IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs LinkLive comparison

IBM and LinkLive are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. IBM is ranked #33, while LinkLive is ranked #49. Additionally, 88% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of LinkLive users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and LinkLive are competitors in IT service management and communication solutions. IBM has an edge with its comprehensive features, though LinkLive is favored for easy deployment and integration.

Features: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk includes extensive IT asset management, change management, and a robust service catalog. LinkLive offers secure communication features focusing on omnichannel engagement, encryption, and effective customer interactions.

Room for Improvement: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk could enhance deployment simplicity, improve user interface intuitiveness, and streamline integration with legacy systems. LinkLive might expand its IT management features, bolster analytics capabilities, and enhance workflow automation options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: LinkLive is recognized for quick deployment, adaptability, and responsive customer service. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides thorough documentation and varied support options but has a more complex deployment process.

Pricing and ROI: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk involves higher initial costs but promises a solid ROI due to its comprehensive functionalities. LinkLive offers a more economical solution, delivering cost-effective ROI by focusing on communication enhancements.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. LinkLive Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. LinkLive

June 2026

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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

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

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.

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Klemen Muhvič

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.

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Laurie A Aspinwall

VP, Service Center & Digital Banking Manager at Newburyport Bank

Great video conferencing, in-chat calling, and document sharing

I would give LinkLive a perfect ten out of ten rating. Despite being on a month-to-month contract, we could have easily switched to another provider. However, doing so would have been more expensive and time-consuming due to the simplicity and reliability of LinkLive's system. Their system's exceptional redundancy ensures consistent uptime, minimizing disruptions and downtime. LinkLive has recently been expanded from its initial implementation in the service center to encompass the entire company. Additionally, due to our merger with another financial institution, LinkLive is now being utilized by both entities. Before I joined the company, our organization had engaged a consultant to identify suitable customer engagement solutions. At that time, I was not particularly keen on LinkLive as they were not a widely recognized name. I favored more established options like Genesys and Five9. Consequently, I was initially skeptical of LinkLive. When we first adopted LinkLive, their technology was not yet fully mature. However, over the past few years, they have transformed into a completely different company. They have made significant investments in technological advancements and have emerged as a frontrunner in the industry. Moreover, LinkLive is exceptionally collaborative. We regularly provide suggestions, and their engineers are always receptive to our feedback and are willing to implement enhancement requests. Many of the enhancements they have made are based on our recommendations. As a result, LinkLive has evolved into a highly progressive technology company, and we are proud to be associated with them. LinkLive requires maintenance when we add or remove people. We are working on an enhancement with them to automate this process, making it the same as for phone numbers. This enhancement will cover permissions, call routing, and other relevant aspects. LinkLive may not have the same brand recognition as some of its competitors, but the value it offers is unmatched. The chat functionality is far superior to anything else on the market, and the sound quality is exceptional. Additionally, the people at LinkLive are passionate about technological innovation and committed to providing their customers with the best possible experience.

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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

"In one of the use cases, we used to have around 300 tickets per month which has been reduced to almost zero now."

"Comparing to other products in the market, we are getting all the features in hundred percent quality with what the objective needs to be met by other products, and that is also delivered in Automation Anywhere."

"AA has good coverage in terms of out-of-the-box functionality for bot development and management."

"This product has helped us a lot by improving and growing the business in different domains."

"Currently, everyone wants to experiment more and more with cloud offerings. They don't want to spend money on setting up their internal hardware infrastructure. Automation Anywhere is the only tool that provides a pure cloud to customers. That is one of the key features."

"If you are looking for a fast solution using minimal resources not requiring an advanced programming skill set this is your product."

"We have had a very good experience with Automation Anywhere and we are very happy with the solutions."

"The ability to find objects easily through the 'Capture' option saves your time most significantly."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"The solution is very easy to work with."

"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."

"Overall, it's a good product that I would recommend."

"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 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."

"In general, it's been pretty stable."

"The solution has been stable."

"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."

More IBM SmartCloud Control Desk pros

"It's very reliable and we haven't had much experience with any downtime or dropped calls, which, of course, is one of the most important things to us. That's been a big win for us."

"Because of the effective tool and good experiences, we upgraded to the latest version with document sharing and video."

"Being the president of our organization, I love the secured email because there are a lot of messages that I have to send out that are secure. There have not been any issues with sending the messages or with individuals receiving and viewing them."

"There are so many valuable features. One of the things that we really appreciate is the uptime. LinkLive rarely, if ever, goes down or disconnects calls. We appreciate that we don't have to be concerned about dropping calls or losing a customer mid-call as a result of those issues."

"LinkLive gives us a central location for our communication channels and that is very important. I can go back and see if someone has a complaint. Although our users are spread out, everything, all the conversations, is housed in one place. I can keep up with the conversations. The interface works wonderfully."

"It improves our member experience and keeps them as members of our credit union."

"Within two months from a business standpoint, it was a slam dunk success."

"Since we implemented LinkLive, it's been something we no longer think about as leaders, as staff, or as an organization."

Cons

"The schedule queue needs improvement. When one task fails, everything else gets stuck, requiring manual intervention to clear the problematic schedule and trigger the other tasks."

"The price has room for improvement."

"It is difficult to learn all the possibilities that the product and automation itself offer."

"Sometimes, the files are getting corrupted and this causes us a lot of trouble."

"In my opinion, there are always areas for improvement in Automation Anywhere, and they are continuously working on enhancements."

"I feel the cost of licensing is very high for the A2019 version."

"I am currently on 11.3.4.2 and the analytics feature of AA, Bot Insights, needs improvement. It is not easy to implement. It is not intuitive for the developer as you have to mark variables for analytics."

"We have faced some downtime and crashes with the system, but with the cooperation of the Automation Anywhere team, we have been able to contain that."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"The user interface is not very interesting."

"Support has been the biggest problem for us."

"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 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."

"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 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."

"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."

"Technical support can be slow in terms of resolving issues."

More IBM SmartCloud Control Desk cons

"They could provide faster response times, but they got everything resolved."

"Our agents have made some requests for some automated responses and some ways that they could improve the way those get pushed out."

"I would like to see more video conferencing, some degree of mobile apps, and artificial intelligence. That's the wave of the future with healthcare. Our providers are all on-the-go, so anything that allows them to remain mobile and not have to go to a desk to take a phone call, would be a good addition."

"The initial enrollment of employees can be a little bit challenging. It tends to require the need to reach out to Link-Live support to iron out a bug or two."

"In the browser-based experience, I would love to see a hold button. Presently, you have to drag the hold music into a call and then drag it out. A hold button would really be easier, particularly if you have to put someone on hold multiple times."

"The notifications for incoming chats could be a little more obvious. Our organization doesn't have a call center, so we don't have someone sitting at the computer waiting for a chat to come in. They're busy with other work."

"Our agents have made some requests for some automated responses and some ways that they could improve the way those get pushed out. Right now, the way that canned responses are set up, they could be set up with as many responses as you want. However, the one thing that they liked from our previous providers is that you could categorize responses. So, if you have a certain area where you might have four or five responses related to one topic, then you could easily just click on the topic and see your responses. That is one area which is not a huge deal, but it gives back those five seconds that you are looking for a response to get more lengthy responses out to a customer. It would be nicer to have that a little bit more available."

"I would like LinkLive to rework the notification system. There's an audible sound, and an alert pops up on the screen. However, in Microsoft Teams, an unviewed chat message appears red on my taskbar. That doesn't happen in LinkLive. My only enhancement request is to improve the notifications."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Based on what I've heard, it's costly, but I don't know much about its pricing."

"In terms of pricing, this is a good product."

"They are already coming out with a community license, which is really good. That's something that I wish to have."

"This solution costs approximately $3,500 USD per license."

"This is a value for the money product."

"Costs savings have been seen by employing bots for multiple shifts instead of people."

"Price is where I'm least satisfied. Other vendors are more willing to offer discounts."

"Licensing for Automation Anywhere (AA) is paid on a yearly basis. Out of all the RPA tools, it has the most value for money, e.g. what you pay is what you get."

More Automation Anywhere 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 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 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 pricing is exceptionally competitive, and the value we receive from LinkLive for the cost is a significant advantage."

"We have been very comfortable with the pricing. We are a smaller financial institution so pricing is always a factor. We feel that we are just getting a ton of value for what we are spending."

"In terms of cost, LinkLive was similar to other products. I find it reasonable. Its features, for the cost, were a better deal comparatively speaking."

"The pricing is fair."

"You definitely get more bang for the money with LinkLive.You can get a more expensive product that does what this one does, and possibly more, but for the cost, it works perfectly with our core system."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

15%

Construction Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	157
Midsize Enterprise	83
Large Enterprise	551

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

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...

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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...

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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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Comparisons

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Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

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Blue Prism vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 7% of the time

WorkFusion vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

Celonis vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

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ServiceNow vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 14% of the time

Ameyo Fusion CX vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 14% of the time

SCSM vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 10% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 10% of the time

Ivanti Neurons for ITSM vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 10% of the time

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Genesys Cloud CX vs LinkLive

Compared 23% of the time

Cisco Webex Contact Center vs LinkLive

Compared 21% of the time

Freshdesk vs LinkLive

Compared 14% of the time

Avaya Infinity Platform vs LinkLive

Compared 13% of the time

TalkDesk vs LinkLive

Compared 10% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

June 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

June 2026

Download IBM SmartCloud Control Desk product report

Buyer's Guide

LinkLive

June 2026

Download LinkLive product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

SmartCloud Control Desk

Revation LinkLive

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

IBM

Demo not available

LinkLive

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk offers robust integration capabilities, effective SLA integrations, automated workflows, and comprehensive reporting. Its flexibility and centralized request management enhance service efficiency, making it ideal for detailed issue tracking and resolution in IT environments.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is designed to streamline IT support, ticketing, and incident management. By integrating seamlessly with existing infrastructures, it centralizes service requests and IT asset management. Its automated processes ensure efficiency from initiation to resolution, reducing the chances of oversight. The platform's adaptability supports both on-premises and cloud deployments, making it suitable for industries like telecommunications and IT services. However, users often face challenges with support responsiveness, outdated interfaces, and difficulties with email integration, particularly affecting images and attachments.

What Are the Key Features of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk?

Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with various systems to enhance functionality.
SLA Integrations: Strong service level agreement management ensures SLAs are met.
Automated Workflow: Full automation of processes from start to resolution.
Robust Reporting: Comprehensive reporting tools for detailed insights.
Request Management: Centralized management of service requests and IT assets.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Seek?

Efficiency: Streamlines operations with automated processes, increasing productivity.
Flexibility: Adapts to organizational changes for better service delivery.
Reliability: Backed by IBM's trusted brand reputation.
Scalability: Scales with demand for growing businesses.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is widely implemented in telecommunications and IT services industries. Organizations utilize it for managing IT support, incident resolution, and system monitoring. Its ability to handle both internal and external requests effectively helps businesses streamline client communications and improve service management across different deployment models.

IBM

LinkLive is an advanced communication platform designed to elevate the way businesses interact with their customers securely, enhance personalized customer engagement and team collaboration. The platform utilizes a combination of human expertise and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide secure communication solutions, and improving operational efficiencies. It was formerly known as Revation Systems.

At its core, LinkLive unifies voice, video, chat, and email communications into a single, integrated platform. This consolidation enables businesses to offer a more cohesive and responsive customer service experience. Users can seamlessly switch between communication modes, ensuring that customer interactions are both flexible and efficient.

LinkLive places a strong emphasis on security and regulatory compliance, making it an ideal choice for sectors such as healthcare, finance, and government, where data protection is paramount. The platform incorporates end-to-end encryption, robust access controls, and audit trails to safeguard sensitive information and comply with industry regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and more.

Leveraging AI and machine learning, LinkLive offers advanced personalization capabilities. It can analyze customer data in real-time to provide personalized interactions and recommendations. This level of insight helps businesses tailor their services to individual customer needs, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty.

Charles Larsen, a Senior Director at Banner Health, shared with us that LinkLive is "very reliable and we haven't had much experience with any downtime or dropped calls, which, of course, is one of the most important things to us. That's been a big win for us."

Emily Aubele, Quality Assurance Director at United Way of Pennsylvania, shared with us that they chose LinkLive over other vendors, because with LinkLive, "all of the applications are in-house, meaning the chat, the text—everything that you use—is developed and maintained internally by LinkLive. In the other systems, chat, text, and video were all third-party applications."

LinkLive

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology

1. AT&T 2. Verizon 3. T-Mobile 4. Sprint 5. Comcast 6. CenturyLink 7. Vodafone 8. Orange 9. Telefonica 10. BT Group 11. Deutsche Telekom 12. Telstra 13. NTT Communications 14. China Mobile 15. SoftBank 16. SK Telecom 17. Telecom Italia 18. Bell Canada 19. Rogers Communications 20. Telus 21. KDDI 22. Swisscom 23. Telkom Indonesia 24. Singtel 25. Etisalat 26. Ooredoo 27. Turkcell 28. Saudi Telecom Company 29. Telecom Egypt 30. PLDT 31. MTN Group 32. América Móvil

Buyer's Guide

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. LinkLive

June 2026

Free Report: IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. LinkLive

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. LinkLive and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

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