SCSM vs Zendesk comparison

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Read 23 SCSM reviews
1,443 views|792 comparisons
64% willing to recommend
Zendesk Logo
3,124 views|2,028 comparisons
93% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SCSM and Zendesk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Help Desk Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed SCSM vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: May 2024).
770,292 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most requested feature from our customers is the helpdesk ticketing system.""The most valuable feature is the reporting of incidents.""I like the reporting service. SCSM has a good reporting service and analysis service for analysis requests.""It is quite scalable.""The support from Microsoft is good and we also have local support on the ground in Nigeria.""It is a simple solution that is easy to configure.""For our cloud-based deployment of SCSM, the Autopilot is the best feature.""This solution is easy to use."

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"The feature to move over my customer experience team tickets for different specialists is very valuable for my team.""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 use, and I haven't encountered any issues with delays or communication gaps in ticket resolutions.""It's a very stable tool, very powerful.""Zendesk Support has a lot of good APIs.""What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool.""It is a scalable solution.""One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use.""The initial setup is simple and straightforward."

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Cons
"It's not too hard to compile stuff but it is hard to manage the solution. Even the design itself makes it difficult for management.""It would be good if Microsoft added custom attributes or tagging like in Jamf.""We would like to see a web-based interface that works on mobile devices.""There is no development with this product, and we had to go and buy additional ITSM solutions to sit on top of it. We had to buy products from companies like Cireson and Cased Dimensions in order to get the functionality that we need out of it. So, we're using Service Manager as an engine, rather than as a full-blown product. It is the engine, but we have other products sitting on top of it to make it work properly.""They need more integration with open-source products.""It would be better if they had a portal for administrators. It would help me use it from anywhere and connect to any device from anywhere. I can administer the solution without a VPN.""Once we had an issue with a desktop download that would not open.""One of the disadvantages in this product is that the reporting module is not very easy. It requires SQL development skills, which not all customers or IT professionals have."

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"There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us.""Zendesk Guide's customization could be improved. I would like it to be easier and maybe open-sourced, so that if you have a developer in your company, you can do it yourself. Right now, that isn't allowed, so you need to have it done via the integrator. Another improvement—this is nit-picking—is that it could be less easy to make changes. Some things are so easy that they sometimes look a little amateur-ish. Most of the templates are built-in so they can be used directly, so they are very simple.""The price of the solution should be reduced.""You couldn't give administrative access to new hires.""It wasn't easy to set up so we're only using a third of all of the features,""If I write an article, and I have a team of 30 people, and they all have a Zendesk account, when I write an article, I send them an email. "Hey guys, I just wrote this article. It's one of the most popular topics this month on which we are not covered. Please check it and make sure that you include it in your resolutions". The issue is, once I send it to those 30 people, and they open it, the next morning, that article is the most popular article.""The solution could integrate better with QR codes from some websites such as Facebook.""Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is a lower price vs. other things on the market."
  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • "Licensing can be complex and confusing."
  • "The price should be lower."
  • "The price of the solution could be better. My organization has an enterprise annual license with Microsoft which provides us support."
  • "It comes free with the enterprise agreement that we have, but the expense really is in having to buy another product to sit on top of it to make it work properly. You wind up having to buy additional support and additional product with their own support and maintenance costs on top of that."
  • "The license for SCSM is cheap."
  • "I would rate the pricing as two out of five."
  • More SCSM Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."
  • "The price is very competitive."
  • "Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."
  • "There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."
  • "You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."
  • More Zendesk Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
    Top Answer:The solution offers good productivity at a low price point.
    Top Answer:For any weaknesses in the product, our company's security team maintains the application for our environment. The logs and reporting-related features of the product have certain shortcomings where… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well. The pricing is expensive. Back then, we were paying $51 per… more »
    Top Answer:As per me, there arent much significant issues or areas for improvement with Zendesk, as my usage of it is limited. I appreciate its ability to organize tickets effectively based on tags, allowing me… more »
    Ranking
    14th
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    1,443
    Comparisons
    792
    Reviews
    8
    Average Words per Review
    517
    Rating
    8.0
    10th
    out of 59 in Help Desk Software
    Views
    3,124
    Comparisons
    2,028
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    539
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    ServiceNow logo
    Compared 50% of the time.
    JIRA Service Management logo
    Compared 13% of the time.
    BMC Helix ITSM logo
    Compared 8% of the time.
    BeyondTrust Remote Support logo
    Compared 6% of the time.
    ServiceNow logo
    Compared 27% of the time.
    JIRA Service Management logo
    Compared 16% of the time.
    Atlassian Confluence logo
    Compared 11% of the time.
    Freshservice logo
    Compared 9% of the time.
    Microsoft Dynamics CRM logo
    Compared 4% of the time.
    Also Known As
    System Center Service Manager
    Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
    Learn More
    Overview
    System Center Service Manager is a software product by Microsoft to allow organizations to manage incidents and problems. Microsoft states that the product is compliant with industry best practices such as the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). SCSM has integrated ITIL compliant fulfillment of service requests. Service requests are submitted by the end user in order to obtain information, access to a new application or the most common of all, password reset.

    Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

    Sample Customers
    Fibabanka, UMC Health System
    Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Hospitality Company10%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Government25%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Construction Company10%
    Non Profit7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company22%
    Educational Organization10%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    University6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise65%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise35%
    Large Enterprise19%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise55%
    Buyer's Guide
    SCSM vs. Zendesk
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SCSM vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    770,292 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SCSM is ranked 14th in Help Desk Software with 23 reviews while Zendesk is ranked 10th in Help Desk Software with 57 reviews. SCSM is rated 7.0, while Zendesk is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of SCSM writes "Helps us manage IT operations, including incident and service requests, but could be easier to create reports". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zendesk writes "Straightforward, very transparent, and very well organized". SCSM is most compared with ServiceNow, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, JIRA Service Management, BMC Helix ITSM and BeyondTrust Remote Support, whereas Zendesk is most compared with ServiceNow, JIRA Service Management, Atlassian Confluence, Freshservice and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. See our SCSM vs. Zendesk report.

    See our list of best Help Desk Software vendors and best IT Service Management (ITSM) vendors.

    We monitor all Help Desk Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.