Clarity SM vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk comparison

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Broadcom and IBM are both solutions in the Help Desk Software category. Broadcom is ranked #17, while IBM is ranked #32. Additionally, 85% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Clarity SM and IBM SmartCloud Control Desk are leading solutions in the IT Service Management category. Clarity SM has an edge in customization and ease of use, while IBM excels in integration and asset management.

Features: Clarity SM offers robust flexibility with full SLM reporting, extensive customization, and integration options. Users appreciate its ticket management, scalability, and the unified portal. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk provides strong incident and service request management, IT asset tracking, and integration capabilities. It is praised for its cohesive integration features and asset management strengths.

Room for Improvement: Clarity SM struggles with scalability and stability. Its user experience and documentation need updates, and integration often requires significant investment. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is criticized for an outdated user interface lacking modern design and ease of customization. Users report it being cumbersome, with technical support described as slow to respond, affecting user satisfaction.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Clarity SM offers on-premises and public cloud deployments, with mixed reviews on customer and technical support. Users report inconsistent support quality. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is mainly on-premises, with dissatisfaction over customer service and technical support delays, with long resolution times unless issues are escalated.

Pricing and ROI: Clarity SM is seen as expensive, potentially prohibitive for small businesses, but its concurrent licensing model is cost-effective for larger firms. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk follows a per-user licensing model, which can be costly, but offers comprehensive features without extra fees for users reporting issues. It provides a solid ROI for medium to large enterprises despite higher upfront costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Clarity SM vs. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM vs. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

November 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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Türker Kara

Application & Software Architect at Turkiye Finans Participation Bank

Quite good back-end architecture for end users but the API is very, very bad

Our company uses the solution for system, program, service request, change, and knowledge-based management. We perform CMD authorizations and use a lot of integrations for our in-house or third-party applications. We also use Salesforce automations and Microsoft orchestrations. We have about…

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Klemen Muhvič

Computer System Engineer at Informatika d.d.

Has centralization and asset management features, and a helpful and knowledgeable technical support team

What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The benefits we get from automation include faster and more accurate matching, running 24x7."

"When this technology first came to market, I thought it was about robotic things, which we cannot do, however, when I started to learn about Automation Anywhere, it's completely different; it's a user friendly tool with drag and drop commands and a person just needs technical, logical thinking."

"The overall developer client has an easy-to-use UI."

"Automated data processing is the most valuable feature of Automation Anywhere."

"In Automation Anywhere we liked the drag-and-drop and easily stitching the recording of mouse control and keyboard controls."

"From what I have seen with the IQ Bot, it is very impressive and I think it is going to solve a lot of problems that we face right now."

"No other competitor has this email trigger, so it saves a lot of time if you automate the process. We don't need to fix a time for a task to run. It gives the feature of on demand execution for any task. Whenever a user wants, it can send a mail and get the task done as soon as possible."

"Automation Anywhere has eliminated the manual intervention from us by automating the entire onboarding process and the checking on the new suppliers and tour operators."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"The most valuable feature is the usability of the search when you want to find other tickets that relate to the incident you're working on."

"We have a very good relationship with all the users; when users have a problem, they report using Service Desk and it is very useful for this."

"It is a stable and good product, with several integrations and an interesting API."

"For me, personally, the ease of interface is the most valuable feature."

"Right now, we are starting to be dependent on the CMDB a lot."

"What I like about it are the features that allow me to integrate with Service Desk Manager and Process Automation, and to build creative solutions based on the integration with other CA products."

"Ability to write macros, which can in turn trigger some condition or could be conditioned to basically trigger notifications, the workflow desk, or web calls. It is huge benefit to customize it."

"When we went to the tool that we're now using, SDM, we noticed that the performance was so much more increased than it was in the past."

More Clarity SM pros

"In the early stages of our company, all requests were done in notebooks, and none of it was centrally managed. But now we have a central tool which is an entry point for all requests that come in."

"Overall, it has helped us continuously improve our business processes."

"The solution is very easy to work with."

"The most valuable are its flexibility and agility. It's quick to change it, to adapt it to your needs. That's the most important for us."

"The workflow capability is useful. It's not a manual helpdesk operation. It's fully automated, even when an alarm has occurred. It covers the complete cycle of initiation to resolving the events. This is its most strong feature that is easily integrable with a monitoring solution. It creates tickets, and the workflow feature is the most important one."

"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."

"The solution has been stable."

"In general, it's been pretty stable."

More IBM SmartCloud Control Desk pros

Cons

"I would like to see improvement in its scalability."

"The debugger is also a weakness of the tool, forcing the developer to use error handling or message box to map errors. Few applications take more time for loading when integrated."

"We face some issues, but we can’t prove them again. They occurred sometimes, but don’t occur again. For example, I record a video when a bot is running, and it is working fine. Another time it is not working. We face issues with Excel file creation. I’m trying to create a file in Excel .xls. It is getting corrupted."

"In A2019 it does not display the exact running status, but rather it displays the previous one."

"I need high value products to be created, so I need integration with other solutions. Machine learning and AI need to be integrated with Automation Anywhere. While IQ Bot is a good beginning, our company does not work with manual paperwork since we are already digital. We would like to see more integration with cognitive tools going forward."

"Automation Anywhere has newly integrated the Generative AI feature. It should be more customizable. Currently, we can change certain parameters, but we would like to have the ability to do modifications within the LLM for better outputs."

"With Oracle and ServiceNow, there seem to be challenges. With SAP, it worked very well."

"The learning curve for Automation Anywhere is steep, especially for advanced features like IQ Bot and API automation, which require technical expertise."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"It needs better report-generation features and allow for different types of data."

"I encountered a scalability issue with an older version."

"The one element that we've wanted to see improved and we've really worked with them on is the user interface is what I like to call a little conky and so we are consistently working with them and the product marketing people to make it better."

"I think we don't necessarily exploit a lot of the features and functionality within the product because we don't really have a good support network with the company."

"We would like the CMDB to be populated automatically. At the moment, everything is manually created."

"One of the issues that exists, and I don't know you can really call it an issue, but it's not there yet, it needs to be tighter integration between PAM and Service Desk and they understand that, because the PAM engine for driving business automation and workflows is so critical to our business and keeping us on schedule and doing things."

"I noticed more crashing for some strange reason, being that it's on our own servers and we don't know why."

"The product needs to have a better user experience in the interface and mobile functionality."

More Clarity SM cons

"Support has been the biggest problem for us."

"What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."

"The time calculations can be improved. While working on reports, it was taking the time only in seconds, which was hard for me to work out. While creating some dialogs in the service portal, you have to use certain data types in some fields. It was very tricky to make them work. I was testing a certain type of input, and it didn't work. It didn't show me the domain that the fields have to show. I had to make the change to the database, and only then it worked. It was a tricky thing to make them work with the dialogs. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time."

"What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly."

"The solution lacks a graphical user interface."

"Technical support can be slow in terms of resolving issues."

"The product is kind of clunky to use."

"The user interface is not very interesting."

More IBM SmartCloud Control Desk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. Automation Anywhere has reduced the price slightly, as we have grown. However, the price is still excessive enough that we are engaged in PoCs on other tools."

"The price for Automation Anywhere is reasonable."

"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."

"The price is very reasonable."

"I have heard that Automation Anywhere is expensive."

"The current pricing for Automation Anywhere seems a little higher compared to competitors Power Automate or UiPath. Automation Anywhere is perceived as pricey due to the support model charges ranging from 20% to 30% based on the plans."

"Roughly, as of today, it is around $250,000 annually."

"They are already coming out with a community license, which is really good. That's something that I wish to have."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is based on a subscription model."

"There is a subscripted needed to use Clarity SM. The price of the solution could be less expensive. ServiceNow is less expensive and BMC Helix is priced similar to Clarity SM."

"I think pricing of this model is suitable for growing corporations."

"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."

"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."

"Pricing is simple, as it’s per concurrent analysts."

"Clarity offers a perpetual license. Customers purchase the license once and then pay for maintenance. CA provides a subscription model as well. Both models are available for our customers."

"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"

"The license for IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is paid yearly and is on a per-user basis. You buy the product and pay for its license yearly. IBM is changing the licensing structure, but for now, it's a yearly license. There's no additional cost. It's just the license that you need to pay for to use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."

"It's basically for a big company because of the costs. A small company can't afford the licensing cost. For medium and large companies, it's the best product. The price of the license is on the higher side compared to others."

"The licensing we have for IBM Control Desk is on a yearly basis. They have a concurrent license and an administrative license. And with these, you get all the products. There aren't any additional fees for extra add-ons or anything like that."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

20%

Outsourcing Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

13%

Performing Arts

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Construction Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	162
Midsize Enterprise	86
Large Enterprise	565

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	66

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	3

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.

See all answers

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Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automation Anywhere

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Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 4% of the time

AutomationEdge vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 3% of the time

Appian vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

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Serviceaide ChangeGear vs Clarity SM

Compared 12% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Clarity SM

Compared 9% of the time

ServiceNow vs Clarity SM

Compared 9% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Clarity SM

Compared 5% of the time

Spiceworks vs Clarity SM

Compared 4% of the time

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JIRA Service Management vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 13% of the time

ServiceNow vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 13% of the time

Ameyo Fusion CX vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 9% of the time

Ivanti ITSM vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 7% of the time

TeamSupport vs IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

October 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM

October 2026

Download Clarity SM product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

October 2026

Download IBM SmartCloud Control Desk product report

Also Known As

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

CA Service Desk Manager, Clarity Service Management, CA Service Management, Unicenter Service Desk, CA SDM, CA Service Catalog, CA Business Service Insight

SmartCloud Control Desk

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

Broadcom

Demo not available

IBM

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

Clarity SM stands out as a comprehensive IT service management solution, notable for its wide range of features including service catalog integration and robust change management capabilities, making it a valuable choice for enterprises seeking to streamline their IT operations.

Clarity SM is designed to enhance IT processes through its advanced availability architecture and seamless integration with CA platforms. It offers a powerful configuration management database and process automation, significantly improving IT efficiency. Despite its strengths, it faces challenges such as integration costs, scalability issues, complex workflows, and outdated documentation. Enterprises employ Clarity SM for incident and problem management, leveraging customization for knowledge management and CMDB applications in diverse environments.

What are the key features of Clarity SM?

Integrated Service Catalog: Smooth handling of service requests through a unified platform.
Flexibility and Customization: Tailors to specific enterprise needs while balancing control.
Advanced Availability Architecture: Ensures high uptime and reliability.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies operations with an intuitive design.
Strong Incident and Change Management: Streamlines processes to manage IT changes effectively.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Clarity SM?

Enhanced Customer Service: Improved user interactions and service delivery.
Increased Efficiency: Automation and integration reduce time and effort in IT operations.
Customizable Solutions: Adaptability to meet unique business requirements.
Seamless Integration: Works well with other CA platforms to unify IT processes.

In healthcare, Clarity SM aids in managing patient data and ensuring service reliability. Retailers utilize it for IT incident management across multiple outlets, reducing downtime. Financial institutions benefit from its auditing and compliance features to maintain secure operations. Each industry tailors Clarity SM capabilities to meet specific IT challenges and goals.

Broadcom

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk offers robust integration capabilities, effective SLA integrations, automated workflows, and comprehensive reporting. Its flexibility and centralized request management enhance service efficiency, making it ideal for detailed issue tracking and resolution in IT environments.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is designed to streamline IT support, ticketing, and incident management. By integrating seamlessly with existing infrastructures, it centralizes service requests and IT asset management. Its automated processes ensure efficiency from initiation to resolution, reducing the chances of oversight. The platform's adaptability supports both on-premises and cloud deployments, making it suitable for industries like telecommunications and IT services. However, users often face challenges with support responsiveness, outdated interfaces, and difficulties with email integration, particularly affecting images and attachments.

What Are the Key Features of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk?

Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with various systems to enhance functionality.
SLA Integrations: Strong service level agreement management ensures SLAs are met.
Automated Workflow: Full automation of processes from start to resolution.
Robust Reporting: Comprehensive reporting tools for detailed insights.
Request Management: Centralized management of service requests and IT assets.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Seek?

Efficiency: Streamlines operations with automated processes, increasing productivity.
Flexibility: Adapts to organizational changes for better service delivery.
Reliability: Backed by IBM's trusted brand reputation.
Scalability: Scales with demand for growing businesses.

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is widely implemented in telecommunications and IT services industries. Organizations utilize it for managing IT support, incident resolution, and system monitoring. Its ability to handle both internal and external requests effectively helps businesses streamline client communications and improve service management across different deployment models.

IBM

Sample Customers

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

Banco G&T Continental City of Perth, FEMSA, Fujitsu, Manpower, Muslim Commercial Bank - MCB, Punjab National Bank, Santa Clara County Social Services, Stefanini

St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology

Buyer's Guide

Clarity SM vs. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

November 2026

Free Report: Clarity SM vs. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk

Find out what your peers are saying about Clarity SM vs. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.

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