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BMC Helix ITSM vs IBM Maximo 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
6.7
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (4th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (4th)
IBM Maximo
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (1st), Billing Software (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

BMC Helix ITSM and IBM Maximo aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. BMC Helix ITSM is designed for IT Service Management (ITSM) and holds a mindshare of 12.9%, down 13.0% compared to last year.
IBM Maximo, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), holds 29.1% mindshare, up 25.6% since last year.
IT Service Management (ITSM)
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
 

Featured Reviews

Fairoz Gadad - PeerSpot reviewer
Development team is quick to address bugs or shortcomings in their product
BMC's technical support team needs to improve. Right now, the problem over here is we are not getting the exact answers on time. Their engineers are mainly based in the US or Israel, and we get comprehensive dedicated support. Some of the Indian customer service representatives are also outstanding. Unfortunately, in the past six months or seven months, I've been getting brand-new engineers. Either they're not entirely aware of most cases, or they don't know how to troubleshoot further. So for any product to be stable and work correctly, BMC must ensure that customer service is excellent. Even though if your product is a hundred percent, we'll have problems marketing it to our customers.
Chris Chang - PeerSpot reviewer
Reduces human error and achieves very high accuracy; many valuable APIs
The solution has been around for a long time, 20 or 30 years. They have improved the interface but unfortunately, it requires a lot of computing power. All the servers, the desktops, are very stable but they are not sufficiently robust for the graphical interface. The new version of IBM Maximo is a little too fancy. As a result, the system is a little slow because of the lack of power. Simplifying the user interface would make life easier for everyone. They need to find a balance where the solution is updated but performance is not affected The new UI is great but it means customers not only need to upgrade to the new version but also upgrade older laptops and that's not what they want. If they would offer two versions, one with a simplified interface, that would be helpful.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The versatility and customizability of the product is what I like most."
"MyIT is simple to use and its mobility is a big plus for our on the go users."
"Automatic orchestration is the most valuable. The feature for designating some cases or incidents to the right PM for resolution, first call resolution, and change management are also important. The self-service feature and knowledge base resolutions are helping the customers in resolving issues rather than opening tickets."
"The solution has good capabilities for analytics."
"We reduced many paper processes to electronic driven forms. It helps us a lot in tracking and managing."
"The solution is already aligned with the framework, so it is easy for us to proceed with any ISO 27K certification."
"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."
"The valuable feature for me is that it's a tool that allows me to track processes right from the initial user request."
"They have a real strength of tracking the asset itself along with the condition of the asset, the maintenance of the asset and who has access to the asset, etc."
"Its capabilities let us organize our work."
"The most powerful features are the database and integration with CMDB."
"It is configurable, where you can add extra fields to screens and to the database."
"The large range of configurability of the product is great, since everyone has a different way of doing things."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to correct maintenance."
"The Preventive Maintenance feature, especially in its inspection routines and KPI abilities, is valuable."
"Preventive maintenance management."
 

Cons

"From time to time, we had issues with stability, but I think that is our fault due to extra processes that we implemented to fit our business needs."
"Compared to ServiceNow, BMC Remedy is somewhat "closed." I can go to the ServiceNow website and learn everything there is to know about the product, and training is available. That really wasn't available with BMC Remedy."
"Encountered issues with scalability and stability."
"Its performance can be improved. Sometimes, there is a performance issue, and it is a little slow and difficult on the usage side. It would be beneficial for us if there is a lighter version of this solution. There is also a limitation on the number of columns and memory for extracting a report, and this functionality can be improved. We would like to have better integration and UI in this solution. The user interface should be easy to navigate. Its integration with other tools, such as SharePoint or Jira, can also be improved, which would be beneficial for us. In terms of new features, there should also be a mobile version. The desktop version is available, but the mobile version is not available, which is one of the challenges that our team has. For users who work on Remedy and who raise the ticket, it would also be very beneficial to have some chatbot features."
"It needs a more organic workflow, so every field you create is labeled throughout the stack. BMC has a few products that they try to bundle together. Generally, that solution works. BMC should take a step back and think about the overall solution—not only ITSM but also CTI Integration along with chat. They have all that, but it's not an end-to-end holistic solution with the added reporting analytics."
"We found that there was numerous issues upgrading from 8.1 to 9.1 in that all our licenses were broken for almost a year and a half. We chased down a total of 14 hotfixes, patches, and service packs before things were finally resolved. During that time, said "fixes" also broke other things, so it was quite the sore spot with management for some time."
"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."
"The interface isn't that great."
"It was very slow due to the lagging issues. So that was kind of frustrating, considering how slow it was while functioning."
"Initial setup is a longer process because Maximo is bigger and has more processes."
"Areas for improvement include: an enhanced Service Catalog on Mobile; Agent intelligence; better dashboards for KPIs."
"I feel that the interface is a little too complicated with a large number of fields to enter."
"The standard reports that shipped with the package need to be enriched with more advanced reports, especially for the Inventory Management sections."
"The solution is not stable. We can have one day when it is stable and another day it is not. Sometimes it crashes or becomes very slow, and there are times we are not even able to download all the databases. Without the database, we cannot work on that application. These are the small glitches, and stability issues we are facing."
"It's not user-friendly. It could use shortcuts for frequently requested services."
"You can get lost using the application"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you are looking for some kind of professional services form the OEM then you would have to purchase that."
"It is costly, but it is well worth it."
"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."
"There are licenses to use this solution."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. The solution is expensive."
"BMC Helix ITSM is a very cost-effective solution."
"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 price of BMC Helix ITSM is expensive."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low and ten is high, I rate the pricing a nine. The price is very high."
"Explore the possibility of using DB2. You will avoid the cost of SQL Server or Oracle licenses."
"IBM has changed the licensing policy. As I understand now, they are going from a complex way of licensing to a more simple way of licensing."
"$USD700 per agent user."
"The concurrent user license is much more effective in management and cost-wise, as it is more suitable for maintenance management."
"Where available, concurrent licenses can be more cost efficient and provide more flexibility."
"The price of IBM Maximo could reduce, it is expensive."
"​Explore internal processes in order to evaluate the correct number of users in each Maximo module, then evaluate the different offers of pricing and licensing.​"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
36%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
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?
BMC Helix ITSM is difficult for us to customize, and most customizations require vendor support, which leads to extra costs. The interface should be more user-friendly, and the customization should...
What is your primary use case for BMC Helix ITSM?
We are currently using BMC Helix ITSM in our organization. We are in the process of implementing new modules like CMDB and discovery.
What do you like most about IBM Maximo?
It can be particularly useful for power line operations, enabling linemen in the field to gather information and send it across the country as well as different parts of the world.
What needs improvement with IBM Maximo?
Though I liked it a lot, I think it was lagging a lot. It was very slow due to the lagging issues. So that was kind of frustrating, considering how slow it was while functioning. The aforementioned...
What is your primary use case for IBM Maximo?
It can be particularly useful for power line operations, enabling linemen in the field to gather information and send it across the country as well as different parts of the world. With IBM Maximo,...
 

Also Known As

Remedy ITSM, Remedy, Helix Remedy
Maximo
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Brookfield, HealthSouth Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Mercator, SAP, Stanford University
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., DTE Energy, Swedish Match, Projetech, Fingrid, East Coast
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in IT Service Management (ITSM). Updated: January 2025.
830,726 professionals have used our research since 2012.