IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs IFS Cloud Platform comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and IFS Cloud Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The workflow capability is useful. It's not a manual helpdesk operation. It's fully automated, even when an alarm has occurred. It covers the complete cycle of initiation to resolving the events. This is its most strong feature that is easily integrable with a monitoring solution. It creates tickets, and the workflow feature is the most important one.""A feature I found most valuable in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is the service request. Another feature I like most about the solution is IT asset management, which tells you who owns a specific asset in the company and from which date.""The solution is very easy to work with.""What I like about the Control Desk is that everything is centralized. You have all the requests in one place, you know which ones are for whom and who is working on them.""The brand name is the most valuable aspect of this solution for me. It's IBM. It's a global company that supports this product, it's not something open source or something like that.""The solution has been stable.""The most valuable are its flexibility and agility. It's quick to change it, to adapt it to your needs. That's the most important for us.""SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."

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"Having a young talented programmer, during the six years of use, we were able to save around 75 000 EUR preparing simple modifications using customization rather than ordering them in IFS / Partner.""I like the connectivity and interfaces. In V10, it's easy to modify the interfaces and layouts, but it's becoming more complicated in the cloud. IFS is excellent at asset maintenance and incident management. They have specialized modules for IFS that cover incident and asset management and everything else connected to finance. The reporting in IFS is also easy to use.""What I like about IFS Applications is that it's easier to use and implement than SAP. I also like that the IFS Applications team is more flexible than the SAP team.""When it comes to financing, the solution has helped us to concentrate finance functions like accounting processes in one system. This includes about 70 internal entities around the world.""The most valuable features of IFS Applications are their intuitiveness and ease of use. The navigations are also straightforward, which makes it easy to train users. The feedback I always receive is that it is very user-friendly.""IFS Applications' best feature is the user-friendly interface that has a .NET Framework application in the front end and an Oracle database and WebLogic middleware.""There tends not to be a massive weakness in the product itself, as weaknesses can quickly be resolved in the next patch or the next release.""Individual user profiles that can be configured as templates to minimize data entry."

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Cons
"Support has been the biggest problem for us. I understand that because we use the product of a global company, some changes are not quick to deploy.""The solution lacks a graphical user interface.""The user interface is not very interesting. If you look at other products like JIRA and ServiceNow, they have made it much easier for the end-users. Maybe not ServiceNow, but JIRA is quite flexible. From a presentation point of view, IBM should make more user-friendly interfaces.""What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.""The main issue that we hear from our customers is that the self-service user interface is a little bit old, possibly due to the fact that IBM is such a large enterprise company. People say that they think they're in the year 2004, because you can very clearly see that the technology is lagging behind modern trends.""The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon.""The time calculations can be improved. While working on reports, it was taking the time only in seconds, which was hard for me to work out. While creating some dialogs in the service portal, you have to use certain data types in some fields. It was very tricky to make them work. I was testing a certain type of input, and it didn't work. It didn't show me the domain that the fields have to show. I had to make the change to the database, and only then it worked. It was a tricky thing to make them work with the dialogs. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time.""It could use more facility or flexibility for reporting, and business intelligence in the tool."

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"IFS uses Crystal Report mostly, which isn't too user-friendly. Developing reports isn't easy and requires a lot of dev time. Since SAP bought it, Crystal Report has become more complicated to use on IFS. You have a dashboard for reporting that is good, but it's incomplete. Most of our clients use Power BI or some additional tooling for BI.""There are certain digital features that need to be incorporated, such as IOP.""IFS Applications can improve the reporting capabilities and increase the speed of feedback time in the IFS Applications. This would help with the overall performance of the solution and provide better experiences for customers.""The support provided by IFS Applications has room for improvement. I'm based in Poland, and when my company had an issue, finding people from IFS to give my company the support it needed was difficult.""The integration is a bit complex, and post-implementation support services need to be improved. They have a service center based out of Sri Lanka. The support aspect is good, but the response time is a little slower than we anticipated. In the next release, it would be better if Warehouse Management could be improvised. They have a product line that's a data warehouse management system, but it's still premature and requires a bit of enhancement.""It would be ideal if, in the future, the product could incorporate IoT and blockchain elements. We'd like to explore more of these types of features going forward.""We would like to see AI-driven CSI functions built into the tool that would allow us to quickly tie our improvement goals to metrics and activities, so Assyst will suggest the next steps to help us get closer to our goals.""Some kind of bot assistance, some kind of artificial intelligence to help people solve the problems, would be interesting."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's basically for a big company because of the costs. A small company can't afford the licensing cost. For medium and large companies, it's the best product. The price of the license is on the higher side compared to others."
  • "The licensing we have for IBM Control Desk is on a yearly basis. They have a concurrent license and an administrative license. And with these, you get all the products. There aren't any additional fees for extra add-ons or anything like that."
  • "The license for IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is paid yearly and is on a per-user basis. You buy the product and pay for its license yearly. IBM is changing the licensing structure, but for now, it's a yearly license. There's no additional cost. It's just the license that you need to pay for to use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."
  • More IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is better to buy implementation services from IFS than from partners"
  • "Licensing is on an annual basis, with no additional costs."
  • "Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
  • "Pricing is an area that could be improved. They could be more competitive."
  • "IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."
  • "There's an additional yearly cost for support."
  • "There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
  • "IFS Applications are competitive in terms of pricing compared to other vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, and Epicor. They are generally cheaper, especially for licensing costs."
  • More IFS Cloud Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:A feature I found most valuable in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is the service request. Another feature I like most about the solution is IT asset management, which tells you who owns a specific asset… more »
    Top Answer:The license for IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is paid yearly and is on a per-user basis. You buy the product and pay for its license yearly. IBM is changing the licensing structure, but for now, it's a… more »
    Top Answer:What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most… more »
    Top Answer:Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.
    Top Answer:IFS Cloud Platform is not a cheap solution, and it is an extremely functional one. I consider it to be a well-priced solution compared to other mid-range or high-end ERP solutions. From a price… more »
    Top Answer:I think that with the latest version of the product in the cloud, the user experience is very good since it is highly configurable and very capable software. I have seen that one of the areas that my… more »
    Ranking
    21st
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    632
    Comparisons
    356
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    1,117
    Rating
    8.0
    8th
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    728
    Comparisons
    477
    Reviews
    16
    Average Words per Review
    817
    Rating
    7.8
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SmartCloud Control Desk
    IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
    Learn More
    Overview
    IBM Control Desk on Cloud offer an access to a user friendly self-service, automated service management, and seamlessly-integrated, best-practice based service desk capabilities. IBM Control Desk provides the IT service management (ITSM) needed to simplify support of users and infrastructure. It also offers a unified IT asset and service management software provides a common control center for managing business processes for both digital and physical assets and enables control, governance and compliance to applications, endpoints and assets to protect critical data and prevent outages. Control Desk is IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)-compliant, accessible through mobile devices and integrates with social media and development tools.

    IFS develops and delivers cloud enterprise software for companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within our single platform, our industry specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that our customers can be their best when it really matters to their customers – at the Moment of Service​​​​​​​. The industry expertise of our people and of our growing ecosystem, together with a commitment to deliver value at every single step, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our team of 4,500 employees every day live our values of agility, trustworthiness and collaboration in how we support our 10,000+ customers. Learn more about how our enterprise software solutions can help your business today at ifs.com.

    Sample Customers
    St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
    Carlsberg, Pukka, Aston Martin, Sky, China Airlines, Cimcorp, Mini, Pepsi.
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Energy/Utilities Company8%
    Government8%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company46%
    Educational Organization15%
    Transportation Company8%
    Training & Coaching Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Government8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business67%
    Large Enterprise33%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise66%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise34%
    Large Enterprise28%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise60%
    Buyer's Guide
    Help Desk Software
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, BMC and others in Help Desk Software. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is ranked 21st in Help Desk Software with 9 reviews while IFS Cloud Platform is ranked 8th in Help Desk Software with 29 reviews. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is rated 7.6, while IFS Cloud Platform is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk writes "Stable but clunky and lacks a user interface". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IFS Cloud Platform writes "Robust, customizable, and modern". IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is most compared with ServiceNow, JIRA Service Management and SymphonyAI IT Service Management, whereas IFS Cloud Platform is most compared with SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA, Oracle E-Business Suite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and IBM Maximo.

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