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

BMC Helix ITSM vs OpenText Service Manager [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

BMC Helix ITSM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (6th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (3rd)
OpenText Service Manager [EOL]
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Ameet Darole - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for user ticket management, incident management, and event management
We had a manual event management process and a separate monitoring tool called Dynatrace. The alerts generated did not flow to the ITSM tool. With BMC Helix ITSM, the alerts flow and auto-route to respective technical support. If the alerts are resolved, the ticket will be automatically closed. So, the workload and automation are much better now. BMC Helix ITSM is a fast platform, so it is quite manageable. I would recommend BMC Helix ITSM to other users because it is a good solution. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Farah Ben Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Is easy to set up, but customization needs improvement
Sometimes, customization is simple. The version we are using now has a nice interface Customization can be difficult at times because scripting is often required. I've been using this solution for ten years. Generally, it's stable, but sometimes we see behavior that we cannot understand. It's…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Improved our organization with better customer experience and reporting abilities."
"Reports have helped us to improve our IT processes. The main benefit is providing the right information to our decision makers."
"It's one of the top solutions on the market for ITSM capabilities."
"The most valuable features of BMC Helix ITSM are the service level management, configuration, and reporting tool."
"The solution is already aligned with the framework, so it is easy for us to proceed with any ISO 27K certification."
"Helix is stable."
"Smart IT and the phone app are easily the most valuable features in reporting and tracking ongoing issues."
"The most valuable features I have found to be the activity logs and the other features where you are able to continuously address issues and are able to annotate notes inside to convey them to the customer."
"Technical support is pretty good."
"Sometimes, customization is simple. The version we are using now has a nice interface."
"Incident management is the most valuable because we're using it to manage tickets for an accounting system. With the reports that are available, it allows us to track and identify trends at the type and item level. It also helps us in managing the workload better than what we had in Remedy, which is what we were using before 2013."
"It's mostly so reliable and has a lot of functionality. We're using a lot of HPE tools and we can do a lot with it. So, its functionality is the most valuable feature."
"It gives us better understanding and control of service management."
"Service Manager does what it should, but it's quite outdated."
"It's pretty well-structured in modules."
"It can adapt to any process in the organization."
 

Cons

"Needs less infrastructure requirements."
"The interface is one major complaint about this product."
"It takes a long-time to plan and deploy the on-premise solution."
"There are some limitations or restrictions to using BMC Helix. For example, when we do some reporting, the reporting interface should be more user-friendly from my point of view."
"The initial setup of BMC Helix ITSM is complex because it has different integrations with other tools. Additionally, it needs to be integrated with the active directory and have different databases. The environment will dictate how difficult the process is."
"Whenever you start exploring some new product features, you run into defects. It has been like this for the last six years."
"The interface should be more user-friendly, and the customization should be easier."
"BMC Helix ITSM should have an easy-to-use user interface."
"I think one area which is the most painful from my point of view is if you need to integrate a lot of the tools, and being able to make that a lot more seamless."
"The user interface is very clunky. It's only now beginning to be a web-based interface, but for now it's still very clunky."
"Service Manager would be improved with access to automation."
"Micro Focus Service Manager is not very great. It would be better if it had more features. When it comes to features, BMC tops the chart. When it comes to usage, people use BMC more."
"I think the best recommendation to Micro Focus would be to increase awareness and the marketing for this product."
"The solution does not interface well with other products and is difficult to implement."
"Service Manager is at the end of its life. The architecture, performance, and look are all way behind."
"There should be some front desk provided or some options to let our users serve themselves, because we have about 5000 servers and 400 applications."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing should come down."
"There are licenses to use this solution."
"The price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"Please always get the latest quote from a BMC partner or from BMC. Check for the latest offerings."
"It's a yearly subscription but there are a couple of customers who go for the monthly subscription."
"It is not very expensive and not very cheap. It is somewhere in-between. Some of the features are more expensive. There are also additional costs. If you want to use most of the features, you need to pay more."
"The cost is relatively high, especially for the BMC Controller application. However, the expense is justified by the standard and reliable features it offers. This product's reputation in the market is strong, providing assurance in terms of data and other considerations."
"While purchasing, try to negotiate on per user licensing costs, associated maintenance, and purchase 20% more then what you think you should have. Bulk is always cheaper."
"The license is not cheap."
"I would say that identify your requirements and pay for the support to implement and test those requirements, and then hope that you did a good job because the cost of their service is fairly expensive."
"Micro Focus Service Manager is a little cheaper than other options. You have to pay a monthly subscription fee."
"I pay for Service Manager on a yearly basis, and the price is reasonable - I would rate it five out of ten."
"HP Service Manager has moderate pricing."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions are best for your needs.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC Helix ITSM?
If we consider major players like Ford or BMW, their core focus is manufacturing products like cars. To ensure smooth operations, any arising issues, be it security concerns or issues within depart...
What needs improvement with BMC Helix ITSM?
In User Group sessions held by BMC in India, I mentioned the challenges with vast documentation, making it difficult to find the right information quickly. The recent move to a new platform is bene...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
I am currently working as a BMC Remedy developer. I have been working for over ten years on the BMC platform. My company uses BMC Helix ITSM for IT service management processes.
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Service Manager?
The product's technical support services need improvement.
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Service Manager?
We use the product for infrastructure, profile, and incident management.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy
Micro Focus Service Manager, HPE ITSM, HPE Service Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
resultspositive, Globicon
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, BMC and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.