Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.
Get the report

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Clarity SM features an integrated suite of ITIL managers, enhancing efficiency in problem and change management processes.
The system is highly customizable, catering to various client needs, and supports significant flexibility in its operations.
Clarity SM excels in incident tracking and problem resolution, providing a comprehensive view into organizational issues and their management.
It supports a scalable architecture, efficiently handling increased user demands and expanding functional requirements.
Clarity SM automates numerous tasks which previously required manual intervention, significantly improving operational efficiencies.

CONS

High availability and native integration between CA Service Desk Manager, CA Process Automation, CA Service Catalog, and CA Unified Self-Service need improvement.
Support, upgrades, and configuration management database structures are complex and lack efficiency.
API and reporting tools require significant enhancements for better performance and usability.
Documentation on configurations and vendor support is inadequate, necessitating continuous updates and information.
Clarity tech support has deteriorated since Broadcom acquired CA Technologies, leading to decreased satisfaction among large enterprises.
 

Clarity SM Pros review quotes

it_user657 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Operations at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 25, 2012
One of it's kind.
it_user765 - PeerSpot reviewer
Operations Expert at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
May 30, 2012
Great flexibility for every environment and many features are available.
it_user105252 - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Apr 17, 2014
In combination with Automation for Cloud Services, it has increased the ability to dynamically allocate Virtual Machines for test and development.
Learn what your peers think about Clarity SM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user200838 - PeerSpot reviewer
Member of itSMF Portugal Board at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Feb 27, 2015
Unique tool that can get data from any other tool, correlate, make complex formulas to calculate SLAs/KPIs, calculate penalty/bonus, alerts, dashboards, automatic reporting, unbeatable for SLM.
it_user322344 - PeerSpot reviewer
Specialist IT Service Management at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Oct 15, 2015
It established a more organized dynamic and the ability to better plan activities.
it_user293970 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Oct 15, 2015
Service Desk Manager price is not very high and the benefits are considerable.
it_user346467 - PeerSpot reviewer
QA Lead at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Nov 25, 2015
Service Catalog is one place where you can do things for the entire organization.
it_user347817 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Service Support at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 29, 2015
Perfect, one of the most stable solutions ever.
it_user347820 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator III at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 29, 2015
The ticket incidents and requests management are the most valuable features for us.
it_user347964 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Desk Team Lead at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 30, 2015
For me, personally, the ease of interface is the most valuable feature.
 

Clarity SM Cons review quotes

it_user657 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Operations at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 25, 2012
Doesn't scale well.
it_user765 - PeerSpot reviewer
Operations Expert at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
May 30, 2012
Minor issues creep up and create huge problems. Product stability is also an issue.
it_user105252 - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Apr 17, 2014
Customer Service: Horrific. Unless an explicit and costly "service issue" was raised through the enterprise support agreement, CA had zero interest in accepting problem reports.
Learn what your peers think about Clarity SM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user200838 - PeerSpot reviewer
Member of itSMF Portugal Board at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Feb 27, 2015
UI is not perfect, but maybe with Jaspersoft.
it_user322344 - PeerSpot reviewer
Specialist IT Service Management at a financial services firm with 11-50 employees
Oct 15, 2015
CMDB and the user interface, especially for extracting reports, could be improved.
it_user293970 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Oct 15, 2015
The initial setup is complex. CA Service Desk Manager has a complex architecture, and depending upon the features you choose to install, you need more than four machines, which is the minimum number recommended by CA.
it_user346467 - PeerSpot reviewer
QA Lead at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Nov 25, 2015
I’d say it's been OK, not great, but it's determined by the servers.
it_user347817 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT Service Support at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 29, 2015
Sometimes I feel that maybe there must be a way to improve it where it's kind of simplified in a way where it's more usable. I think sometimes it's too much for someone to use, or someone gets lost, or someone complains about having too many things in there.
it_user347820 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator III at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 29, 2015
Support is the biggest thing dragging it down, and the fact that it's not all one integrated package.
it_user347964 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Desk Team Lead at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 30, 2015
I noticed more crashing for some strange reason, being that it's on our own servers and we don't know why.