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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs Infraon Desk comparison

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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
660
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)
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (33rd)
Infraon Desk
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (36th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (30th)
 

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.
KM
Computer System Engineer at Informatika d.d.
Has centralization and asset management features, and a helpful and knowledgeable technical support team
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.
reviewer1621719 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Service Delivery at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customizable, easy to manage using a single dashboard, but the features in my version are quite basic
Infraon Desk is very flexible in nature and can be customized for my needs. The fact that I can customize it the way I want is the best part of the tool for me. The customization took longer than I expected to complete, although it may be the team that I was interacting with. They might not have had enough manpower in place. If enough resources are available then the customization is easy. All of the information that I need for monitoring the entire platform is available on a single dashboard. This is very helpful with respect to managing. The multi-channel ticketing options that this solution provides are very important to us because it's all about how we engage with our customers and what options we offer for them to communicate with us. Nowadays, there are many collaborative platforms and many methods for ticket logging. Every system of this type should be flexible enough to provide a mobile app, at least for Android and iOS, and not be confined to using Windows alone. Similarly, self-service portals as well as integration with Slack, as this product has, are important options that many people use.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"An easy to deploy and learn automation tool that can save resources, effort and money."
"The speed-up and greater control over the quality of the processes have also led to savings in money and are increasing the happiness of the company's customers."
"The Capture command has been a lifesaver for me in each of my use cases and the advanced Excel functionalities like running macro, reading and manipulating data, etc. It allows the bot creator to leverage the inbuilt functionalities that AA2019 has to offer to a great extent."
"In human resources, we created several core SAP systems so that the basic users in human resources can reduce redundancies by 10 times with very little cost."
"It is an easy product. It is easier and less complex than any other RPA tool in the market. It is a popular product."
"Most of the features of Automation Anywhere (AA) are good, but one big feature which I really like is its OCR (optical character recognition) feature."
"It has helped us relieve the workload on our human workforce and thus ensures that they remain productive and motivated at all times thus work efficiently."
"Automation Anywhere is an easy application to learn."
"Overall, it has helped us continuously improve our business processes."
"In general, it's been pretty stable."
"Overall, it's a good product that I would recommend."
"The solution has been stable."
"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."
"In the early stages of our company, all requests were done in notebooks, and none of it was centrally managed. But now we have a central tool which is an entry point for all requests that come in."
"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."
"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."
"There are a few dashboards and they are helpful because, in our organization, we have different groups of people who need different kinds of dashboards... as head of network operations, I need a top-level view. I want to see how many calls are open and how many calls are pending, on average, and some trend analysis. Whereas a manager in my team might like to see slightly more detail."
"It is meeting our requirements and we are very happy and satisfied with the services of Infraon Desk."
"Infraon Desk was the best choice for my budget, considering the features and customization that I wanted."
"Infraon Desk is very flexible in nature and can be customized for my needs. The fact that I can customize it the way I want is the best part of the tool for me."
 

Cons

"Automation Anywhere can be improved by addressing the server issues we occasionally encounter when running the bot on the runner."
"The tools are fundamentally solid. However, when I think of self-healing, such as automation with a new prompt or a new Windows patch occurring, being able to handle those kinds of things on top of what Automation Anywhere already does and that automatically click through and do the reboots that are necessary to just have a clean run would be ideal."
"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."
"The IQ Bot has not yet succeeded in living up to its reputation due to its high cost, low ROI, and its inability to meet client requirements."
"Automation Anywhere is one of the least stable RPA tools out of the top five RPA solutions."
"Overall improvement is needed for non-technical users who face challenges with how to use it and how to perform more tasks."
"Bringing a DevOps model for bot implementation integrated through private bot store might be a good idea to improve the tool."
"The mobile application can be improved by adding more functions and capabilities because right now, only a few features are enabled for mobile users."
"The product is kind of clunky to use."
"The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon."
"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 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."
"The solution lacks a graphical user interface."
"Support has been the biggest problem for us."
"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 user interface is not very interesting."
"The version that I am using is very basic and I wouldn't say that it has extraordinary services capabilities that I've never seen before."
"Better connectivity and integration with more collaborative platforms would be helpful."
"The reporting is okay, but it doesn't give you reports that make you say "wow," like you might see from a tool like MRTG or PRTG whose reports give you a good feeling. The detailing is not there in the Infraon Desk reports and there are no graphical elements in them. The reporting is slightly weak and needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We just did a round of price comparison on a global scale and found it's so hard to compare the license prices. But, Automation Anywhere, in general, is on the same price level as the other vendors, a bit lower in some cases."
"The licensing cost of Automation Anywhere is better than UiPath and Blue Prism."
"We have seen the tangible benefits of taking monotonous work off people's plates, creating capacity, and cost reductions."
"The licensing fees are approximately $10,000 USD for between five and ten users."
"I have heard that Automation Anywhere is expensive."
"I've seen the price vary by whether the client is going to scale and adopt a tool."
"The cost is at the highest end of the spectrum."
"We have a three-year contract with Automation Anywhere."
"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."
"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 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."
"The price of this solution is reasonable and it was well within my budget."
"The pricing model is very competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Performing Arts
14%
Construction Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise558
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

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.
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Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
SmartCloud Control Desk
Everest Service Manager
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
Airtel, BSNL, Cloudnine, D-Vois, Geojit, Indian telco
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Infraon Desk and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.