Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

SCSM vs Salesforce Service Cloud comparison

Salesforce and Microsoft are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Salesforce is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4, while Microsoft is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.6. Salesforce holds a 2.4% mindshare in HDS, compared to Microsoft’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 64% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
Salesforce Service Cloud
Read 55 Salesforce Service Cloud reviews
  • 1,624 Views
  • 731 Comparison Views
96% willing to recommend
SCSM
Read 27 SCSM reviews
  • 977 Views
  • 840 Comparison Views
64% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Salesforce Service Cloud and SCSM compete in the service management category, with Salesforce having the upper hand due to its flexibility, automation, and robust customer service.

Features: Salesforce Service Cloud offers robust case management, automation tools, and seamless integration with various communication channels, making it highly customizable and adaptable for rapid deployment. In contrast, SCSM excels in integration with Microsoft products and provides a strong reporting service, though it may require more manual effort for customization.

Room for Improvement: Salesforce users seek better mobile app functionality, more intuitive reporting, and competitive pricing. SCSM faces criticism for a complicated license model, limited integration compared to Salesforce, and a cumbersome interface requiring additional investment for desired features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Salesforce Service Cloud operates mainly on the public cloud, facilitating quick implementation and scalability, with high ratings for its responsive customer service and supportive community. SCSM is primarily on-premises, needing more effort for setup and maintenance, with adequate but less agile customer service compared to Salesforce.

Pricing and ROI: Salesforce is viewed as expensive, focusing on high initial investments but offering significant ROI for large organizations leveraging its full suite, with options for pricing negotiation. SCSM is often more affordable when bundled with Microsoft solutions but has a complex pricing structure and offers better ROI within a Microsoft-integrated environment.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed SCSM vs. Salesforce Service Cloud Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
SCSM vs. Salesforce Service Cloud
July 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Salesforce Service Cloud achieves 135% ROI by enhancing efficiency, productivity, and service business, despite implementation costs.
Sentiment score
6.0
SCSM offers high ROI by saving time via remote operations, despite reporting issues and limited feature enhancements.
Salesforce Service Cloud requires significant maintenance effort to see ROI.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Salesforce Service Cloud is praised for helpful support and community, despite some critiques on initial response and proactiveness.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft's SCSM support is responsive and professional, but users cite inconsistent resolution times and reliance on partners.
Salesforce directly does not give you the support, and it is through the partner that you have to go, leading to some time delays.
Unless you have premium support, assistance is restricted.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
When we get up to Microsoft, I would rate it an eight or nine.
Response times are slow, and engineers often lack the necessary product knowledge.
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
Kishor Namburu - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2688993 - PeerSpot reviewerLuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewerPraveenSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Salesforce Service Cloud offers exceptional scalability for enterprise growth, handling increased users and transactions seamlessly across industries.
Sentiment score
7.2
SCSM is scalable, adaptable, integrates well, but may have issues with slowness and complexity in larger implementations.
Salesforce Service Cloud is the most advanced in scalability, rating around nine to ten.
Nobody can compete with Salesforce Service Cloud's scalability.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage.
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
Kishor Namburu - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2688993 - PeerSpot reviewerPraveenSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Salesforce Service Cloud is highly stable, reliable, quickly resolves issues, and is positively rated across industries for dependability.
Sentiment score
7.3
SCSM is highly reliable, with improved stability in recent versions and performance rated between eight and ten.
We rarely encounter stability issues with Salesforce Service Cloud, although when they occur, they cause significant disruption.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
The SCSM is stable.
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
 

Room For Improvement

Salesforce Service Cloud requires improvements in email integration, UI/UX, reporting, analytics, and cost efficiency for better user experience.
SCSM's Self-Service portal is criticized for lack of usability, integration, mobile support, and user-friendly features.
Configuring Flows in Salesforce Service Cloud is very difficult.
Salesforce Service Cloud should focus on simplification.
The pricing of Salesforce Service Cloud is expensive compared to other solutions like our current SAP CRM, which is much cheaper.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
It is difficult to do the work by ourselves; we have to always try to hire some maintenance hours from external companies to fix small things that maybe would be faster if we could get it in-house, but because of the lack of information, we lose a lot of time solving some small problems.
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM.
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
MARIA PILAR CANDA - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2688993 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2677440 - PeerSpot reviewerLuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewerPraveenSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Salesforce Service Cloud is seen as costly but negotiable, with user-based pricing offering potential ROI through strategic use.
Enterprise buyers find SCSM pricing competitive but complex, influenced by licensing models, integration requirements, and additional support costs.
The approximate licensing costs for Salesforce Service Cloud are around three hundred dollars a year per user.
Salesforce Service Cloud is expensive.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
 

Valuable Features

Salesforce Service Cloud is praised for customization, integration, automation, user-friendliness, scalability, and features enhancing productivity and visibility.
SCSM is a scalable, user-friendly IT service management platform with integration, reporting, and security features ideal for ITIL processes.
Salesforce Service Cloud offers pre-built packages that are best in class.
Salesforce Service Cloud improved our organization with its mobile capabilities.
Usability is one of the strongest characteristics of Salesforce Service Cloud.
For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Service Cloud report
SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune.
If it is correctly configured, you can access and give service quickly to all the end users.
For more quotes and insights, download the SCSM report
reviewer2688993 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2677440 - PeerSpot reviewerMARIA PILAR CANDA - PeerSpot reviewerPraveenSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewerLuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Service Cloud
Ranking in Help Desk Software
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (2nd), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), IT Alerting and Incident Management (6th)
SCSM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
10th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Salesforce Service Cloud is 2.4%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SCSM is 1.6%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

MARIA PILAR CANDA - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved customer service and post-sales support saves time
The solution could be more affordable as it's quite expensive for some organizations, particularly middle-sized companies. Additionally, finding technical talent for improving the solution is challenging. Configuring Flows in Salesforce Service Cloud is very difficult. There are very few technical people in the market capable of implementing all the flows that clients need at this moment. It's primarily a matter of talent limitation, and flow is the technical mechanism of Salesforce Service Cloud for process automation. In general, while they have the knowledge and help solve problems, finding the right person to address specific issues is very challenging.
Read full review
LuisSanchez3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Current setup enables smooth problem-solving but lacks comprehensive guidance and local support
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring us to hire external companies for maintenance hours to fix small issues that could be resolved faster in-house if we had better information. We have been looking for an upgrade version, but finding local service has been difficult. It has been challenging trying to get things done. Speaking with the Microsoft office, we found there are no local companies with substantial experience with SCSM. What we have now was installed five or six years ago. It has been difficult to change configurations and look for upgrades, even with all the manuals. Our office is considering moving away from SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft. For me, it has been a good tool to get help and solve internal problems in the office. It is a very good tool, but the difficulty in getting local service or more information is pushing us to look for another tool.
Read full review
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
25%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Service Cloud?
The approximate licensing costs for Salesforce Service Cloud are around three hundred dollars a year per user.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Salesforce Service Cloud?
The solution could be more affordable as it's quite expensive for some organizations, particularly middle-sized companies. Additionally, finding technical talent for improving the solution is chall...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Service Cloud?
We have many clients with Salesforce Service Cloud and numerous use cases. The main use is in the sales area rather than the marketing area. We utilize it for customer service and customer post-sal...
See all answers
What do you like most about SCSM?
The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?
I am not sure about the pricing as I do not have experience with it.
See all answers
What needs improvement with SCSM?
More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Salesforce Service Cloud Logo
Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs Salesforce Service Cloud
Compared 19% of the time
ServiceNow vs Salesforce Service Cloud Logo
ServiceNow vs Salesforce Service Cloud
Compared 15% of the time
JIRA Service Management vs Salesforce Service Cloud Logo
JIRA Service Management vs Salesforce Service Cloud
Compared 7% of the time
Pega CRM vs Salesforce Service Cloud Logo
Pega CRM vs Salesforce Service Cloud
Compared 7% of the time
Oracle Fusion Service vs Salesforce Service Cloud Logo
Oracle Fusion Service vs Salesforce Service Cloud
Compared 6% of the time
More Salesforce Service Cloud Competitors
ServiceNow vs SCSM Logo
ServiceNow vs SCSM
Compared 53% of the time
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SCSM Logo
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SCSM
Compared 26% of the time
BMC Helix ITSM vs SCSM Logo
BMC Helix ITSM vs SCSM
Compared 12% of the time
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs SCSM Logo
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs SCSM
Compared 9% of the time
More SCSM Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Salesforce Service Cloud
July 2025
Salesforce Service Cloud reportDownload Salesforce Service Cloud product report
Buyer's Guide
SCSM
July 2025
SCSM reportDownload SCSM product report
 

Also Known As

Service Cloud
System Center Service Manager
 

Overview

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.

Salesforce
System Center Service Manager is a software product by Microsoft to allow organizations to manage incidents and problems. Microsoft states that the product is compliant with industry best practices such as the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). SCSM has integrated ITIL compliant fulfillment of service requests. Service requests are submitted by the end user in order to obtain information, access to a new application or the most common of all, password reset.
Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

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
Fibabanka, UMC Health System
Buyer's Guide
SCSM vs. Salesforce Service Cloud
July 2025
Free Report: SCSM vs. Salesforce Service Cloud
Find out what your peers are saying about SCSM vs. Salesforce Service Cloud and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our SCSM 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.