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IBM Tivoli NetCool Impact vs SCOM 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

IBM Tivoli NetCool Impact
Ranking in Event Monitoring
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SCOM
Ranking in Event Monitoring
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Event Monitoring category, the mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool Impact is 2.6%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SCOM is 7.4%, down from 10.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Event Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

VD
Supports APA through ISPF and lets us easily integrate with other apps for ticketing purposes
For improvement, I'd say the dashboard and the overall GUI could use some work. Although, I don't think that there's much improvement that Netcool really needs to achieve in this area, because when we're talking GUI, Impact is able to integrate with any third-party system and it comes with ISPF APA. It's more beneficial than Netcool/OMNIbus in this respect, and it's quite easy to handle. Some statistics around the products would also be nice. For example, to see how it performs. So when the bulk copy has been processed by Impact, through a kind of dashboard, it could indicate to the user: ""This many events have been process this many times, and this particular event may cause trouble. This many events are in testing, etc." Basically, I'd like more visibility into the details and particulars through Impact itself, so that we can take action on what's happening, and we can automate. For instance, we could maybe send the events to some kind of server or monitoring program, and perform automation on them.
MarcMermuys - PeerSpot reviewer
Has efficient monitoring with robust integration capabilities
We use SCOM to configure different monitors using several management packs. It integrates systems like Active Directory and correlates them, and it is used for monitoring and managing systems SCOM allows integration of several systems, providing correlation between different systems such as…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to integrate with other models such as Oracle, other systems, external systems, and to reach events."
"The most valuable feature that comes with Netcool/Impact is the ISPF APA support. It is inherent to Netcool/Impact, so I can use the ISPF of any other product, which I can invoke and consume through Impact, and do integrations, which is great. I run the Netcool desktop application so I can integrate with other applications in the ticketing system. It's a great ability being able to invoke ISPF and integrate."
"The solution is great at being able to fetch almost any kind of file."
"This product allows us to make use of open-source products, including running Java code."
"I like some of their newer features, such as maintenance schedules, because SCOM records SLA and SLO time."
"The advantages of SCOM are that it is definitely user friendly and a more appropriate solution for what we need."
"The most valuable features for us are the monitoring, the health explorer, and the console."
"This solution allows us to standardize all of the reports for monitoring the network, so it helps a lot for auditing purposes."
"This solution satisfies all of the requirements that we need for our Windows-based systems, so if you are using the Windows platform then this is an easy solution."
"I enjoy its integration with the Microsoft Active Directory functions, which means users, computers, or other group policies can connect with Windows Active Directory."
"Because it's Windows-based, it actually reports quite well. It reports everything you can think of on the Windows server and allows you to monitor anything. It's excellent for those in the Windows world as it's very good at it."
"SCOM integrates several systems and offers correlation features, like setting up everything around Active Directory or DNS."
 

Cons

"For improvement, I'd say the dashboard and the overall GUI could use some work. Although, I don't think that there's much improvement that Netcool really needs to achieve in this area, because when we're talking GUI, Impact is able to integrate with any third-party system and it comes with ISPF APA. It's more beneficial than Netcool/OMNIbus in this respect, and it's quite easy to handle."
"Stability-wise, this product needs to be improved."
"IBM is not investing in the development of the on-premise version of this solution."
"The solution is somewhat complicated. It's not exactly straightforward."
"The solution’s initial setup is difficult."
"The initial setup should be easier to complete."
"The solution should have more tools for monitoring the cloud engine versus on-premise."
"The dashboard features are not user-friendly for our management team, only for the technical department."
"It'll help if they can provide real-time or closer to real-time monitoring."
"SCOM's feature that notifies us when a server is down is not present in recent updates, which has weakened the product."
"The solution should be more user-friendly and offer a better user interface."
"It would be a much better product if Microsoft provided management packs with the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing of IBM Tivoli NetCool Impact depends on the number of nodes on the element that you are monitoring."
"The licensing is yearly, and although I'm happy with the pricing I do think it could be better."
"We have to pay for a license and the price is fine for us."
"Our licensing fees are approximately $30 per user, per month."
"The pricing and licensing are fair."
"The platform is cost-effective due to our existing Microsoft support."
"Our Enterprise Agreement includes the price."
"We have an EA with Microsoft, and it comes as part of the EA."
"There is a license needed to use this solution and it is paid annually."
"It is the cheapest product available in the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about SCOM?
The tool helps to monitor Windows servers. It offers alerts from a central location.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCOM?
I am not aware of the exact pricing as it is managed by my supervisor. As an academic institution, we receive substantial discounts.
What needs improvement with SCOM?
SCOM is not as straightforward in terms of user interface or general experience, which could be improved. Additionally, I would like to see a software-as-a-service version in Azure to eliminate the...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool Impact
System Center Operations Manager, SCOM 2012
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)
Dialog Telekom
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Tivoli NetCool Impact vs. SCOM and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.