IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs Salesforce Service Cloud comparison

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595 views|325 comparisons
88% willing to recommend
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720 views|614 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

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

Find out in this report how the two Help Desk Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Salesforce Service Cloud Report (Updated: May 2024).
769,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution has been stable.""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 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 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.""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.""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."

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"It is a stable product.""We use Salesforce Service Cloud for lead management and opportunity management.""The product's initial setup phase was straightforward.""I don't have the specific details, but I'm aware that Salesforce is used for campaigns, decision-making processes, and order submissions. I'm currently in the learning phase and not familiar with all the details.""The three major pillars of Salesforce Service Cloud are the SSL, Chatter, and the Dispatcher Console, which routes calls to the technicians.""The plug-ins that work with other standard systems have made the product industry-ready.""The complexity of the solution is very less.""It's a cloud tool, so it is easy to set up."

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Cons
"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.""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.""Overall the user experience, as opposed to the system and databases, could be improved. It does work as it should and it's good, but they should invest more in the user interfaces to be less data oriented and more appealing for the user.""The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon.""The solution lacks a graphical user interface.""It could use more facility or flexibility for reporting, and business intelligence in the tool.""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 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."

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"There is room for improvement in pricing.""Salesforce Service Cloud's report functionality could be improved.""The main concern for me revolves around the speed of certain integrations.""The pricing for what Salesforce Service Cloud offers is not great.""I'm not deeply engaged with this team, so I don't have extensive experience with it. As you mentioned, I haven't used it much yet, so my experience is limited.""Salesforce should include maps as a default offering so that, as a customer, I can view where the technician is on the geographical map.""The integrations with other solutions can be improved.""The pricing of the solution can be made cheaper."

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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 →

  • "I believe that in our country, Colombia, we utilize this platform for the Latin American region. In terms of expenses, it's somewhat higher compared to other products. I would rate it as expensive and nine out of ten."
  • "Salesforce is not a cheap product. It can be expensive."
  • "The price is too expensive."
  • "We pay a yearly licensing fee for Salesforce Service Cloud, which is expensive."
  • "The tool is pretty expensive."
  • "The product is expensive. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
  • "The licensing is flexible. Companies pay for what they use. However, a company with very small needs might find it difficult to justify the cost. Overall, it's in the medium price range."
  • More Salesforce Service Cloud 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:I would rate the pricing a five out of ten. The licensing is flexible. Companies pay for what they use. However, a company with very small needs might find it difficult to justify the cost. Overall… more »
    Top Answer:There are a few areas of improvement. * One area for improvement could be in the speed and accuracy of analytics, particularly around resolving cases. There's room to enhance SLA (Service Level… more »
    Top Answer:I'm a system integrator implementing the product for other companies. Typical use cases involve improving interactions with customers in service environments. This could be either a call center setup… more »
    Ranking
    22nd
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    595
    Comparisons
    325
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    1,117
    Rating
    8.0
    8th
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    720
    Comparisons
    614
    Reviews
    13
    Average Words per Review
    451
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SmartCloud Control Desk
    Service 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.

    Service Cloud is fully customizable support and help desk that provide faster, smarter service that will increase loyalty, retention, and satisfaction. From call-center software to self-service portals, our service solutions enhance your customer service with more responsive, more intuitive, more flexible support that anticipates customer needs.

    Sample Customers
    St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
    Stanley Black & Decker, Coca-Cola, Activision, Wells Fargo, Spotify, Aldo, Philips, The Red Cross, Blue Shield of California, Sprouts Farmers Market, Direct Energy Solar, Inspirato, Kiva
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    Government9%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company30%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Marketing Services Firm10%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Educational Organization15%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business67%
    Large Enterprise33%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise44%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise56%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Salesforce Service Cloud
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Salesforce Service Cloud and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    769,630 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is ranked 22nd in Help Desk Software with 9 reviews while Salesforce Service Cloud is ranked 8th in Help Desk Software with 39 reviews. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is rated 7.6, while Salesforce Service Cloud is rated 8.6. 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 Salesforce Service Cloud writes "High scalability with good plugins and excellent customer visibility". IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is most compared with ServiceNow and SymphonyAI IT Service Management, whereas Salesforce Service Cloud is most compared with ServiceNow, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, JIRA Service Management, Vlocity and BSI. See our IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Salesforce Service Cloud report.

    See our list of best Help Desk Software 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.