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Clarity SM vs TOPdesk comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
662
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (1st), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
Clarity SM
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (17th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (20th)
TOPdesk
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (19th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (19th)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Türker Kara - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Martina Peneva - PeerSpot reviewer
People Technology Lead at Scandinavian Tobacco Group
Implement service management changes while addressing UI improvements
Topdesk's user interface makes it easy to handle requests and escalate them to other groups or reassign them when working on a single ticket. Additionally, the service management tool in HR allows for a change in delivering services, replacing email communication with ticket raising. The knowledge library enables the local HR to store and share relevant information and frequently asked cases, enhancing collaboration. The ticket system also facilitates escalating cases to other involved departments. IT, HR, and some other teams primarily use this system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have seen AA bringing immense value to the clients once operational."
"It helps improve performance and helps companies save time and money."
"In version 11.3, they have a good security option. Tool-wise, it's pretty good to work on Automation Anywhere. If you compare it to other tools in the industry. It is very user-friendly and easy to develop processes. We liking using it very much."
"While RPA is the cutting-edge technology to bring digital transformation, the RPA as a service will reduce costs and increase efficiency with ease of deployment, less maintenance, and cheaper upgrade costs."
"So far, we have seen that a valuable feature of Automation Anywhere is the ease of integrating it with multiple systems. It can very easily integrate with an environment of an organization. It helps in a quick go to access and implementation. You don't have to spend days implementing Automation Anywhere software. You can quickly go drag and drop and do an ease of configuration. You can actually get your bot up and running very fast, which is one important advantage."
"The ROI is very good because the output is very accurate and the speed is very fast."
"It has changed our mindset, as people have started to think about automating things and come up with new perspectives, alternatives, or improvements by which automation can be implemented."
"By implementing the Automation Anywhere robot, we have reduced the FTE count and it was able to process 800 invoices per day with 100% accuracy."
"The scalability of a product this size has provided us with the most improvement."
"From a quick resolution point of view, the fact that xFlow has got the self-service that's linked to knowledge management means people are also able to solve their own problems without necessarily requiring tickets through the entire life cycle of second line support, and that has helped a lot."
"It is a one stop shop with the service catalog integrated with IT panel to the Service Desk, and it is very nice to be able to use because the workflow is all-in-one for the same product."
"Modules of integrated ITIL managers."
"I would highly recommend Service Desk Manager."
"Before Service Desk, we were kind of flying a bit blind internally, but with it, we're still in the honeymoon phase and it has provided us many, if not all, of the tools that we're looking to use and implement in our system."
"It helps us have a clearer understanding of our environment, that's the big part of it that I use."
"It is easy to tell what needs fixing and the priority of things."
"Its ITSM approach is quite useful."
"This solution has provided me with a well-defined process and interaction, compared to my previous tool, GLPI."
"Change management is the most critical feature."
"TOPdesk is overall very stable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the incident management module."
"The most valuable feature of TOPdesk is its ease of use if you have implemented it in the right way. If you're not implementing it in the right way, then it's very difficult."
"When it comes to implementing new features, they listen to what their customers want via a suggestion forum that they have."
"As we have moved to an off-premises deployment, we get regular updates."
 

Cons

"The EXE license is such that I can create executable files from the developer machine and deploy it; however, the file that you created can only be deployed to one system, so if you wanted to deploy this test file to, say, 10 test systems you would need 10 licenses."
"One aspect I wish to mention regarding needed improvements is that Automation Anywhere currently works only on Windows systems."
"There is an issue with the object cloning in Excel. OCR is also not that stable. Image recognition works fine, but not all the time."
"The accuracy in Web Recorder needs to be improved, defective outputs found most of the time (not sure if is a website side issue)."
"We would like it to be more user-friendly."
"I would wish for a greater focus on citizen development, which is a priority for our company."
"They have a ridiculously expensive bot licensing structure, especially for the Asian region."
"My experience has been that if the person who codes the bot is not very well-trained, then they might create unstable bots. So, it's not the platform. It is just how somebody has coded the bots which can bring lot of instability to them. I recommend that when you are using a coder that the person well-trained and have a good amount of experience already working on bots. They shouldn't be newbie or beginner who comes in to code because that will impact the quality of the code itself."
"Since we were not upgrading but installing a new instance, the setup was very complex."
"Just little technical tweaks here and there. Like more options. For example "Organization." We wanted that to be available inside the change order, as well as the ticket and the request. And that's not available."
"The UI is old and passé."
"CA tools can be very useful when you have the right vendors on board, otherwise it becomes a disaster for your organisation."
"We need financial solutions for all projects we undertake, and Service Desk currently doesn't offer this."
"The upgrade was pretty complex."
"The Knowledge Management module in Service Desk Manager is cumbersome and hard to use."
"I think many of the good features are outweighed by some of the services and support issues we've had, and so again, we're still in the honeymoon phase, and we've got some struggles that we're trying to resolve."
"This solution is modular so you only buy what you need, but I prefer what some companies are doing where they include everything in the package."
"In some fields, it's just not good enough."
"If I open a ticket on the infrastructure team, I can't move it to the financial team for them to manage the ticket."
"One of the disadvantages of TOPdesk is the reporting tool. It is very poor and not in real-time. You do not always receive the correct information."
"An operator is also a user but requires creating two different records."
"The solution should be made more user-friendly."
"All companies have processes that need to be adjusted. When you have a change, you need to name it, and many companies have a set of changes you can use. It would be helpful if there were more space in TOPdesk to name the change or use metadata to record the kinds of changes."
"The solution's change management could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cloud-based version comes at an increased cost, although our clients are happy with the new features and have not complained about the pricing."
"It is affordable for us."
"Cost is the biggest area in need of improvement for Automation Anywhere. Annually it's $250,000. That's what deterred us right away."
"The setup cost depends on multiple factors, so you need to get details before choosing."
"I really enjoy the pricing options with Automation Anywhere, as they are able to flex their ability to adapt to the needs of the customer really well."
"The pricing that we received from Automation Anywhere in the beginning was very economical for us. We've seen a lot of benefit from what we spent to what we're receiving. From the beginning, it's been a very low-cost implementation for us."
"The Community Edition is a good offering from the company."
"We are restricted to use one license on one PC. However, if my license is not working, I want to be able to use it somewhere else. This would be a nice improvement to the licensing, as other competitors in the market have better licensing terms."
"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."
"The pricing is based on a subscription model."
"I don't see anyone other than large companies being able to afford this system."
"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."
"The solution is quite reasonable compared to other solutions in the market."
"It is a bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. It is worth it!"
"Compared to other products in this segment, I think that they are priced well and not too expensive."
"The cost of the solution on a yearly basis is $20,000. Technical support is not extra. It's included in the yearly cost. Updates are also included. The solution is good at keeping its product up to date."
"TOPdesk's pricing is cheaper than Jira's."
"There are three fee options to choose from for a company and these options compared to market prices are very high. For example, if I use one of the first options for 10 assets, then it costs 20,000 Euros. If you went to competitors, then you pay less."
"The solution's pricing is reasonable and not expensive."
"The solution is inexpensive compared to competitors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Construction Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise81
Large Enterprise558
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise66
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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...
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.
Ask a question
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What needs improvement with TOPdesk?
From a UI perspective, there is room for improvement, as some tasks like creating or moving a knowledge item within t...
What is your primary use case for TOPdesk?
I use Topdesk to change the way we deliver our services in HR to the business. Instead of writing an email to a parti...
What advice do you have for others considering TOPdesk?
The overall solution rating I would give Topdesk is a six. Whether I would recommend the product would depend on the ...
 

Comparisons

 

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
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

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
City of Amsterdam, University of Edinbroughm, IKEA, KLM Catering Services, FloraHolland, BOVAG, PostNL, Total, Hilton, Oce, Canon, Agip, Compass Group, Serco, Danone, BMW, Eneco, And many more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Clarity SM vs. TOPdesk and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.