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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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

IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
31st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Ranking in Help Desk Software
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
70
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is 3.5%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus3.5%
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk1.1%
Other95.4%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

KM
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 IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated.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.
Mostafiz Miah - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Presales & Technical Lead at Elitbuzz Technologies Ltd
Automation has transformed daily request handling and now tracks every customer interaction
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus helps my team manage and resolve requests compared to previous methods as we previously managed things through paperwork and diaries. After deploying ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whenever any customer request comes, we provide the customer a product demo if they ask about the products. We then convert that request to a lead, which is converted to a demo, and then to the product POC, allowing us to follow up every stage of the requests. Everything can be tracked from ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, whether at the closing stage or the initial stage. I use ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus daily in a unique way because previously everyone managed their own tracking system through their diary, but now everyone inputs data into this solution so that at the end of the day, we can get reports on how many leads we have taken care of and when they need to be taken care of. This information is visible from the ServiceDesk tool, and using the dashboard, we can easily identify it, providing an at-a-glance view. The best features ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers for my team include automating manual tasks, which allows whatever tasks we previously did manually to be converted into automatic tasks. Currently, they have also introduced Zia, a very helpful solution for us. Using Zia, we can search for anything, not only inside the tool but also outside, integrating it with ChatGPT and Teams, and it can integrate with other ManageEngine solutions as well as solutions such as Jira and ServiceNow. When we integrate our network monitoring solutions with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, it automatically raises an incident ticket and assigns it to the right team whenever any incident has occurred, which saves us time and reduces manual tasks. Previously, we had to communicate to the right people through mail or phone calls after an incident, but now the incidents are automatically converted and assigned to the relevant support groups along with the SLA. The integration with Teams allows us to raise tickets without logging into the portal, and we can see the ticket status and add comments through Teams, which is very helpful. Additionally, mail integration can automatically convert emails into tickets, adding further efficiency. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has positively impacted our organization, particularly in customer satisfaction. Previously, customers managed service requests, incidents, changes, and problems manually, but after integration, most of these processes are automated. This includes change requests that now follow a workflow based on organizational needs and ITIL best practices, making tracking incidents and requests much easier for end customers through scheduled reports.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, it's a good product that I would recommend."
"The solution is very easy to work with."
"What I like about the Control Desk is that everything is centralized. You have all the requests in one place, you know which ones are for whom and who is working on them."
"The solution has been stable."
"The brand name is the most valuable aspect of this solution for me; it's IBM, a global company that supports this product, not something open source or something like that."
"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."
"The most valuable are its flexibility and agility; it's quick to change it, to adapt it to your needs."
"A feature I found most valuable in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is the service request. Another feature I like most about the solution is IT asset management, which tells you who owns a specific asset in the company and from which date."
"It was easy to implement. I didn't have a hard time. It was very quick, around 10 to 20 minutes."
"The solution has helped the company in terms of managing our support for the companies we start."
"We have not faced any stability issues or challenges with this tool."
"This product is our helpdesk solution and we use it for call logging and management."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is meeting all my needs, it is a good solution."
"The management of this application is good."
"The most valuable feature is the ticketing system which is working well."
"The product has been valuable and is working for us, looking from the angle of dealing with vendors, the AIOps space, as well as the SOC side of things, and cost-wise, we're quite happy."
 

Cons

"Support has been the biggest problem for us. I understand that because we use the product of a global company, some changes are not quick to deploy."
"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."
"It could use more facility or flexibility for reporting, and business intelligence in the tool."
"The product is kind of clunky to use."
"Technical support can be slow in terms of resolving issues."
"Overall the user experience, as opposed to the system and databases, could be improved. It does work as it should and it's good, but they should invest more in the user interfaces to be less data oriented and more appealing for the user."
"The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon."
"Support has been the biggest problem for us."
"It needs more customization and the ability to generate reports based on custom feeds."
"The current MDM is very basic and should be expanded."
"The documentation could be improved."
"The timing reporting module, and how it's used is a bit difficult to understand."
"ServiceDesk's reporting module could use an update. It looks outdated, and the interface could be more intuitive."
"I would also like to see better integration with external software. It is possible, but it is tough. The APIs are not very flexible, so you really have to write a lot of code to create that integration. Opening it up for external integration would allow for easier customization of the existing autobox workflows. It would help with the user's perception."
"The licensing model should be more flexible."
"There is room for improvement in automation. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus should take note of repeated incidents and automatically offer solutions to them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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."
"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."
"We use the cloud model, which is subscription-based, and each year, the subscription fees seem to go up, making it a more expensive solution."
"Cost-wise, we're quite happy."
"The price of the solution is low. However, it still could be less expensive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has reasonable pricing because my colleagues mentioned that the solution is more cost-effective than the previous one the company used."
"The licensing is around $10,000 per year."
"ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a reasonably priced product."
"The cost of licensing is approximately ten dollars per suite, per month. When scaling up, there are a lot of other expenses such as infrastructure, the telecommunication companies, etc."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
18%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
Regarding pricing, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers three editions: Standard edition, Professional, and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition is the full suite, and the Professional edition has in...
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
Currently, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is a mature solution, and I do not think major improvements are needed, as it already covers most ITIL features such as incident, change, problem, service r...
What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus?
My main use case for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is to record the day-to-day customer requests and incidents or any queries about our solutions, and we record those solutions and provide their so...
 

Also Known As

SmartCloud Control Desk
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
Tranter IT Infrastructure Services Limited, Sterlite Technologies, averda, Radiology Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.