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SCSM vs Zendesk comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.7
SCSM offers savings and efficiency, but underutilization and reporting issues can limit ROI and lead to potential dissatisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.3
Zendesk offers cost efficiency and improved productivity, with ROI influenced by alignment with operational needs and process integration.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
SCSM support experiences vary with enterprise size, issue severity, and costs, leading many to seek alternative assistance.
Sentiment score
7.0
Zendesk receives praise for responsiveness and ease of use, but some users desire better chat features and human interaction.
Response times are slow, and engineers often lack the necessary product knowledge.
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
SCSM offers scalable solutions for enterprises, integrating with SCOM, but may face resource limitations affecting performance.
Sentiment score
7.5
Zendesk is praised for scalability and customization, although some face initial setup challenges and structural integration issues.
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage.
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Many users find SCSM stable, with improvements noted, despite some concerns about cloud transitions and reporting speed.
Sentiment score
7.9
Zendesk is stable with minimal downtimes, reliable performance, occasional minor issues, and high reliability ratings, especially for smaller businesses.
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek enhancements in SCSM's interface, integration, stability, pricing, support, administration, and compliance for improved user experience.
Zendesk faces challenges with data management, flexibility, integration, user-friendliness, and customer communication, while users are dissatisfied with support and pricing.
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM.
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier.
 

Setup Cost

SCSM pricing is complex, with mixed user reviews, enterprise discounts, and potential extra costs for third-party integrations.
Enterprise buyers find Zendesk's pricing high but valuable, with costs varying by agent count and business needs for tailored solutions.
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
 

Valuable Features

SCSM excels in integration, user-friendliness, ITIL support, incident management, reporting capabilities, and offers scalability and security enhancements.
Zendesk offers user-friendly ticket management, seamless integrations, multi-channel support, and robust security for efficient and productive customer service.
SCCM provides remote tool functionality, which is not in Intune.
It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
 

Categories and Ranking

SCSM
Ranking in Help Desk Software
12th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
11th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zendesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
9th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), CRM (20th), Sales Force Automation (7th), Reporting (13th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of SCSM is 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.1%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

PraveenSharma3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced remote functionality complements intricate admin management
We are using it as co-management, working from SCCM and some from Intune. However, there are dissimilarities between SCCM and Intune, so we use SCCM for specific tasks or policies Currently, with the system, we have some remote tool functionality which is not available with Intune. We are also…
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication
Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.
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848,207 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
26%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
23%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SCSM?
The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCSM?
We acquired SCSM for free with our Microsoft Endpoint Manager purchase, and we only paid for the integration process.
What needs improvement with SCSM?
From an admin point of view, Intune has more features and is easier to manage compared to SCCM. SCCM is a little complex for the admin point of view. Although some engineers at Microsoft are good, ...
What do you like most about Zendesk Support?
I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?
I am not currently aware of the exact pricing, but since we are still using Zendesk, it appears to be at a reasonable price point.
What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?
Report generation is still slightly tricky and not very customizable as per my inquiries. It would be advantageous to have an AI layer that can analyze incoming requests and generate summaries, as ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

System Center Service Manager
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Fibabanka, UMC Health System
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about SCSM vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,207 professionals have used our research since 2012.