Ivanti Neurons for ITSM offers the flexibility to deploy in the cloud, on-premises or a hybrid combination. It replaces the Ivanti Service Manager, powered by Heat.
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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Score 9.3 out of 10
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ServiceDesk Plus is free help desk software from ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation.
Ivanti is far more user friendly than ManageEngine, and has more features than Jira Service Management. It takes longer to get used to Ivanti because of the extra features, but once you're on board with how it works and how to make changes, the possibilities and configuration …
We have been able to integrate our ISM system with Active Directory using API calls to automate user account creation and user Moves, Adds, and Changes. This has helped us make the employee onboarding and offboarding process much more efficient and less error prone. We cut down on mundane work for the account creation team and freed them to do more tier 2 and 3 tasks. Where the system has been less appropriate for us is trying to integrate non-IT service processes. We haven't gotten a lot of buy-in from groups that aren't used to using an IT related system to receive tasks. It will take some time for us to make a more user friendly, non-IT, Support role.
ServiceDesk Plus is very easy to configure at the start, and then adjust the categories and rules as the implementation is refined. Its greatest strength is the ability to program without requiring a full time administrator. There is very little jargon involved. Reporting not so much. The canned reports are useful but do not always cover some of the basics. Fortunately, the user groups freely share report definitions so one could springboard from something close to your desired result.
Very good at allowing a service line to configure the product to suit its needs. This is important so as to not have to craft operations around the technology, but the other way around!
A high level of flexibility to implement a great deal of automation. The product gives end users access to pre-defined or custom business rules and workflows as well as the ability to implement other forms of time savers!
There is a very comprehensive Help guide for end users and administrators alike. Quite often I have found the most obscure 'How To's' in this guide rather than needing to call into support or search out information on the Ivanti site.
Ticket logging for end users, so they can see the progress on their help requests
Asset management; it has an agent that can be installed on machines which can then feed back information on installed software, active times, logged on user etc
Project management; larger projects can be managed within ManageEngine ServiceDesk as well as end user help tickets, where progress/milestones etc can be recorded
Active Directory import of users, so that it automatically updates when users are created/deleted and links their accounts in ManageEngine ServiceDesk with their email address as well to enable email alerts
When trying to select the top row ticket, you have to be careful not to select all tickets. Happened to us twice and we assigned all open tickets to one technician. Took a few minutes to correct.
Site is sometimes a bit sluggish to respond. Don't know if that is an issue with our network infrastructure or the program itself, though.
When users send emails to the help desk, we sometimes experience delays until the tickets appear on the site for the technicians.
we are looking at other tools like Zendesk which may replace ServiceDesk. We are currently evaluating both tools to see which one would serve our needs better
There's two sides to answering this question. From an Agent/Admin perspective, it's great. You can do a lot of really cool things and have a lot of options and tools available to you. From a customer perspective, you're not quite as spoilt for choice. Ivanti has been working on and improving their new mobile-responsive customer interface but in doing so have really limited the features they allow admins to configure. We've found this limiting but not unworkable. I hope this continues to improve.
It is still very cumbersome, lots of data entry on the back end to build how we want it but it is still not completely user friendly. Many functions still dont work and contacting someone for help isnt always easy or we get told solutions for issues we have just arent built yet.
Support has been amazing. They are knowledgeable, respectful, efficient, and friendly. When something doesn't go according to plan, they go above and beyond to make sure your issues are resolved. I have come to think of them as an extension of my team!
Our network administrator usually gets a good response when contacting ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus customer service. They are quick to respond and so far have been able to eliminate most of our issues. We have been through several upgrades of the software over the years and have no issues to report in regards to customer service.
Ivanti is far more user friendly than ManageEngine, and has more features than Jira Service Management. It takes longer to get used to Ivanti because of the extra features, but once you're on board with how it works and how to make changes, the possibilities and configuration options are almost endless
Compared to Cherwell, SDP is much much faster, and easier to deploy, set up, and use. But it does not have automation, and has limited customization. Since it is smaller and easier, it does not require any development effort. On the other hand, it is far more expensive, considering its lower capabilities, and its licensing model is not concurrently based (each technician uses up a license, even if the technician is not actively logged in and using the tool).
There are many companies for you to choose from. Many have expertise in specific areas. I highly recommend making sure you find one that can work for your specific project needs and then be willing to go in a different direction if needed. There are a few companies that have the personnel to cover everyone's basis but truthfully not many.
In the Classroom Support department, this has provided a quick access system available via tablet for technicians on the go and has improved response time.
In the Helpdesk, this has assisted in the automation of repetitive tasks and assisted with providing better accountability for the completion of an assigned task.
ServiceDesk Plus has helped our organization see what issues we face on a more global picture and we are able to take the time and resources to correct them in a timely manner.
The only negative part about ServiceDesk Plus is it can become costly when you see and use all the features it has to offer.
