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OpenText Service Management (SMAX) vs Serviceaide ChangeGear comparison

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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
6.8
Number of Reviews
666
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 (2nd), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
OpenText Service Management...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (12th)
Serviceaide ChangeGear
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (26th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (24th)
 

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.
HugoAlmeida - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Delivery at Timestamp ITM
Centralized service processes have improved cross‑department visibility but reporting still needs work
The machine learning capabilities in OpenText Service Management (SMAX) are somewhat not published the way they should be. They work pretty well, but they are not used as much in the current experience of our customers. They have them; the solution has them, but they usually go a little bit below the radar in terms of visibility. I believe there is room for improvement when it comes to machine learning capabilities. OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has room to improve mainly on reporting components. The reporting components include dashboards, and while OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has a reporting module, it's somewhat limited, so I believe it has room to improve there, with more inclusion of artificial intelligence in the models and more in project management and portfolio management capabilities. We want to see better use and more functionalities enabled with the already existing capabilities such as AI and reporting in the next OpenText Service Management (SMAX) release, but one important thing we think should be included is a module for metrics, similar to Google Analytics, that focuses on the metrics of the tool usage. The module shouldn't just report on the components of OpenText Service Management (SMAX) but also track how the tool is used by end users, for example, what functionalities users utilize more frequently, the performance of those functionalities, and how long it takes them to open a ticket or log in, focusing on applicational monitoring metrics and performance management metrics.
Umair Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Solutions & Services Head at Duroob Technology
A fairly stable solution that’s highly mature, but has a poor user interface
The solution does not align as modern service solutions do. Seamless integration is no available among the processes. Their service management application needs a lot of work. It’s in a really bad state right now. They brought on a new interface that clumped all the processes and features of the solution into one. Still, it’s not really compatible with other solutions. Because of this, its rating has dropped in Gardner. The solution needs to improve its reporting features. The user interface needs a lot of improvements. The product needs to implement a cloud platform solution, which is lacking so far. Their workflow engine is still segregated. It’s not embedded. If you need to do some workflow approvals, you cannot do them directly on the service desk. You have to go into Outlook and do an approval or you have to go in through another screen to handle the approval because the workflow engine they have is a separate product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The development of the company from Automation Anywhere V11 to a2019 was valuable. I found many important and new features, like changing the way we write code and programming. It became much easier and very flexible in version 2019A. It became very easy to use and the recording was also good. Excel became very good too."
"Automation Anywhere was the simplest solution, and it offered us immediate support."
"I'd say the most impactful and heavily or commonly used ability of v11 and A2019 has been the ability to integrate other code types and operations within the process."
"A good example is a process that we automated where, on that specific process, the return on investment is above 30,000 percent."
"Automation has been playing a significant role in every aspect of our institution."
"Support for Automation Anywhere is wonderful; I had an issue related to Chrome not working with the latest update, and they helped me extensively and even came on call to support me."
"From my developer's point of view, the tool is pretty strong."
"The code, once developed, is pretty stable."
"I've used this kind of application for more than 20 years and from my perspective, SMAX is one of the best products on the market."
"The product provides an interface for the end users to make requests."
"OpenText Service Management Automation X provides valuable features such as topic analytics for incident and problem management. It also includes natural language processing for analyzing technical descriptions. Additionally, it features a virtual chatbot capable of processing natural language to interact effectively with end users. This service enhances customer support and is not subject to the limitations often found in offerings from other vendors."
"The customization features are quite good, and we have a very good local vendor helping us in this regard."
"This is a cordless application that can be used throughout any organization."
"The tool is very easy to use."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is effective for all sectors, such as IT and HR."
"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 support is pretty good, the follow up is great; it is 24 hours, so that’s been useful, and it has a good escalation path, which is essential."
"It’s provided self-service and automation, notifications, and reporting, and it’s good on a day-to-day and macro perspective."
"The ability to add Additional Information Screens on the fly."
"Using the self-service functionalities we have been able to eliminate a lot of the support phone calls, and actually reduce a lot of our help desk staff."
"Improved the effectiveness of my Service Desk Team and improved the SLA timing."
"It's quite a complete entry into the SaaS ITSM market with a reasonable price point."
"Essential service management solution all in one, like 100- for service request, 200- for change request, 300- for incidents, 400- for problems."
"This is really easy solution to scale up and get get going to add new catalog items."
 

Cons

"We have some ERPs tools which are not compatible with Automation Anywhere because they are legacy systems. We find that Automation Anywhere does not work with these at times. Just enabling the usability of Automation Anywhere on some of these legacy ERPs would help us, as we struggle regularly with this issue."
"Regarding the pricing, I think it's high, and it's the same for the setup cost and licensing."
"They have incorporated many latest technologies, such as AI, and there is always scope to improve the processes and have more stability."
"I would like more integration into the entire Microsoft Suite of products, not just Excel."
"Currently, there are some vulnerabilities in security that need attention in Automation Anywhere."
"There could be improvement in the reporting and insights into the ROI. The ROI tool that shows the performance and the return on investment is not very accurate."
"It does not easily integrate with customized solutions."
"The Web Recorder should also include a feature where the user can select what browser you want it to run since it is currently using the Internet Explorer browser as default. Some of our web-based systems are currently not compatible with Internet Explorer and can only run using Firefox or Google Chrome."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has room to improve mainly on reporting components. The reporting components include dashboards, and while OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has a reporting module, it's somewhat limited, so I believe it has room to improve there, with more inclusion of artificial intelligence in the models and more in project management and portfolio management capabilities."
"The reporting functionality is not the best as it is not easy to use."
"The tool has negatively impacted our productivity."
"SMAX lacks in integrations as well as written documentation."
"The solution lacks sufficient documentation."
"The contract management feature can be improved."
"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."
"OpenText Service Management (SMAX) has some stability challenges that are crashable and not stable at times."
"Few probes need improvement in their function and the way they get deployed for monitoring."
"Usability for IT analysts could be improved."
"Flexibility to customize."
"Actually this product and its limitations reduced the Service Desk effectiveness compared to the product we were using."
"The deployment was very difficult to handle. It's an unnecessarily difficult process that requires third-party assistance to do correctly."
"Their service management application needs a lot of work."
"When tickets are closed occasionally, it is quite hard to reopen it, which will cause lost-tickets."
"We had a lot of issues with non-Windows servers during implementation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you look at the capital expenditure, Automation Anywhere is number two to UiPath. But if you take a long-term view, on a scalable model of a large number of bots coming out, it slowly goes on to become the costliest tool. There is something they can do about that. The capital expenditure goes out right at the point of buying the tool. For Automation Anywhere, I would need to spend $20,000. UiPath can give me something for $6,000, while Blue Prism will come in at $300,000."
"As far as costs, it depends on your use. We started with a basic department pack, which is over 10K. The additional costs depend on the scale of the engagement and how it pans out. We customize to our needs on the go."
"The Community Edition is a good offering from the company."
"When you compare the cost of Automation Anywhere with UiPath and Blue Prism, those others are much less. Licensing-wise, UiPath wins the deal."
"In terms of monetary savings, we automated a bot in three days that has saved us $30,000 in costs."
"The cost of this solution is a little bit high, but it is worth the price."
"We would like them to change the license model of charging per bot."
"We purchase on a bot basis. Our costs are approximately $5,000."
"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."
"The solution is somewhat cheaper than the competitors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
20%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business161
Midsize Enterprise85
Large Enterprise561
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

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.
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We mostly deal with OpenText Service Management (SMAX), Service Management, and UCMDB, the UD Discovery, Unified Disc...
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
We are still working with OpenText and Splunk. I remember that Splunk is now with what Cisco AppDynamics bought. We a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)?
OpenText Service Management (SMAX) is okay, not expensive and not the cheapest. It is overall good.
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Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
OpenText Service Manager, Micro Focus Service Management Automation X (SMAX)
Serviceaide ISM (Intelligent Service Management), Nimsoft Service Desk, CA Cloud Service Management , ChangeGear
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Zurich Airport, Envirosuite, Norsk Helsenett, Achmea, University of Milan, World Vision, Petroleum Development Oman, Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories (TJDFT).
Oakwood Systems Group
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Service Management (SMAX) vs. Serviceaide ChangeGear and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.