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it_user896988 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Procurement at a renewables & environment company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
We are able to let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service
Pros and Cons
  • "You can let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service."

    What is our primary use case?

    Primary use case is automation, and it has performed fine.

    How has it helped my organization?

    I don't think it has actually maybe improved anything. It's a generic product. It just has some nice features. We could use a normal scheduler, like DOS, for the type of work we are doing but that would prevent self-service from users in the business, so that's why we are using BMC.

    What is most valuable?

    You can let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service.

    What needs improvement?

    I don't think that we're actually looking for new features. I think we are more looking for a better cost/license/performance model because BMC, while we could say it's the best, is also the most expensive.

    Buyer's Guide
    Control-M
    September 2025
    Learn what your peers think about Control-M. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
    866,755 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's just like anything else in that league. It's very stable. We are not experiencing instability or crashes. These are mature products.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is excellent.

    How are customer service and support?

    Technical support is excellent. We called them two times in a year and there was a reply within 30 minutes, so that's good.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The only thing we would object to are the license costs. That is what we are probably most annoyed with. We are paying something like €1,000,000 over three years for having 4,000 jobs running. That's expensive.

    What other advice do I have?

    If you can afford it, it's good. If you do have an unlimited budget, or budget is not the main concern, and you want stability then I would say go for this. It's easy to use, it's easy to install, it's easy to run, it's easy to operate. I have a student assistant who had six hours of e-learning and she can run the system. That's good. Yes, you need the right student assistant but she doesn't have any IT background. It's very easy to use but also an expensive product.

    In terms of criteria when selecting a vendor, if I am to decide the vendor, it would be the biggest bang for the buck and then it would be quality, stability, and support. That is my job as manager of the IT department and therefore I have to ensure that we are getting the most value for the money.

    The only reason I am rating it eight out of 10 is simply the cost. From a technical point of view, we could actually make the same jobs run from the DOS prompt, with the same stability. I think that we are paying a lot for having self-service, for having nice monitoring. I think we're paying a lot for that.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Chuck Seeley - PeerSpot reviewer
    Chuck SeeleyBatch Tools Analyst at a tech services company
    Real User

    Hello.
    I've read through your article and have a potential suggestion. If you haven't looked closely at your contract with BMC for Control-M, you should, and find out exactly what contributes to the licensing cost.

    If you don't have that contract and/or don't fully understand the language within, reach out to your BMC Account Manager and ask for details as to how that costs are calculated.

    Also, as Head of IT Procurement, you may or may not understand the language of Control-M and its implications as stated by the contract.

    Suggestion here would be to collaborate with your Control-M experts internal to your company (perhaps even along with BMC), to reach a better understanding.

    Once everyone has a complete understanding, your Control-M experts may have some ideas as to better managing the Control-M environment to help mitigate some of those seemingly high licensing costs.

    That said, my feeling is Control-M (and BMC's add-on solutions to Control-M) is an outstanding product and has many capabilities, so make sure you're also getting everything out of it you can.

    Good luck !

    Operations Manager at L Brands, Inc.
    User
    It maintains and monitors workloads
    Pros and Cons
    • "There is a batch monitoring tool called Batch Impact Manager, which proactively warns when processing is behind and SLAs are in jeopardy of being missed."
    • "Maintaining and monitoring of workloads have been and continue to be the most valuable feature in our environment."
    • "It has a slight issue with daylight savings time while advancing the clock in the Spring."

    What is our primary use case?

    • We use it to run batches in SAP, Teradata, WMS, Manhattan, and a wide array of applications. 
    • We use it for mainframe, AS/400, Linux, Unix, and \Windows servers.

    How has it helped my organization?

    When we first started using Control-M, we had multiple scheduling solutions across several platforms. Going to Control-M consolidated all of them and allowed us reactivity across all of them based on the completion of processing.

    What is most valuable?

    • Maintaining and monitoring of workloads have been and continue to be the most valuable feature in our environment. 
    • There is a batch monitoring tool called Batch Impact Manager, which proactively warns when processing is behind and SLAs are in jeopardy of being missed. 
    • Their forecasting tool is very handy. 
    • They also have an API interface, although I cannot speak to it as we have not amassed enough experience to provide a fair assessment.

    What needs improvement?

    BMC Control-M has a slight issue with daylight savings time while advancing the clock in the Spring. It is not catastrophic, but it does requires some manual intervention to be issue free.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Control-M
    September 2025
    Learn what your peers think about Control-M. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: September 2025.
    866,755 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    PeerSpot user
    Operations Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    The ability to dynamically predict batch run time is so valuable
    Pros and Cons
    • "We can tie together all the workloads across the estate and make the whole process reactive to events."
    • "The ability to dynamically predict batch run time is so valuable."
    • "It is a very strong product, but the reporting could be better."

    What is our primary use case?

    We implemented Control-M to replace our mainframe only scheduler and the other disparate group of schedulers that we had used in lieu of a cross platform solution. That was nearly five years ago, and it has had a huge impact on the speed in which we can implement new solutions. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cross platform scheduling has transformed how we run our estate workload. It is just so much more efficient now as we can tie together all the workloads across the estate and make the whole process reactive to events. 

    What is most valuable?

    • Cross platform scheduling
    • Built-in file transfer
    • Batch impact management
    • Self-service 

    They are all such valuable tools. Though, the ability to dynamically predict batch run time is so valuable. 

    What needs improvement?

    It is a very strong product, but the reporting could be better. I know BMC is working on this feature and hope to see some improvements in future releases.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user790782 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Co-fundador with 1-10 employees
    Real User
    Speeds up processes and automated tasks
    Pros and Cons
    • "Speeds up processes and automated tasks."
    • "Consider adding a mobile application for remote management."

    What is our primary use case?

    Main use: Control of batch processing for many subprocesses on the servers in our datacenters for many of our customers.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Speeds up processes and automated tasks. BMC has taken the control of batch processing very far.

    What is most valuable?

    Unlike the batch controls of other solutions, BMC includes a graphical user interface (GUI). It is comprehensive and a little daunting, but there are many options you can pick.

    What needs improvement?

    Consider adding a mobile application for remote management or expand the integration with My IT.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Automation Specialist at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Has enabled true enterprise batch automation, which allows us to run a 24/7 site with the lights out
    Pros and Cons
    • "Control-M has enabled true enterprise batch automation, which combined with the other BMC Control products on our mainframe platform, allows us to run a 24/7 site with the lights out."
    • "Most valuable feature would be the ability to detect and notify when a process has not completed successfully."
    • "The main area that could be improved would be documentation, just like every other software product out there!"

    What is our primary use case?

    Enterprise workload automation across mainframe and mid-range environments for a medium-size financial institution.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Control-M has enabled true enterprise batch automation, which combined with the other BMC Control products on our mainframe platform, allows us to run a 24/7 site with the lights out.

    What is most valuable?

    Most valuable feature would be the ability to detect and notify when a process has not completed successfully.

    What needs improvement?

    The main area that could be improved would be documentation, just like every other software product out there!

    For how long have I used the solution?

    More than five years.
    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Database Security Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    It works on agent-level architecture, hence the usability is enhanced

    What is our primary use case?

    I have used Control-M for batch recovery and job processing providing automation solutions for in-house IT teams and dependent businesses.

    What is most valuable?

    The flexibility to schedule the jobs on various OS level platforms. It works on agent-level architecture, hence the usability is enhanced. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    Control-M has been there on back of all automated work lists by providing consistency, timely execution, and removing chances of human errors. 

    What needs improvement?

    Currently, I am not using this tool due to change of my role duties. Hence, it is difficult for me to comment over this. Though the tool is very resource intensive and has a few levels of performance issues when compared with VM and physical servers. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    No.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Technical support was not required much as we had total in-house solution consultants. Though, in times of need, BMC had their regular support SLAs to support us. 

    How was the initial setup?

    Yes, considering our then and there needs setup was bit complex and time consuming. As it was quite obvious due to the huge organizational size.  

    What about the implementation team?

    It was an all in-house IT setup.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user676749 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    The product is useful for moving large amounts of data

    What is most valuable?

    Workload Manager.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Using it to moving large amounts of data.

    What needs improvement?

    Scalability.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    12 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    No issues with stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Yes, it is not currently suited well for the Cloud.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    10 out of 10.

    How was the initial setup?

    Very simple to install.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Technical Consultant at Atgen Software Solutions LLP
    Consultant
    It provides job management. The GUI is user friendly.

    What is most valuable?

    This product has an excellent GUI that is user friendly and provides job management.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The BMC Control-M provides automated management by our various applications teams of PROD environments under one central GUI.

    What needs improvement?

    This product needs improvisation in regards to agility for job execution function.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used it for about 12 years.

    What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

    Need to align with DevOps.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have not encountered any issues with stability.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have not encountered any issues with scalability.

    How is customer service and technical support?

    Customer Service:

    4/10

    Technical Support:

    BMC provides good technical support and I would give it an 8 out of 10 rating.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation for this product was not so easy. I found it quite complicated.

    What about the implementation team?

    Implement through vendor team as special skills.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    My suggestion would be to select more job-based pricing options as the BMC Control-M solution has less jobs to offer.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before choosing this product, I evaluated a lot of options.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend to make use of outsourced software solutions such as Atgen for ensuring a stable setup process.

    Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Control-M Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: September 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Control-M Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.