OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs Zendesk comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) and Zendesk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,924 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 most valuable features of Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX) are that it is user-friendly, easy to configure, and adaptable.""This is a cordless application that can be used throughout any organization.""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.""The tool is very easy to use."

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"What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool.""The feature to move over my customer experience team tickets for different specialists is very valuable for my team.""The stability has been very good.""It has good management, the ability to sign tickets based on content, the multi-channel support, the self service portal, the integration with Salesforce, the setup process, and the product features as we are currently using them.""Its agility and simplicity are the most valuable features. This tool is very user-friendly.""One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting.""One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use.""It is very easy to connect back and forth between the requester and the person fulfilling the ticket."

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Cons
"The solution lacks sufficient documentation.""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 product's connectivity with third-party products is an area of concern where improvements are required.""The contract management feature can be improved."

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"They have something called Zendesk Explore, which isn't as good as what they had in place previously.""One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data.""The data you get when logged in to Zendesk Support differs from the data you get when you programmatically query Zendesk Support through its API because of a sync time delay.""There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us.""The solution itself wasn't easy to set up.""Sometimes if there was a way to just flag the actual issue out of those email chains - that would be really helpful.""The dashboard could be better.""Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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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  • "We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."
  • "The price is very competitive."
  • "Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."
  • "There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."
  • "You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."
  • More Zendesk Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:In my company, our customers need OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) for service management, which may either be for ESM or ITSM.
    Top Answer:The product is difficult to maintain, especially when moving from the previous version to the latest version. I suggest that OpenText needs a person with very good experience to take care of the… more »
    Top Answer:I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to… more »
    Top Answer:You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well. The pricing is expensive. Back then, we were paying $51 per… more »
    Top Answer:As per me, there arent much significant issues or areas for improvement with Zendesk, as my usage of it is limited. I appreciate its ability to organize tickets effectively based on tags, allowing me… more »
    Ranking
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    956
    Comparisons
    332
    Reviews
    3
    Average Words per Review
    415
    Rating
    8.0
    Views
    2,760
    Comparisons
    1,778
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    539
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)
    Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Zendesk
    Demo Not Available
    Overview

    OpenText™ SMAX is a SaaS-based solution that delivers a smart approach to IT and enterprise service management with built-in analytics, codeless configurations, and private generative AI chatbots.

    OpenText SMAX delivers a smart approach to service management, with full capabilities for IT service management (ITSM), IT asset management (ITAM), and enterprise service management (ESM). Empower users to self-resolve common requests with private generative AI chatbots that offer human-like responses. Give your team what they need—ITIL best-practice templates, codeless configurations, and built-in AI and analytics for automating workflows, improving processes, and solving issues. With SaaS deployment, SMAX eliminates the hassle of installation, maintenance, and upgrade. What’s more, SMAX offers flexible and affordable licensing that adapts to your business needs and saves you money.

    SMAX has a flexible and transparent pricing model that lets you change license allocations or add capabilities without costly surprises. Pricing starts at $79 per agent per month for a full range of processes and features that include a service portal, mobile app, AI, analytics, federated CMDB, ITSM, ESM, discovery, and orchestration. Visit the OpenText ITSM SaaS pricing page for details.

    Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

    Sample Customers
    Zurich Airport, Envirosuite, Norsk Helsenett, Achmea, University of Milan, World Vision, Petroleum Development Oman, Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).
    Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company21%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government8%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Construction Company10%
    Non Profit7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Educational Organization10%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    University6%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise66%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise35%
    Large Enterprise19%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. Zendesk
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is ranked 19th in IT Service Management (ITSM) with 4 reviews while Zendesk is ranked 8th in IT Service Management (ITSM) with 57 reviews. OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is rated 8.0, while Zendesk is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) writes "Offers a range of tools for sales and configuration that can be used in banks and telecom companies". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zendesk writes "Straightforward, very transparent, and very well organized". OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) is most compared with JIRA Service Management, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, OpenText Service Manager, Clarity SM and Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, whereas Zendesk is most compared with ServiceNow, JIRA Service Management, Atlassian Confluence, Freshservice and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. See our OpenText Service Management Automation X (SMAX) vs. Zendesk report.

    See our list of best IT Service Management (ITSM) vendors.

    We monitor all IT Service Management (ITSM) 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.