Remedy vs ServiceNow: Which is the Suitable ITSM Solution?

In today's fast-paced world, organizations need reliable and efficient IT service management tools to stay ahead of the competition. When it comes to ITSM tools, ServiceNow, Jira, and BMC Remedy are three of the most popular platforms.

Each tool offers unique features and benefits, making it challenging to determine which is the best fit for your organization.

Jira, ServiceNow, and BMC Helix are all enterprise-level software solutions that provide IT service management (ITSM) and IT operations management (ITOM) capabilities. While they all share some similarities, there are some key differences between them.

In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the key differences between ServiceNow, Jira, and BMC Remedy to help you decide which platform is right for your organization.

But, first, let’s explore what each tool has to offer & how they stack up against each other.

What is ServiceNow?

ServiceNow is a cloud-based IT service management (ITSM) platform that helps organizations streamline their workflows, automate tasks, and improve service delivery. It offers a wide range of features and tools to manage IT services, employee workflows, and customer service requests. Here are some of the key features of ServiceNow:

• Incident management: It allows IT teams to track, prioritize, and resolve incidents in real-time.
• Problem management: It helps identify the root cause of recurring issues and provides a framework for permanent resolutions.
• Change management: The solution enables IT teams to manage and implement organizational changes while minimizing disruptions.
• Service catalog: It provides a centralized portal for employees to request services, track requests, and receive updates.
• Knowledge management: The tool enables organizations to create and share knowledge articles, FAQs, and other resources to help employees and customers resolve issues.
• Asset management: It tracks hardware and software assets throughout their lifecycle, enabling IT teams to optimize utilization and minimize costs.
• Performance analytics: Provides insights into key IT service metrics, enabling IT departments to identify areas for improvement and optimize their workflows.

ServiceNow's powerful platform and comprehensive features have made it a popular choice for IT service management across a wide range of industries.

What is Jira?

Jira Service Management is an ITSM solution simplifying IT service delivery and customer support operations for IT teams and organizations. Its functionality includes incident management, problem management, change management, service request management, and a self-service portal.

Issue tracking: Enables teams to track and manage tasks, bugs, and issues through customizable workflows.

• Project management: Offers project management tools, such as Agile boards, roadmaps, and timelines, to help teams plan and manage their projects.
• Customizable workflows: Allows teams to create custom workflows and automate their processes to improve efficiency and productivity.
• Collaboration tools: Provides collaboration tools, such as comments, notifications, and mentions, to enhance team communication and collaboration.
• Reporting and analytics: Offer real-time reporting and analytics to help IT teams track progress, identify bottlenecks, and optimize their workflows.

Jira's flexibility, customization options, and integration capabilities have made it popular for teams across various industries and departments. It offers an efficient and collaborative approach to project management and issue tracking.

What is Remedy (BMC-Helix)?

Remedy is an IT service management (ITSM) software developed by BMC Software. It is now called BMC Helix Remedy because the software is incorporated into the BMC Helix platform. The solution offers reporting capabilities that let you design custom reports and turn them into dashboards.

Remedy is designed to provide a comprehensive solution for managing IT services and operations. Some of its features include:

• Incident management: Remedy allows IT teams to quickly identify, prioritize, and resolve issues that impact the IT infrastructure.
• Change management: It provides a framework for managing changes to the IT environment in a controlled and efficient manner, reducing the risk of errors and outages.
• Problem management: The platform helps IT teams to identify and resolve the root causes of recurring issues, reducing the number of incidents and minimizing their impact on the organization.
• Service level management: Enables organizations to define and manage service level agreements (SLAs) with their customers, ensuring that IT services meet their expectations.
• Asset management: It provides a central repository for managing IT assets, including hardware, software, and licenses, helping organizations to optimize their IT investments.
• Knowledge management: The tool allows organizations to capture, store, and share knowledge across their IT teams, improving efficiency and reducing the risk of errors.

Overall, Remedy (BMC Helix) is a robust ITSM software that provides a range of features to help IT teams and organizations manage their IT services and operations effectively.

ServiceNow vs Jira vs Remedy: 5 Key Points To Compare

Following are the 5 criteria on which we will compare ServiceNow, Jira and Remedy, making it easy for the organization to select the most suited tool to streamline the IT process.

1. IT Service management

All the 3 ITSM platforms offer several ITSM capabilities enabling IT teams to manage requests like app-related questions, track open tickets, and handle incidents. They strongly emphasize responding to the changing IT environment and are simple to integrate into any firm. Let’s have a look at some of the features:

• Incident management: All three tools offer functionality, allowing IT teams to identify and resolve issues that impact the IT infrastructure quickly. ServiceNow and Remedy offer more advanced incident management features such as automated ticket routing, SLA management, and incident resolution workflows.
• Approval process control: Jira and ServiceNow both tools have approval processes that enable users to manage approvals for different types of requests, such as change requests or project requests. While Remedy does not provide approval access control features.
  Jira’s approval process control feature enables project managers to define workflows that include approvals at various project stages. The approval process in Jira is highly customizable, and users can define the conditions that must be met for approval to be granted.
  While ServiceNow's approval process control feature enables users to define approval workflows for different types of requests, such as change requests, incident requests, or service requests.
  One key difference between Jira and ServiceNow's approval process control is that Jira's approval process control is primarily designed for project management workflows. In contrast, ServiceNow's approval process control is designed for service management workflows.
  As a result, Jira's approval process control may be more flexible and customizable for project management use cases, while ServiceNow's approval process control may be better suited for service management use cases.
• Problem management: When it comes to problem management, ServiceNow and Remedy offer more advanced problem management features such as root cause analysis, problem prioritization, and problem resolution workflows. While in Jira, Service Management comes with a default problem management workflow that can be set up to complement the problem management process.
• Configuration management: All these tools have configuration management capabilities but can be used in different scenarios with different purposes.
  Jira's configuration management primarily focuses on managing software development project changes. It allows teams to track issues and bugs, manage code changes, and collaborate on software development projects.
  On the other hand, ServiceNow's configuration management database (CMDB) provides a single source of truth for IT assets, enabling teams to manage the entire IT environment from a centralized location.
  It includes a range of features such as asset discovery, dependency mapping, and change management that allow IT teams to keep track of configuration items (CIs) and their relationships, monitor changes, and maintain accurate asset data.
  While, BMC Helix's configuration management provides a centralized CMDB that includes a comprehensive set of features for discovering, tracking, and managing configuration items (CIs) across the IT environment. It ensures that changes are properly authorized, tested, and implemented, reducing the risk of downtime and service disruptions.

Based on the configuration capabilities of all the 3 tools and your organization’s needs, you can analyze which one best suits you.

2. Third-Party Integrations

• Jira has a vast marketplace with thousands of apps and integrations that can be used to enhance its functionality. It integrates with a variety of tools and systems, including software development tools, collaboration tools, project management tools, and more. Some of the most popular integrations include GitHub, Slack, and Confluence.
• On the other hand, ServiceNow has a comprehensive integration hub that provides pre-built integrations with popular third-party tools and systems, such as Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and Zoom.ServiceNow also has a robust API that allows developers to build custom integrations with other tools and systems. ServiceNow's integration hub provides a seamless experience for users to browse and install integrations directly from the ServiceNow platform.
• Further, Remedy has a variety of pre-built integrations that allow it to connect with other enterprise tools and systems, including IT operations tools, cloud platforms, and security tools. However, compared to Jira and ServiceNow, it offers a far lower number of integrated apps and tools.

3. User-Interface

• ServiceNow's user-interface is designed to be more comprehensive and geared towards IT service and operations management teams.  ServiceNow's interface is also highly customizable, offering a range of dashboards and reports to help teams visualize their data.
• On the other hand, Jira's user interface is primarily focused on software development teams and is designed to be customizable to fit the team's specific needs. Jira has a simple and intuitive interface that is easy to use, and it offers a range of visualization tools, such as charts and graphs, to help teams track their progress.
• While, BMC Helix's user interface is designed to be modern and intuitive, focusing on automation and artificial intelligence.  It also offers cognitive automation capabilities, which allow organizations to automate routine tasks and free up time for more strategic initiatives.

Hence, ServiceNow and Remedy offer more intuitive and modern user interfaces than Jira. That’s because Jira’s interface focuses more on software development teams and can be more technical and complex.

4. Scalability

• ServiceNow is designed to be highly scalable and can accommodate organizations of any size. ServiceNow's cloud-based option can be easily scaled up or down based on the organization's needs, and it can also be deployed on-premises for larger enterprise environments.
• Jira is known for its scalability, and it can be used by small teams and large enterprises. Jira's cloud-based option can be easily scaled up or down based on the organization's needs. Its self-hosted option can be deployed on-premises to accommodate larger enterprise environments.
• BMC Helix is designed to be highly scalable. BMC Helix's cloud-based option can be easily scaled up or down based on the needs of the organization, and it can also be deployed on-premises for larger enterprise environments.

While all three platforms are highly scalable, Jira's interface is primarily preferred for software development teams, ServiceNow's interface is designed for IT service management and IT operations management teams, and BMC Helix's interface is focused on automation.

5. Pricing

Jira, ServiceNow, and BMC Helix(Remedy) are all enterprise-level software solutions that offer different pricing models based on the needs of the organization. Here are some key differences between their pricing models:

• ServiceNow offers a subscription-based pricing model, which includes a base subscription fee and additional fees for modules and services. ServiceNow's pricing is based on the number of users and the modules required, and it can vary widely depending on the size and complexity of the organization. ServiceNow does not publicly disclose its pricing, and you have to contact the company to get a quote.
• Jira offers a flexible pricing model that allows organizations to choose from different plans based on their needs. Jira's pricing is based on the number of users and offers both cloud-based and self-hosted options. The cloud-based option starts at $10 per month for up to 10 users, and the self-hosted option starts at $10 for a one-time payment for up to 10 users. Jira also offers a free plan for up to 10 users with limited functionality.
• While, Remedy also offers a subscription-based pricing model, which includes a base subscription fee and additional fees for modules and services. BMC Helix's pricing is based on the number of users and the modules required, and it can vary widely depending on the size and complexity of the organization. BMC Helix does not publicly disclose its pricing, and organizations must contact the company for a quote.

While all three platforms offer different pricing models, Jira offers a flexible pricing model based on the number of users; while ServiceNow and BMC Helix offer subscription-based pricing models based on the number of users and modules required.

After comparing all three options on different parameters, you might have got a brief idea of which would best fit your needs. But don't feel restricted to solely relying on one tool to manage your IT services. You always have the option to explore other alternatives that can better fulfil your unique business needs, allowing you to optimize your operations.

One such alternative is Zluri- a powerful tool that can revolutionize your organization's IT management. Let’s explore how does it do so!

Go Ticketless With Zluri- The Best Alternative for IT Teams

Say goodbye to the hassle of manual app approval with Zluri! IT teams can find app approval overwhelming, with the need to review requests, ensure compatibility with existing systems, and meet security protocols. Hence, Zluri's Employee App Store (EAS) is here to streamline the process for both employees and IT teams.

The self-serve model lets employees browse and request the apps they need, eliminating the need to submit tickets and wait for manual approval from the IT team. This ensures a hassle-free experience for employees who require specific applications while saving time for IT teams.

Our automation capabilities make app approval a breeze. With triggers and conditions based on job roles and seniority levels, you can set up automated workflows that ensure every app request is approved accurately with minimal manual intervention.

No more tedious and time-consuming manual approvals! You can automate workflows that trigger app approval requests for specific employees based on their organizational roles. Seniority levels determine who has the authority to approve or deny requests, ensuring a streamlined process with quick and efficient access without unnecessary delays or bottlenecks.

What if the app you need access to isn't available on Zluri's Employee App Store (EAS)?

No problem! Zluri's EAS covers most applications, but if you need access to an app that isn't there, simply request it. The IT team will check the app's threat and risk level, compliance, and more to ensure it's safe for the company before granting you access. You can track the entire process and get your app request status insights.

Zluri's app store also lets IT teams control which apps are available to employees, pre-approving apps that are suitable for the organization while ensuring compliance with organizational policies and regulations. This reduces the risk of security breaches as IT teams monitor all apps efficiently.

But wait, there's more! Zluri also helps to monitor the IT process by conducting timely audits and generates reports and analytics on ticket resolution rate, time taken to approve requests, and more. These insights help organizations identify areas for improvement and streamline their IT service management process.

With Zluri, app approval is as easy as a few clicks, so why wait?

Book a demo now to see for yourself.  Don't miss out on this opportunity to simplify your IT management!