Help Desk Software Reviews 2011: The Winners and The Losers
The IT service desk market is saturated, but yet remains competitive. Nearly every business, from the smallest to the largest enterprise, has a version of IT service desk software. Competition derives from customers seeking help desk best practices process solutions, ease of implementation and maintenance and competitive licensing. Regardless of size or complexity, companies are looking for solutions to help them provide more and better service with less. As the market becomes more saturated, market differentiation becomes tougher and all offerings near commodity status. Clear market share leaders in this space are BMC Software and Vivantio while those at risk of falling behind in this space are iET Solutions and Numara Software.
BMC Software: Help Desk Software Reviews 2011
BMC Software has nearly 30% market share and ranks at the top of many help desk software reviews 2011. BMC’s IT help desk tool, Remedy, is scalable for even the largest enterprises. Although all help desk solutions are built with similar features, BMC rises to the top with its comprehensive business services that include prioritized support activities. BMC is unique for their CMDB modules, as well as their superior integration options. Features such as built-in process flow workbars and simplified user interfaces mean less training time and more efficient processes for customers. Their powerful workflow engine automates processes, capturing data and information for tracking and trending. The option to stay connected with users via mobile devices such as Blackberry and Windows Mobile is an attractive option to an increasingly mobile workforce. BMC faces challenges common to other market leaders, such as continuing to lead in an increasingly competitive market space and continuing to meet the needs of their current customer base. One challenge the company faces is that BMC customers perceive the latest version upgrades as expensive and complex.
Help Desk Software Reviews 2011: A Look at Vivantio
Vivantio’s software solution is available for on-site installation or as software-as-a-service (SaaS) service desk applications. Vivantio’s service desk software is 100% web based, making access easy from any place with an internet connection. Vivantio’s customization options make it attractive to businesses of any size, including single user operations. A feature touted by Vivantio is the ability to contact a service representative directly via phone or email. Ease of reporting is a significant highlight of Vivantio’s solution, including the ability to see real time data in dashboard views.
iET Solutions at the Bottom of Help Desk Software Reviews 2011
Massachusetts-based iET Solutions struggles with market differentiation, and therefore ranks as a laggard in a number of help desk software reviews 2011 based on market share. Although easy to implement with a proven commitment to customer satisfaction, limited reporting functionality and the lack of end-user satisfaction found in surveys create challenges for this vendor. Relatively small revenue results in fewer resources for future development and growth.
Numara Software: Help Desk Software Reviews 2011
Numara Software is a relatively new player in the help desk software market, and therefore lags behind some of the other established names in the help desk software space. However several help desk software reviews 2011 reveal Numara to be emerging as a viable solution for small organizations. Numara help desk solutions can be rapidly implemented, though customers have noted reporting limitations. Numara’s competitive edge in offering subscription licensing is slowly dwindling as all major competitors are now offering the same licensing model. Some users have noted that Numara offers limited functionality in the key areas of impact and collision analysis and change management risk. As a relative newcomer, Numara faces the challenges of meeting the ever more demanding, more complex requirements of IT help desk customers.