket or log in, focusing on applicational monitoring metrics and performance management metrics.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"AA helped our clients to achieve their goals faster and more efficiently, also reaching ROI very quickly."
"Automation Anywhere has improved our organization by allowing us to reduce the number of new hires, enable us to keep the same workforce, and increase productivity."
"It is an easy product. It is easier and less complex than any other RPA tool in the market. It is a popular product."
"The dashboards are excellent."
"Using this solution has freed internal operations employees to do more "human value-add" work by removing mundane manual tasks."
"TestingAnywhere is a scriptless automation tool which is easy to learn and implement, with many effective features such as creating test cases using web recording, object recording, image recognition, Smart recording, or an editor."
"Our experience with technical support at Automation Anywhere has been great. They have been very helpful, especially during the PoC, processes which are sort of early on in their sales cycle, or when we were just starting with Automation Anywhere a couple of years ago. We got great support for getting it onboarded in-house and getting our team up to speed. So, we have found it to be a great partnership."
"Automate Anywhere can just mimic what a human does."
"The product’s UI is very good."
"The solution's initial setup process was quite straightforward... I rate the technical support a nine and a half out of ten."
"The most valuable aspect is that is is codeless."
"The most valuable features of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) are that it is user-friendly, easy to configure, and adaptable."
"OpenText Service Management Automation X provides valuable features such as topic analytics for incident and problem management. It also includes natural language processing for analyzing technical descriptions. Additionally, it features a virtual chatbot capable of processing natural language to interact effectively with end users. This service enhances customer support and is not subject to the limitations often found in offerings from other vendors."
"The customization features are quite good, and we have a very good local vendor helping us in this regard."
"The product provides an interface for the end users to make requests."
"It offers a range of tools for sales and configuration. It's like a business process improvement platform, suitable for various lines of business operations."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is evolving in addressing the needs across different sectors like IT or HR."
"I've used this kind of application for more than 20 years and from my perspective, SMAX is one of the best products on the market."
"This is a cordless application that can be used throughout any organization."
 

Cons

"The areas in which the product and service must be improved are in the government sector and ministries such as the Ministry of Education and Health."
"So far, the stability is not good. We are trying to improve this because we are facing a lot of instability issues."
"The initial setup was not that great. The road was very up and down."
"As far as stability is concerned, there have been some challenges. Sometimes, we experience our computers freezing up for no apparent reason or the network being inaccessible."
"The areas that need improvement are the license management, user access permission, user role access management, and technical support."
"I need high value products to be created, so I need integration with other solutions. Machine learning and AI need to be integrated with Automation Anywhere. While IQ Bot is a good beginning, our company does not work with manual paperwork since we are already digital. We would like to see more integration with cognitive tools going forward."
"If you work with image recognition and custom objects, there are stability issues."
"Automation Anywhere is a tool. It is not able to go ahead and extract the hand-written documents."
"The product does not have its own orchestration engine."
"There are no improvements needed. There is very little that HALO has not already built that is not on its roadmap."
"The solution's integration part needs to improve...In the future release of the solution, I expect to see certain changes in the programming of the solution. A customer of the solution should be able to customize it as per their need."
"The tool has negatively impacted our productivity."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has some stability challenges that are crashable and not stable at times."
"The initial setup of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is complicated, but once it is set up the configuration is straightforward to adapt to the users' or customers' needs."
"The reporting functionality is not the best as it is not easy to use."
"The contract management feature can be improved."
"SMAX lacks in integrations as well as written documentation."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has room to improve mainly on reporting components. The reporting components include dashboards, and while OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has a reporting module, it's somewhat limited, so I believe it has room to improve there, with more inclusion of artificial intelligence in the models and more in project management and portfolio management capabilities."
"The product's connectivity with third-party products is an area of concern where improvements are required."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of this solution is a little bit high, but it is worth the price."
"The pricing is fair. My company is part of a big organization, so the pricing is very advantageous."
"It's fine. However, I'm concerned with the credits in terms of the pricing for the AI models. It is understandable that the new ones are more expensive, but the base models, after doing the pricing conversion, cost about four to ten times as much as paying directly."
"Including the AWS setup and everything per license, it costs us around $10,000 on an annual basis. I believe that is pretty reasonable considering the teams that we have."
"The cost for scalability is much cheaper than developing a new system."
"It is one of the most affordable RPA solutions, and as for licensing, they offer a community edition that greatly helps anyone who aspires to learn about the product before buying the enterprise solution."
"It is fantastic. It has been great. It is perfectly priced for the quality received. When paying for quality, that is exactly what you get."
"We generally follow the Gain-Sharing Pricing model, which enables the customer to start getting the RPA benefits right from day one of their implementation."
"The product’s pricing is competitive and less complicated."
"The solution's pricing model is good. Also, they still follow the old concurrent licensing method."
"It's $69 per user per month. Only administrators need a license, and there is no limit to the number of endpoints."
"The solution is somewhat cheaper than the competitors."
"The cost of the license for SMAX varies depending on the configuration, including the number of seats for users and the customer's specific requirements. It's not a fixed cost and can vary."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Government
11%
University
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise81
Large Enterprise558
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
 

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.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We mostly deal with OpenText Service Management (SMAX), Service Management, and UCMDB, the UD Discovery, Unified Disc...
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We are still working with OpenText and Splunk. I remember that Splunk is now with what Cisco AppDynamics bought. We a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is okay, not expensive and not the cheapest. It is overall good.
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
NetHelpDesk
OpenText Service Manager, Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Innocent Drinks, SKY TV, Sports Direct, Suzuki, Siemens, NHS, Cardiff City Council, Atos, AO.com, Ambitious about Autism, SEPA, York University etc.
Zurich Airport, Envirosuite, Norsk Helsenett, Achmea, University of Milan, World Vision, Petroleum Development Oman, Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).
Find out what your peers are saying about HaloITSM vs. OpenText Service Management (SMAX) and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.