BMC FootPrints Service Core vs SCSM comparison

BMC Helix and Microsoft are both solutions in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category. BMC Helix is ranked #26, while Microsoft is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.0. Additionally, 90% of BMC Helix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 64% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

SCSM and BMC FootPrints Service Core are two popular IT service management solutions. SCSM stands out for its integration with Microsoft services, while BMC FootPrints Service Core is favored for its comprehensive feature set, including customizable workflow automation and asset management.

Features: SCSM offers integration with Microsoft ecosystems, automatic ticketing systems, and strong reporting services. BMC FootPrints Service Core boasts customizable workflows, a relational database for history and audit trails, and the ability to auto-generate email messages and approvals.

Room for Improvement: SCSM could improve its user interface for better accessibility and streamline its setup process for users outside the Microsoft environment. Enhancements in customizable features and support documentation could also benefit its users. BMC FootPrints Service Core could improve its pricing model, offer more scalable solutions, and enhance its integration capabilities with non-relational databases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SCSM is easily deployable in Microsoft-aligned environments but can require more configuration for others. Its online training resources are helpful for new users. BMC FootPrints Service Core offers a straightforward deployment with extensive support resources, ensuring a smooth setup process for a wider audience.

Pricing and ROI: SCSM provides an economical setup for Microsoft environments, which can translate into a favorable ROI for such organizations. BMC FootPrints Service Core, while potentially demanding a higher initial investment, presents strong ROI potential owing to its expansive feature set, making it a worthy investment for those seeking robust IT management.

To learn more, read our detailed BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

June 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Automation Anywhere

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

Management Consultant at Accenture

Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions

Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.

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reviewer1765752

System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees

A flexible, comprehensive, integrated IT service and asset management platform with good technical support

We use BMC FootPrints Service Core to manage network issues, infrastructure issues, software issues, and ERP. We also use it to manage our facility. So, we do some work orders and also use it as an extra ticketing system Technical support is good. It would be better if it were more…

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LuisSanchez3

Director Metropolitano de Gobierno Digital at a government with 10,001+ employees

Current setup enables smooth problem-solving but lacks comprehensive guidance and local support

More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more information for setup processes. It is difficult to do the work independently, requiring us to hire external companies for maintenance hours to fix small issues that could be resolved faster in-house if we had better information. We have been looking for an upgrade version, but finding local service has been difficult. It has been challenging trying to get things done. Speaking with the Microsoft office, we found there are no local companies with substantial experience with SCSM. What we have now was installed five or six years ago. It has been difficult to change configurations and look for upgrades, even with all the manuals. Our office is considering moving away from SCSM and getting a service desk solution outside of Microsoft. For me, it has been a good tool to get help and solve internal problems in the office. It is a very good tool, but the difficulty in getting local service or more information is pushing us to look for another tool.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Now, we can have the bot check all of them."

"I think that one of the coolest features that what Automation Anywhere has come up with is AI Sense. I see an immense potential there. Using AI Sense, we can automate outside Citrix. That's going to remove the client dependency or overall automation journey, and that can give lot of optimization, cost saving, and the time to market."

"The control room is the best part as everything can be seen and controlled from there, scheduling storing of credentials, and much more. I have used PDF extraction and other tools where data needs to be extracted and it works great at that part. I highly recommended this tool for automation."

"With the help of Bot, it has increased the productivity of the current process and we do not need to spend more time on error resolution and rectification."

"Automation Anywhere has helped me save both time and costs, with savings of approximately eight million in the last two to three years, and in terms of percentage, I saved around thirty to forty percent of time compared to before using Automation Anywhere."

"Automation Anywhere can have a significant impact on any company's operation, as it can automate a wide variety of tasks that are mundane, time-consuming, and the least productive."

"Automation Anywhere has a Bot Store. E.g., you can download the bot from the Bot Store and utilize it's data extraction capabilities. You can extract unstructured data through IQ Bot. Getting unstructured data is not difficult. I once obtained an 84 page PDF file using an IQ Bot. This was just the trial version, and it was really good. I was able to get all the circuit IDs and properties that wanted in a simple CSV format. I had not seen anything like this before. When compared to other platforms, such as UiPath, they don't have these capabilities right now. They have activities like PDF extraction, but that's not good enough."

"The most valuable feature is the conversion of PDF Invoices to CSV and to PDF Boxes."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"I like the fact that FootPrints is a relational database, so every item in the database can be linked to another. This helps create history and audit trails for each CI."

"Technical support is good."

"We have found the reports and the lockdown on a ticket valuable, so only one person can update issues."

"The discovery feature is very flexible."

"This product solidly handles incident management, problem management, and change management."

"Now all IT related issues, problems, changes and even projects are more controlled using Footprints."

"Ability to auto-generate email messages, process email messages, and approvals."

"I feel confident in saying that BMC FootPrints Service Core is definitely one of the best products in the market."

More BMC FootPrints Service Core pros

"With integration capabilities with the other system centers like SCCM and SCOM, for example, we are able to build a robust CMDB configuration management database, and overall, most customers just prefer the product."

"The remote access is one of the features I really enjoy. The pushing of email updates and things like that are very good."

"SCSM helps us keep organized by tracking all user demands and change requests. However, the reporting is not sufficient to provide a clear view of ongoing projects. It helps with daily operations and change request management."

"The solution is quite easy to integrate with other Microsoft products."

"The solution offers good productivity at a low price point."

"System Center Service Manager is a good product, and it is very easy to use."

"For our cloud-based deployment of SCSM, the Autopilot is the best feature."

"The solution's setup process is relatively straightforward due to the familiar deployment steps similar to other Microsoft solutions."

More SCSM pros

Cons

"One key feature we are looking for from Automation Anywhere is the need for a fully evolved CI/CD pipeline approach within our IT organization, given that we manage multiple applications."

"I used document automation about two years ago, however, it did not work as expected at that time, providing results around 70% to 80%. After that, we turned to third-party tools."

"Triggers work in the attended mode on Automation Anywhere. I would love it if we could use triggers in the unattended mode too. This way we can use the feature more in our IT sector. E.g., when any service or folder is accessed by unauthorized person, we want to be able to get an immediate trigger, even on "out of office", this would be helpful for my organization."

"If there were one thing I could ask for it would be a text-based language. Right now it's proprietary, so you always have to go through the tool, even for things like basic compares."

"It takes a lot of effort to build up the internal infrastructure/topics like Virtual Machine/Security/development-Governance/Usecase-Management."

"We are still looking into some of its current capabilities, like IT Bot."

"They should make the product smarter. The bot we use right now is kind of fundamentally basic loop-based. We really want to see a little bit more advanced capability, that way we can undertake more comprehensive tasks."

"It would be helpful if we could start running a process from a particular step."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"The pricing could be a little lower and the product should cover more iTel versions."

"Reporting could be improved along with the option to create more fine tuned reports and to create specific fields for each type of ticket."

"It is pretty clunky and not very intuitive. Even though I have used it for many years, I don't think it is a very good ITSM platform in general. In the telecom space, a lot of telco providers use this solution, but from my perspective, it is not very user friendly. It is a bit more laborious. There are still too many human touchpoints. There can be a little bit more automation. It would also be good to integrate it with other tools. Integration is quite difficult, especially in the telco space."

"Hyphens are not allowed in the quick search bar. This has created a problem in our environment where we use hyphens in our asset names."

"We need more customizable reporting functionality. We could also use more collaboration of service desk tickets. This will allow for two departments to share the same information, track the progress of the total task scope no matter how complex the request is."

"It is pretty clunky and not very intuitive. Even though I have used it for many years, I don't think it is a very good ITSM platform in general."

"There are still a few odd issues in FootPrints 12.x, which are frustrating."

"It would be better if it were more user-friendly. The reporting part in the version we have is a little complicated. It takes too long to build and report. It would also be better if there were another way to manage notifications."

More BMC FootPrints Service Core cons

"Mobile application integration would be an improvement."

"It would be good if Microsoft added custom attributes or tagging like in Jamf."

"The major issues with SCSM include its severe slowness, especially on the client side, and the lack of comprehensive reporting tools."

"It crashes our client's computers. Sometimes they get blue screens. It would be useful if SCSM could check the upgrades or patches before we implemented them to see if they are going to crash a client's system. Or, if it does install, and the client's system crashes, it would be good if the solution could revert back somehow."

"It would be better if they had a portal for administrators. It would help me use it from anywhere and connect to any device from anywhere. I can administer the solution without a VPN."

"Resources for understanding compliance and relative compliance need to be made available."

"We have had some issues with the SCSM on-premise deployment version in the imaging aspects."

"The solution could be more simple. For example, it takes a lot of work to create reports. It runs on Microsoft SQL queries. Creating custom reports on ManageEngine takes less work from the administrator."

More SCSM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Automation Anywhere is flexible in terms of costing and licensing."

"This solution costs approximately $3,500 USD per license."

"Pricing is too high for small-scale groups. The Control Room yearly fee is high, making it difficult to break even."

"We save approximately 10,000 hours per year."

"Our company is investing a lot of money in Automation Anywhere. They have saved money wherever humans are working. They invest a lot of money in FTEs and other logistics, so the money saving is very pretty good with Automation Anywhere. While I don't know the exact figure, the tool is saving us millions of dollars as well as saving about 40,000 hours in the last year."

"They recently launched a Community Edition, which is okay, but they should have done this a long time ago."

"The price for Automation Anywhere is reasonable."

"We are a partner of Automation Anywhere and find the pricing to be reasonable."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"Our costs are well over $250,000."

"The licensing for FootPrints is a perpetual license with an annual support fee."

"This solution has good pricing."

"Cost was on par with other service desk products, and well below Remedy, while still being a BMC product."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The price should be lower."

"It comes free with the enterprise agreement that we have, but the expense really is in having to buy another product to sit on top of it to make it work properly. You wind up having to buy additional support and additional product with their own support and maintenance costs on top of that."

"I would rate the pricing as two out of five."

"Licensing can be complex and confusing."

"The price of the solution could be better. My organization has an enterprise annual license with Microsoft which provides us support."

"It is a lower price vs. other things on the market."

More SCSM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Construction Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	154
Midsize Enterprise	82
Large Enterprise	536

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?

I am not sure about the pricing as I do not have experience with it.

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What needs improvement with SCSM?

More information about setup procedures and a more user-friendly front end would be beneficial. We need more informat...

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What is your primary use case for SCSM?

In my job, I work for the city where we have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft. We have Office, Word, PowerPoint...

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Comparisons

UiPath Platform vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 11% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 7% of the time

WorkFusion vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

AutomationEdge vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

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ServiceNow vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 18% of the time

Rezolve.ai vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 15% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 13% of the time

Zendesk vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 5% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs BMC FootPrints Service Core

Compared 4% of the time

More BMC FootPrints Service Core Competitors

ServiceNow vs SCSM

Compared 14% of the time

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs SCSM

Compared 13% of the time

Infraon Desk vs SCSM

Compared 8% of the time

IT Care Center vs SCSM

Compared 7% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs SCSM

Compared 6% of the time

More SCSM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

June 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

IT Service Management (ITSM)

June 2026

Download BMC FootPrints Service Core product report

Buyer's Guide

SCSM

May 2026

Download SCSM product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

FootPrints Service Core

System Center Service Manager

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

BMC Helix

Demo not available

Microsoft

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

BMC FootPrints Service Core is a comprehensive tool that aids in incident, problem, and change management while offering customizable views and integration options.

Valued for its customizable home views and flexible database relations, BMC FootPrints Service Core excels in stability and responsive technical support. With capabilities for email automation, survey integration, and report creation, it enhances IT service management and business process efficiency. The solution supports ticket status updates with minimal downtime and accommodates multiple administrators across workspaces. Pink Elephant certification and smart IT features broaden its appeal for IT departments.

What are the key features of BMC FootPrints Service Core?

Incident Management: Tracks and resolves service desk tickets efficiently.
Problem Management: Identifies and mitigates underlying issues to prevent recurrence.
Change Management: Helps assess and handle changes seamlessly in the environment.
Customizable Views: Offers tailored dashboards for user-specific information.
Email Automation: Facilitates swift communication and response handling.

What benefits or ROI should users look for in reviews?

Stable Performance: Ensures reliable operation for consistent IT services.
Responsive Support: Provides timely technical assistance to resolve issues.
Administrative Flexibility: Allows versatile control across different workspaces.

In industries like IT services and HR, BMC FootPrints Service Core supports managing service desk tickets, tracking assets, and resolving issues in network, infrastructure, and software areas. Its functionalities also extend to HR issue tracking, service requests, and contract management, facilitating both on-premises deployments and ITIL process implementations such as Service Request and Service Catalog Management.

BMC Helix

SCSM integrates with Microsoft tools, offering robust ticketing, incident management, and a scalable architecture. It automates orchestration tasks, provides comprehensive reporting, and enhances IT environments through SCCM integration, supporting various service management needs.

SCSM is known for integrating well with Microsoft suites and is valued for its ease of use and scalable design. Organizations utilize its capabilities for managing customer service, system deployments, and ticket handling. Its essential components include activity management, remote access, and comprehensive security updates. However, improvements are needed in areas such as integration with Azure and open-source tools, simplicity of the self-service portal, mobile support, and reporting complexity. Despite these challenges, many rely on SCSM for IT operations management, HR onboarding, and cloud functionality integration.

What are the most valuable features?

Seamless Microsoft Integration - Easily connects with Microsoft suites
Robust Ticketing - Efficient management of tickets and incidents
Scalable Architecture - Adapts to increasing demands and growth
Automated Orchestration - Streamlines various IT scenarios
Comprehensive Reporting - In-depth insights and analysis
Activity Management - Coordination of tasks and operations
Security Updates - Ensures systems remain protected
Easy Learning Materials - Accessible and straightforward resources

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Efficiency - Improved ticketing and incident management
Cost Management - Optimal use of IT resources and budgeting
Flexibility - Supports both cloud and on-premise deployments
Risk Reduction - Security updates and management features
Strategic Insights - Customized reporting for informed decisions

SCSM finds application in industries ranging from IT service management to HR onboarding and system administration. Enterprises use it for remote assistance, device management, and patch management, while some leverage its cloud capabilities. This broadens the scope of how IT operations are supported and managed effectively in different settings.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

Cast & Crew

Fibabanka, UMC Health System

Buyer's Guide

BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

June 2026

Free Report: BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. SCSM

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