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Cherwell is a versatile IT service management tool that has been widely adopted by various organizations across industries. Users have …
Overview
What is Cherwell Service Management?
Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.
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Popular Features
- Organize and prioritize service tickets (52)10.0100%
- Self-service tools (51)9.898%
- ITSM reports and dashboards (51)9.797%
- ITSM collaboration and documentation (48)9.696%
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What is Cherwell Service Management?
Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.
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- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://pages.cherwell.com/pricing.csm.…
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Cherwell Service Management 10.0 Demo
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Product Details
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What is Cherwell Service Management?
Cherwell Service Management is designed for organizations seeking large reductions in software license spending, IT overhead, and software audit risk. By integrating all the data related to hardware and software inventory, application usage, license entitlements, and IT purchases, users can track and manage IT investments from purchase to retirement and abandon Excel spreadsheets.
Cherwell Service Management Competitors
Cherwell Service Management Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Cherwell Software was founded by the former CEO of FrontRage Solutions and is a full suite of service management tools competing with BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, and IBM SmartCloud.
ServiceNow IT Service Management, IFS Assyst, and CA Service Management, with CA Service Desk Manager are common alternatives for Cherwell Service Management.
Reviewers rate Organize and prioritize service tickets highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of Cherwell Service Management are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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(107)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
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Cherwell is a versatile IT service management tool that has been widely adopted by various organizations across industries. Users have reported positive experiences with the software, citing its customizable GUI and flexible reporting capabilities. One of the key use cases of Cherwell is in the realm of ITSM and ITIL initiatives. It is utilized for incident management, problem management, change management, configuration item management, and knowledge management. The software helps organizations streamline their IT processes and improve service delivery by providing a centralized platform for managing tickets, tracking incidents and problems, and facilitating knowledge sharing among team members.
Additionally, Cherwell extends beyond ITSM to address other organizational needs. It is used as a ticketing system for various departments such as HR, facilities, and IT support. Users leverage Cherwell to handle service requests, facilities management tasks, new hire requests, and even training participation tracking. The software's highly customizable nature allows it to be adapted to different workflows and business processes, making it a valuable tool in areas beyond traditional IT functions.
Another notable use case of Cherwell is its role in improving communication and collaboration within organizations. Users have highlighted how Cherwell serves as a central tracking system for IT issues, replacing inefficient methods like email-based work assignment. By providing real-time tracking and metrics, Cherwell enhances accountability and promotes institutional collaboration among different departments.
Overall, Cherwell's ease of use and wide range of applications have made it an essential tool for organizations seeking effective IT service management, streamlined workflows, improved communication, and high-quality customer service across various departments.
Extensive Customization Options: Many users have praised Cherwell's extensive customization options, allowing them to personalize dashboards and move touch points according to their preferences. This flexibility has been appreciated by several reviewers who value the ability to tailor the system to their specific needs.
Efficient Automation Capabilities: Several users have highlighted Cherwell's automation capabilities, mentioning that it has allowed them to automate various tasks in their support department. From ticket creation and classification to responding with specific attachments, this automation feature has helped eliminate wasted time and improve overall efficiency.
Easy Configuration Process: Numerous users have mentioned that Cherwell's configuration process is easy to navigate without requiring expensive consultants for every adjustment. They appreciate being able to make minor as well as major enhancements on their own, giving them more control over the system's configuration.
Web and Mobile App Issues: Users have reported various issues with the web client and mobile app, including frequent locking up and clunkiness. These problems significantly hinder their workflow and productivity.
Lack of Apple Client: In environments that use a mix of Windows and Apple devices, some users have experienced difficulties due to the lack of an Apple client. This absence creates compatibility challenges and limits their ability to effectively utilize the software.
Issues with Active Directory Integration: The built-in remote control capabilities on tickets do not work well with active directory, causing problems for users. This issue disrupts their ability to efficiently manage tickets and collaborate with other team members.
Users commonly recommend the following when using Cherwell:
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Utilize all the available features, such as workflows and customizations, to increase productivity and resolve IT and system-related issues effectively.
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Take time for proper implementation and customization by conducting a hands-on proof of concept (POC) to understand customization needs, considering the implementation process and ease of system configuration, and allowing enough time for implementation and user acceptance testing (UAT).
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Seek support from the Cherwell community by attending user groups and seeking guidance during the implementation process.
Overall, users recommend fully utilizing Cherwell's features, dedicating sufficient time for implementation, customization, and training, and seeking advice from the Cherwell community for successful use of the software.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(26-47 of 47)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 02, 2019
Cherwell is a mature, complete ITSM solution ... that can do WAY more than just ITSM
- ServiceNow Now Platform, SolarWinds Service Desk (formerly Samanage), ManageEngine Desktop Central, KACE Desktop Authority Management Suite, BMC Helix ITSM (Remedy), Spiceworks, Desk.com and Jira Service Desk
When I did the shopping for an ITSM solution, I found that ITSM solutions seemed to (at the time, anyway) fall into two rough categories and a small third category. In the first larger category, there were a group of the "out of the box", quick to implement but immature and feature-poor solutions that were just not very complete in scope but which were also not very expensive. In the case of one or two of them, they were completely free if all you need is a very basic ticket tracking system. In the second of the two larger categories, there were much more complete, full-featured, mature and extremely versatile solutions that are generally much, much more expensive. There were a few in a small, third category of those which were not really designed for ITSM and instead which had been "shoehorned" into being an ITSM tool, having been converted from something else that served a different need and was originally invented for some other purpose.
Those solutions falling into the no-frills, inexpensive camp were ManageEngine (Zoho) Desktop, Spiceworks and to some extent JIRA and Samanage (which was separate from Solawinds at the time). Those falling into the mature but expensive category were ServiceNow, BMC, Desk.com and Cherwell, which was less expensive than these others but not by much.
I was looking for something in-between the two of the larger categories because I was OK with not having every possible feature or capability, certainly not right after implementation, and I didn't want to spend a fortune or a great deal of time setting it up. After a lot of demos and fiddling with examples, Cherwell was the decision. It cost a little less than the other mature solutions, it had a huge amount of future-proofing built right into it's seriously versatile middleware architecture, and best of all, I could start small with just the OOTB features and expand into other capabilities over time as resources and needs changed. It's just right for a small, understaffed shop like mine because it bring improved efficiency without taking a lot of documentation time from my technicians.
Those solutions falling into the no-frills, inexpensive camp were ManageEngine (Zoho) Desktop, Spiceworks and to some extent JIRA and Samanage (which was separate from Solawinds at the time). Those falling into the mature but expensive category were ServiceNow, BMC, Desk.com and Cherwell, which was less expensive than these others but not by much.
I was looking for something in-between the two of the larger categories because I was OK with not having every possible feature or capability, certainly not right after implementation, and I didn't want to spend a fortune or a great deal of time setting it up. After a lot of demos and fiddling with examples, Cherwell was the decision. It cost a little less than the other mature solutions, it had a huge amount of future-proofing built right into it's seriously versatile middleware architecture, and best of all, I could start small with just the OOTB features and expand into other capabilities over time as resources and needs changed. It's just right for a small, understaffed shop like mine because it bring improved efficiency without taking a lot of documentation time from my technicians.
October 02, 2019
Cherwell Review
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Cherwell Service Management had more flexibility and could be managed by a non-programmer. Also was on-prem for security consideration.
October 01, 2019
Cherwell Rocks!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I believe Cherwell is trying to do something different than ServiceNow and because we are an MSP, we benefit greatly from that. On paper, ServiceNow is very powerful and can integrate with almost anything, but Cherwell is not far behind in that realm - and in the next year or so may even surpass them.
July 21, 2019
Cherwell: Powerful, but slow and clunky.
Cherwell is much more powerful than ServiceDesk Plus. It has all the capabilities required for ITSM. It is also much slower and less user-friendly. It requires way more resources to develop and run. Ultimately, we selected for its vast feature set.
November 28, 2018
Cherwell-A useful ticketing system
We previously used SchoolDude and it was very lacking compared to Cherwell. Many things had to be done manually, such as selecting if the ticket was an incident or service request. If this was not selected, the ticket was not included in monthly reports. Now that is all automated.
SchoolDude did not allow multiple people to work on a ticket as needed, without assigning it to a new person before your work might be done.
SchoolDude did not allow multiple people to work on a ticket as needed, without assigning it to a new person before your work might be done.
July 09, 2018
Ease of Ticket Tracking
November 09, 2017
Well Supported
Cherwell was significantly less expensive compared to our prior vendor. Making the transition was relatively seamless and the Cherwell support team was very helpful.
September 12, 2017
Cherwell Service Management
Five years ago a service desk application was used, not a very good process. No available application to TransForm SSO resources, emails were distributed to specific TransForm SSO resources....email responses sent to tech support and hospital requestors.
March 29, 2017
A user's perceptive of Cherwell
- BMC Track-It!
Cherwell allows for much more customization then Track-It!, almost to a fault. Track-It! was a bit more simple which was good for some of our lower skilled users that were a large portion of the push back when switching over to Cherwell. We also got a good deal on Cherwell when compared to what Track-It! offered.
February 15, 2017
Great Process Builder
CIT had used HEAT for 15 years, which was about 10 years more than we should have. Our HEAT implementation was extremely customized and though we used HEAT well and our processes were melded with HEAT, there were many areas for improvement. Tickets would get lost or a task would be lost or the ticket would go through many hands without proper documentation. It was just fairly clunky and not very scaleable.
February 08, 2017
Best Help Desk System for the Money around!
We also looked at Service Now - however the cost difference between Service Now and Cherwell was so much that even with a few features we did not get with Cherwell, it was a much better value.
February 07, 2017
A no-frills ticketing system
February 06, 2017
Cherwell in our service desk.
We compared many tools when we were looking for a better solution. Many of the tools that we found could work, however, Cherwell included everything that we wanted out-of-box. Many of the other tools required extra bits of software for the functions that we were looking for.
February 03, 2017
I don't Code, I Cherwell
We looked at ServiceNow but it was too expensive for our needs.
We then looked at RemedyForce because one region had recently implemented it.
We settled on Cherwell because of its placement within the Gartner quadrant and its ease of configuration and flexibility and great price.
We then looked at RemedyForce because one region had recently implemented it.
We settled on Cherwell because of its placement within the Gartner quadrant and its ease of configuration and flexibility and great price.
October 03, 2016
Cherwell, track well, and report well
We found for the price, Cherwell offered a depth and breadth of solutions that no other company could match. Other companies either didn't have the customer portal, or didn't have the depth of reports, or the ability to customize your view; some didn't include asset management (which was critical to us).
August 05, 2016
Complete solution tha's easy to deploy and manage
We found Cherwell to offer the best value when considering the features we needed, our organizational maturity and anticipated growth. CAPEX and OPEX were lowest, in some cases by orders of magnitude, of other products evaluated.
One key differentiator is the concurrent license model used by Cherwell vs. the named user license model used by others. We have several users who access the solution once or twice a month at most. This makes the named user license model very costly.
The other products have superior documentation and a much broader catalog of tools beyond ITSM, but for our requirements and maturity these were not important.
March 28, 2016
Cherwell - Codeless reality
We went from a HP SM application with complex development and extensive cost. During our evaluations of the tools in the marketplace it became very clear that Cherwell Met or Exceeded all other applications for the functions we needed especially cost. We were very skeptical of the codeless configuration but within a week in the sandbox they set up for us, without any training, I was able to start to demonstrate how I could solve our business requirements.
September 17, 2015
Cherwell Shares Well
Cherwell Service Management is a much richer system than Autotask. Autotask did well for us for managing tickets, but at least at the time, it was not a full ITSM solution. Cherwell Service Management has given us much more modularity and scalability. Autotask was not a bad product, however it no longer met our business needs. Cherwell Service Management has stepped in and allowed for a greater level of growth.
April 08, 2015
Cherwell Service Management - More Bang for the Buck
Less expensive than most, easier to use and administer, flawless upgrades and many automation features.
February 04, 2015
Cherwell Changed my Life
I have administered Altiris in the past. In comparison, Cherwell offers codeless customization which allows for fast and simple configuration. Most changes requested by a specific business area are typically able to be completed within the same day of receiving the request.
We are able to offer different business areas the option to define the key items that are added to their dashboard view to include, counts, lists, charts, and a number of other options.
As an administrator, I've rarely been able to not provide a view, process, or function that a team has requested for their Incident/Request management process.
Cherwell is extremely intuitive and user friendly. It follows the ITIL lifecycle and provides the technician with a step-by-step process for fielding a request.
We are able to offer different business areas the option to define the key items that are added to their dashboard view to include, counts, lists, charts, and a number of other options.
As an administrator, I've rarely been able to not provide a view, process, or function that a team has requested for their Incident/Request management process.
Cherwell is extremely intuitive and user friendly. It follows the ITIL lifecycle and provides the technician with a step-by-step process for fielding a request.
June 27, 2014
Very flexible app at a very reasonable price-point
- BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite,FrontRange ITSM,Hornbill Supportworks ITSM,ServiceNow,service desk express,ManageEngine,BMC FootPrints,Axios Assyst
We evaluated numerous applications for our ITSM tool. There are specific reasons why each was eliminated but in a nutshell it mostly came down to the application's ability to meet our current and future support needs and 10-year cost. Cherwell was really the most flexible and we found it was easy to implement specific workflow and requirements (a lot of our IT workflow is very specific as it has been tweaked and improved over the last 10-15 years) and had a number of modules we were interested in implementing in the future. One thing that was important to us was to know and understand some aspects of ITIL but not be forced to implement ITIL best practices if they are not compatible with our organization; some tools force such a rigid implementation of ITIL that they were not a fit for our organization.
June 26, 2014
cHeRwell - Human Resources
This is the first tool like this that I have used. I was just trained on ServiceNow today, but have not used the system enough to see the differences. On the surface it had a better interface and more ways to manage tickets through the entire organization. There were some questions related to privacy that remain unanswered.