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it_user383814 - PeerSpot reviewer
Remedy Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
The most valuable features are its integration and development capacity.

What is most valuable?

Its integration and development capacity. Its ease of use and implementation, assuming you have hired the right kind of resources for that.

How has it helped my organization?

It’s a perfect tool to track any kind of event or service. Developing workflow within this application is quick (again with the right resources) and for the most part I have experienced trouble free runs with this product in live environments.

What needs improvement?

As a developer and a architect, there is very little I might feel a need for to do what I need to do for 99% of the cases. I may wish however for this product to mature a little more on the web front-end which I believe it has on version 9 which I am yet to be exposed to. Also, I would wish for it to remove a limitation I came across with in the past (2 versions ago) on web services on some constructs that the Remedy Web service engine does not handle all too well without modifying the WSDL itself.

For how long have I used the solution?

Over 17 years ever since it was Remedy Corporation right though its acquisition by Peregrine and then BMC Software.

Buyer's Guide
BMC Helix ITSM
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BMC Helix ITSM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We had no issues with the deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had no issues with the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have had no issues with the scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service could use some improvement – while they are technically very good, some of the agents have poorer communication skills than others.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have seen other solutions like ServiceNow which is cheaper than Remedy, but I did not feel that it had the same robust capabilities as the BMC Remedy product.

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward for someone who knows what he or she is doing.

What about the implementation team?

I have implemented this product at multiple sites.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Remedy has third-party vendor products, some of them even free that can help you manage licensing costs through usage monitoring.

What other advice do I have?

It might cost a few more bucks than its competitors like ServiceNow, but it certainly has a better technological edge over ServiceNow. I have heard of some shops that moved from Remedy to ServiceNow to take advantage of ServiceNow's smaller TCO, but then had several issues and problems with being able to successfully implement and use ServiceNow exactly how they would have wished to use it. Remedy has a motto of your business your way which is very fitting since that is exactly what it gives you.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user374109 - PeerSpot reviewer
ITSM Admin & Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
​CMDB & Asset management is very helpful in locating an asset. ​The SRM module is still pretty complex.

Valuable Features

In recent releases they introduced OOTB email tickets creation. In the older version we needed to write a lot of code for this.

Improvements to My Organization

CMDB & Asset management is very helpful in locating an asset. Also, the CI viewer helps in good impact analysis for a CR. Bmc SIM gives a good model too.

Room for Improvement

The SRM module is still pretty complex, this needs some improvement in AIF creation and configuration. Process designer needs some good video demos and documentation.

Use of Solution

I have been working on this product for the last 10+ years.

Deployment Issues

During code deployment the Ar Server sometimes leaks a lot of memory which needs a regular restart.

Stability Issues

Stability is as good as your defined architecture which is decided by load.

Scalability Issues

Horizontal scalability at AR server level and at mid tier level is very good.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Technical support has improved compared to six or seven years ago. Customers are happy.

Initial Setup

The set-up is pretty easy.

Implementation Team

Most of my implementations were done through an house team.

Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing

Get floating licenses if your user base is going to be big.

Other Solutions Considered

I evaluated ServiceNow as an alternative solution. Many customers wanted a new tool to evaluate because they have a very old version of Remedy and upgrading is complex because too much customization is needed. Also, ServiceNow has a very good SAAS/PAAS solution.

Other Advice

Keep a balance between your ITIL processes and the tool. Don't break the costly product just to incorporate your old legacy process. When implementing it, you should avoid customising it too much, having complex SRM AIF forms. You should also ensure you don't have a customised approval process and having too much data in the CMDB.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
BMC Helix ITSM
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BMC Helix ITSM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Mohamed  Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Development manager at Business Management Company
Real User
Top 20
It's a scalable, stable solution for managing incidents and requests, but the user experience could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Helix is stable."
  • "The user experience could be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use Helix to manage incidents and requests. 

What is most valuable?

The user experience could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Helix for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Helix is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Helix is scalable.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Helix is complex, and it takes about a day to deploy. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Developer Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Provides a clean front-end for our users to log requests and has rich ITSM functionality
Pros and Cons
  • "Provides a clean front-end for our users to log requests and has rich ITSM functionality."
  • "Initial, out-the-box setup was easy with no problems."
  • "Customer support is always fantastic and willing to help. No matter what time of day we have a problem."
  • "The Approval Central system needs to be refreshed."
  • "It would also be beneficial if there was a text-based editor for the workflow rules instead of using the developer studio, which adds a lot of time when developing quick solutions to problems."

What is our primary use case?

  • Logging of incidents
  • Work orders
  • Purchase orders and change requests

We use this to track all future development requests from our end users.

How has it helped my organization?

Provides a clean front-end for our users to log requests and has rich ITSM functionality.

What is most valuable?

MyIT application for logging and following up of requests. It is much more functional than the old SRM request application. 

What needs improvement?

The Approval Central system needs to be refreshed. 

It would also be beneficial if there was a text-based editor for the workflow rules instead of using the developer studio, which adds a lot of time when developing quick solutions to problems.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues. 

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer support is always fantastic and willing to help. No matter what time of day we have a problem. We always get a friendly, helpful support engineer to guide us through any small challenges that we face.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

HEAT. We changed due to the rich functionality offered by BMC Software.

How was the initial setup?

Initial, out-the-box setup was easy with no problems. The gathering of business data to import into the system was more complex.

What about the implementation team?

At first, we used a vendor and then moved it in-house.

What was our ROI?

Not sure at this moment, as we have not been asked to provide that to the business.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, FrontRange by HEAT.

What other advice do I have?

Look at cloud-based hosting to a provide a stable, easily expandable solution. We found on-premise did have a few challenges.

With a proper well laid out project plan and some good developers, this solution is able to meet any requirements that your organization may have.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Practice Director, Global Infrastructure Services at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Lightweight and easy to use but integration could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Helix is more lightweight than these tools. It's a traditional tool that was developed more than 10 years ago. Ease of use is the operative word."
  • "Integration could be better. If something doesn't work well with some tools and operations, then management becomes difficult, so you have to integrate other tools."

What is our primary use case?

We use BMC Helix for application discovery and dependency mapping the area of the nCode. It's one of the best programs we've used. We usually serve around 10 to 20 customers with this solution but it's fewer than 10 now.

What is most valuable?

Many other tools are similar. I've used these tools and find that they meet my requirements. Helix is more lightweight than these tools. It's a traditional tool that was developed more than 10 years ago. Ease of use is the operative word.

What needs improvement?

Integration could be better. If something doesn't work well with some tools and operations, then management becomes difficult, so you have to integrate other tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using Helix for at least 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable and scalable.

How was the initial setup?

I haven't really done the installation, so I do not know how complex it is.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license is yearly.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale of one to 10, I would rate it a seven. Before adopting, I would recommend evaluating how well all the options are suited to your requirements.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Fairoz Gadad - PeerSpot reviewer
Fairoz GadadProject Manager at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Top 10Real User

You can use Helix IPaaS.


In order to build smooth data flows and automate business operations, Helix iPaaS enables organizations to link diverse systems, apps, and data sources, whether they are cloud-based or on-premises. It has a number of features, such as:

In order to connect to well-known programmes, databases, APIs, and protocols, Helix iPaaS enables pre-built connectors and adapters. It makes it simple for you to connect to and communicate with various systems.

Event-Driven Architecture: It provides event-based integrations, enabling you to start processes and activities in response to particular circumstances or occurrences.

PeerSpot user
Service Management Senior Systems Analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
With service requests, we have been able to give visibility to business users. However, we have little ability to customize and correct issues.
Pros and Cons
  • "With service requests, we have been able to give visibility to the business users."
  • "I would also love to see consistency across all consoles."
  • "Smart Reporting was added, then was purchased from another vendor. We have little ability to customize and correct issues due to this."

What is our primary use case?

I am an administrator and developer of BMC Remedy ITSM Suite. I create service requests, templates, and do day-to-day admin duties. I also create customizations due to requests or business needs.

How has it helped my organization?

We were using outdated applications and spreadsheets. Now, with service requests, we have been able to give visibility to the business users.

What is most valuable?

Service Request Management was the first big win for our company. We are currently implementing Change Management and look forward to seeing more benefits.

What needs improvement?

Smart Reporting was added, then was purchased from another vendor. We have little ability to customize and correct issues due to this. 

I would also love to see consistency across all consoles.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user394272 - PeerSpot reviewer
BMC ITSM/Remedy Support Team Leader with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Flexibility in development and the capacity of being used by so many different kind of businesses are the most valuable features for us.

What is most valuable?

Flexibility in development and the capacity of being used by so many different kind of businesses are the most valuable features for us.

How has it helped my organization?

It enhances the implementation of process between teams in a central way, and if that is not possible it makes the integration with other applications easily.

What needs improvement?

There is a lack of features to help the support team in supporting this application. Anything that help to understand the workflow would be very appreciated. Having a "big picture" of a solution is a great way to solve any issue. Something that allows the "navigation" in the workflow (step-by-step), would be fantastic.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used Remedy for 17 years and five years for ITSM.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

There were no issues with the deployment

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has a problem with the memory management. It's the biggest problem from my point of view.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has a problem with the memory management. It's the biggest problem from my point of view.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

3/10 - customer service is very painful. It takes a lot of time to pass the issue to the technical support and until that happens, the issue jumps between the people in support, that ask us always the some things.

Technical Support:

The technical service is OK.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have always worked with this product, but the company where I work, has a lot of others products similar to this one, and along the years are converting for this one. So, for me, this is evidence of the quality of the product.

How was the initial setup?

For the needs that my company have the structure is complex, and so the setup is a little complex to, but if you only need one server, the setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

In the many years I have experienced both situations. My advice is to have a vendor team so they can validate everything in the setup.

What was our ROI?

Very dificult to talk about ROI in financial terms. Taking into account that the main concern is to choose the best delivery for a service, we are very happy with this product, and the feeling is that it pays for it self.

What other advice do I have?

The final product has an installation with many modules, so choose carefully according to what your needs are. If you have something simple and if you know how to develop, the price of getting this product will decrease a lot.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It has ETL tools that support seamless integration and data load activities, reducing the timelines to deliver. At times, on some consoles, forms are loaded with too much information.

What is most valuable?

BMC products have been built over the years to make them highly stable and scalable, inline with the ITIL best practice.

The best part about these products is that it can be easily twisted and tweaked without compromising any of the underlining fundamental components, adding immense value to customers, vendors and partners.

BMC Software provides ETL tools that support seamless integration and data load activities, reducing the timelines to deliver.

How has it helped my organization?

ETL tools have helped automating the foundation data, CI and SLM data load process significantly reducing daily manual task.

SRM helped fast track On-boarding of Employees and fulfilment of user request.
BMC Remedy on-demand framework is highly scalable to support on boarding of more than 400 Customers at a time.

BMC Remedy applications like IM, PM, CM, AM are extremely robust and are fundamental to provide support for IT infrastructure.

What needs improvement?

Did come across few hiccups around some product documentation not available or not very useful or not enough support available or may be a utility not working as desired, however, these were not show stoppers and we managed to work our way around these. I will recommend good fall back in terms of very well documented products and utilities, and strong technical support.

At times, some consoles, forms are loaded with too much information and for the user it can get confusing, suggest take "Less is more" approach and make them intuitive and easy to use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been implementing, customizing and integrating BMC products for the past 10 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Deployment issues have been encountered like compatibility issues of ITSM and SLM. Similarly issues of installing Analytics with BO on Red hat Linux platform.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

BMC products are quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

BMC products are quite scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer service and technical support is exceptionally good in some cases and will certainly need improvements in some areas of concern. For ex. When we were trying to resolve issues regarding installation of BO on Red Hat, support from third party Vendor was very poor, and Customer was really concerned about the progress of installation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

None other than BMC remedy.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is quite straightforward. You follow all the steps recommended and voila, you system is ready for use.

What about the implementation team?

We had an in-house team for implementation.

What other advice do I have?

For any project to be successful, everything should be meticulously planned and executed. Communication and collaboration with all the stakeholders is essential. Requirements and scope should be well defined and documented. Solution design should be optimal. One needs a great team with appropriate skill set for implementation. Check points should be well defined and system should be thoroughly tested before handing it over to the Customer. Post deployment support and documentation are important for smooth transition.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I previously work for BMC.
PeerSpot user
Jeevan Chaukar - PeerSpot reviewer
Jeevan ChaukarPrincipal Consultant at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant

Hi there,
I could not resist but comment on this part of what you mentioned :-)
................
The best part about these products is that it can be easily twisted and tweaked without compromising any of the underlining fundamental components, adding immense value to customers, vendors and partners.
................

Basically there are unlimited customizations and configurations possible in BMC Remedy product. BUT please do note that customizations are NOT supported by BMC.
Be quite careful about customizations and don't perform these in a way where BMC can take a stand against them! Ensure you fit that within their guidelines as much as possible.

If you do some out of the ordinary customizations and then run into some issue, BMC Support will take a stand that this is all due to your customizations and hence they can do nothing about it.

There will be occasions when your way of customization will actually unearth a product deficiency or defect. It takes a lot of hard work to prove that to BMC though.

To be fair, such experience isn't unique to only BMC. Any other products if heavily customized, the vendor is likely to take similar stand.

Sometimes you can run into very peculiar situations and in that case unless you have premier support, the solution can be painful (if you have premier support, pain is less but cost is high!).

This can happen especially in larger projects where there is rapid high volume deployment activity that pushes customizations from one environment of Remedy to the other. Say you are importing a large form (such as HPD:HelpDesk) but in between there is momentary network connection loss or at the same time AR Server times out or crashes due to something else...You will run into heck of an issue in such case and it is very hard to resolve.

These are rare situations and will really test you as well as whoever from BMC support is interacting with you.

OOTB (Out Of The Box) is fairly straight forward and has less issues but hardly any organization can use OOTB product as it is without changes - over a period definitely changes will happen. BMC makes it their selling proposition that their product is highly customizable. But same customization can become a thorn for you later if due precaution is taken.

Buyer's Guide
Download our free BMC Helix ITSM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BMC Helix ITSM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.