TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager vs. SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    CA Service Management

    Score5.4 out of 10
    N/ACA Service Management, including CA Desk Manager, is a fully-featured ITSM platform, now from Broadcom. It competes with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, FrontRange ITSM, Cherwell Service Management etc. It is based on technology acquired by CA in 2010 with Nimsoft, and is now supported by Broadcom since the 2018 acquisition.N/A

    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)

    Score6.1 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Web Help Desk is ticketing and IT asset management software. It is designed to simplify help desk management. This solution includes built-in ticketing management, asset management, change management, and knowledge base capabilities.

    $533

    per year per user

    Pricing
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—SolarWinds also offers Perpetual licensing starting at $1129 per technician.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Considered Both Products
    Broadcom
    No answer on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Chose SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Many years ago at a different employer, we utilized CA Service Desk, which is now under the Broadcom umbrella; previously it was under Computer Associates. What a nightmare to configure and set up ... it took months to get this product off the ground. SolarWinds Web Help …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    78%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    Features
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager and SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Feature
    CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager
    8.6
    6 Ratings
    5% above category average
    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    9.2
    20 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets9.76 Ratings8.020 Ratings
    Expert directory8.75 Ratings8.014 Ratings
    Service restoration8.46 Ratings00 Ratings
    Self-service tools8.66 Ratings00 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications7.96 Ratings9.817 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation9.76 Ratings9.014 Ratings
    ITSM reports and dashboards7.55 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    ITSM asset management
    Comparison of ITSM asset management features of CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager and SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Feature
    CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager
    9.2
    6 Ratings
    13% above category average
    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    -
    Ratings
    Configuration mangement9.76 Ratings00 Ratings
    Asset management dashboard10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy and contract enforcement8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Change management
    Comparison of Change management features of CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager and SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Feature
    CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager
    9.1
    6 Ratings
    7% above category average
    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    -
    Ratings
    Change requests repository9.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    Change calendar8.64 Ratings00 Ratings
    Service-level management9.55 Ratings00 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager and SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Feature
    CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager
    -
    Ratings
    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    8.0
    9 Ratings
    0% below category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings7.07 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager and SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Feature
    CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager
    -
    Ratings
    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    9.2
    10 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings9.78 Ratings
    Social integration00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Small Businesses
    Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    Score9.2 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ivanti ITSM
    Score6.4 out of 10
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    6.8
    (20 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    4.1
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.8
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    CA Service ManagementSolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Broadcom
    It is a suitable tool for a large organization with extensive user needs. It is not for a small shop as it may be over-engineered for smaller organizations that don't have teams that can manage a solution of this size. It does have some significant hardware and configuration needs, but that should not deter customers from deploying it in-house. I've seen it deployed in the cloud as well as in-house; the downside to deploying it as a hosted solution is you're forever at the mercy of the vendor for customizations, and they cost an arm and a leg. The simplest things take a long time and cost much more money than necessary, so you can't truly get a custom solution and end up with mostly vanilla services (unless you have very deep pockets.)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds WHD is well suited if you have a limited budget, as it costs less than many help desk software packages that are more full featured and modern in their design. It is not well suited to an environment where you want to manage inventory, users, purchases and tickets all in one package. It has an asset feature that we don't use but that looks quite limited. We track our assets and users separately from this.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Broadcom
    • A large community where, if help is needed, is usually very helpful and quick to respond.
    • Various sites with good information on various issues. If you have a problem, there's a good chance some else already had it and documented it.
    • Fairly easy installation of the product if recommendations are followed and prep-work is done.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Customized reporting allows us to track our service and support better, and find where we need improvements. This allows us to constantly upgrade our service levels and keep the customers happy.
    • Detailed tracking and response to the end users have led to quicker remediation of tickets. We are able to see where we need a better response or where to add additional resources for support.
    • Overall metrics allow us to staff properly for our tickets by location and remote users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Broadcom
    • The right-click feature is disabled in this application and users are unable to copy and paste with mouse or touchpad.
    • The application also freezes quite a bit and a user will have to quite often close and reopen browser to get it functioning properly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Because of AD integration, users sometimes try logging in with their email address and not AD credentials. The user then calls stating they can't put a ticket in, it would be nice if there was a method of matching the AD Email field with a login.
    • Setting up new techs with the building they are responsible for can be a little messy
    • I would like to see the UI updated. It looks old, even in the latest releases.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Broadcom
    While the concepts of Service Desk and EITM were solid. The user interface, tool capabilities, and integrations fell behind the rest of the industry. Too often it seemed like CA bought and rebranded products without fully integrated them with their other products. It was a coat of paint, without the parts under the hood being updated. The overhead for administration was too high and the reporting capabilities were absolutely amongst the worst I've seen.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    We are definitely going to be sticking with Web Help Desk for the foreseeable future since the product is very inexpensive for the features that it provides, the integration that it has with our existing systems, and the ease for managing users, assets, locations, and tickets. Web Help Desk is a great product that is backed by even better support, which is well worth looking into if you are considering moving to a new ticketing system.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    I give it this rating based on my experience with SNOW which I would rate lower because it is so difficult to find anything in SNOW. It might be better with more time to configure but we "had a box to check" and it met that requirement and I haven't had time to refine it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds is a great customizable and affordable ticketing system. We use SolarWinds Web Help Desk for IT and Software
    Development trouble ticket tracking and resolution. The reporting that
    SolarWinds provides is great since it helps us discover problem areas and fix
    those areas so they don't keep reoccurring
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Take the time to roll out a test VM to configure and make changes to before doing a live deployment, this way you don't end up with a VM that has been tweaked and re-tweaked until it's perfect and instead end up with a final, polished product. I would also recommend taking the time to read through the support forums for figuring out minor issues that may pop up, chances are that you aren't going to be the first one to encounter them. When all is said and done, SolarWinds Support is VERY responsive and you shouldn't hesitate to contact them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Broadcom
    We are too integrated with CA Service Desk Manager to disassociate anytime soon. We found the more we used the product the more we needed to customize it in order to better integrate with our business processes. There are other alternatives that have many built-in features that had we have foreseen our future requirements... would have chosen ServiceNow or Remedy as our "go-to" ticketing product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Web Help Desk is definitely lacking in the UI/UX department compared to most other ticketing systems I have used int he past. It's very utilitarian; however, what it lacks in UI it makes up for in extensibility and customization. The main issue that the developers need to address is the use of a Web Objects back-end.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Broadcom
    • Having CA Service Desk Manager within the company has increased the satisfaction of customer service from 68% to 95%. Teams are getting better customer survey scores and making better efforts to meet their SLAs.
    • CA Mobile app has provided agility and collaboration among IT Users and Customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Amazing impact on our Organization, we are much more organized since we implemented SolarWinds Web Help Desk
    • The ROI is in the statistics! The application cost pennies to run compared to what the product will do for your organization.
    • I challenge you to find a better product for the price!
    • Our documentation has improved since we implemented SolarWinds Web Help Desk
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot