BMC Helix Remedyforce is a cloud-delivered SaaS solution for IT Helpdesk and Ticketing Management.
$67.90
per user/per month
IBM Control Desk
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
IBM Control Desk (formerly IBM Smart Cloud Control Desk) is available standalone or as a component of the IBM Service Engage cloud or on-premise suite of IT management software. Meant for enterprises, the IBM Control Desk is an ITIL service desk.
Control Desk is a rebranded version of Tivoli's Service Request Manager. This is a somewhat complex enterprise-level product competing with BMC's Remedy and ServiceNow.
[BMC Helix Remedyforce] is probably best suited for an MSP who needs to keep multiple clients separated. If you were an internal IT department I think the additional features it has would be lost. When dealing with an MSP who needs to know what software and what issues have effected specific clients it is very well suited to do that.
For companies or persons who want to critically monitor the IT assets in their systems, IBM Control Desk is the program that will make them swiftly identify mistakes and provide possible solutions for them. Furthermore, IBM Control Desk is a straightforward communication program between the ICT department and the end users, where they articulate a challenge and it is immediately sorted out. IBM Control Desk monitors even the functionality of the software in the systems.
An admin user is able to quickly create a request definition with all of its components from one screen. We use to have to go to the 7 or 8 different screens to create each piece of the request definition.
Ability to update multiple Incidents/Service Requests at once with the update button. This allows essentially an inline edit functionality within Remedyforce.
Change management schedule is a great feature as well to be able to see how changes align and what there expected start dates/times are.
The ability to monitor/regulate the volume of tickets when you integrate with your monitoring software. We have so many items that trigger alerts, creating a ticket for each is somewhat overwhelming. Would like to be able to better control when an incident should be created.
Being able to report on Service requests and tasks together would be nice. Right now I have to do it separately as they are in different buckets, so to speak.
Remedy console is an improvement from where it started but can still be a cleaner interface for a tech to be able to work out of for their day to day work.
The total amount of time spent from installation to configuration for a minimal ticketing system was 2 hours. Maintenance and customization for the application can be completed with a great amount of ease. In addition having a customer portal is an added benefit that pays for itself
The lack of support from IBM is a concern that should be addressed and something to keep in mind for those thinking about acquiring IBM Control Desk. This problem can be solved by hiring an experienced consulting company that helps you implement, customize and adapt the solution to your specific needs instead of acquiring it directly from IBM.
Learning industry best practices or gaining insight on them from either BMC or an implementation partner would have saved some headaches we faced after roll-out.
I previously worked with tools like Service Manager which were difficult to configure, administer and maintain. The support options were very limited. Remedyforce has local US support, dedicated reps, and a more developed infrastructure to work from to support an organization. This runs on the Salesforce platform so worrying about server failures and unscheduled outages was no longer going to be an issue for us. Self service, knowledge base, and change control were just a few highly utilized features that helped employees support themselves and automate very manual processes.
Ease of configuration is a credible feature from the application, as we have the flexibility of personalizing the software for our needs. Also, IBM Control Desk captures the software problems and issues us with extensive answers for them. The communications that IBM Control Desk makes between the company's ICT department and the users is fruitful and speeds the business operations.
Remedyforce has allowed us to eliminate other solutions that provided similar features. By now using one true ITSM we have been able to save money which in higher education is always a concern.
The reports and dashboards allow for a birds-eye view of our daily operations and provide managers and executives the information they need to make important cost saving decisions.
Due to our company being highly focused on IBM Maximo implementation and support, IBM Control Desk is a necessary tool for tracking and support of said Maximo implementations.
By implementing IBM Control Desk as the main resource for support, the investment made has been very satisfactory and has brought us an increase in response time and management of tickets.
