Looking for a ManageEngine alternative for your service desk software needs? Whether you're switching from this IT Service Management (ITSM) platform or starting from scratch, it’s a significant decision. That’s why you should thoroughly evaluate the options available and understand their key attributes.
In this blog post, we’ll help you with your ITSM tools comparison by introducing InvGate Service Management, a compelling alternative that offers a wide range of features and functionalities. We'll explore its intuitive user interface, responsive customer support, and competitive pricing to understand how it stacks up against ManageEngine and other competitors.
TL;DR
- ManageEngine offers a service desk solution that primarily caters to small and medium-sized businesses.
- It offers a cost-effective tool with a broad product portfolio and robust customization features. However, users have also found that the product's innovation can stay behind, that it presents limited integrations, and that customer support is unsatisfactory.
- InvGate Service Management is a strong alternative to look out for. It stands out with its innovative and comprehensive ITSM capabilities, covering various IT processes, and its responsive and proactive customer support.
What is ManageEngine?
ManageEngine, formerly known as AdventNet Inc., underwent a name change in 2009 and now operates as Zoho Corporation. The company specializes in offering comprehensive solutions for managing IT and primarily caters to small and medium-sized businesses. It is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, and has a significant global presence, serving over 180,000 customers around the world.
One of the key products offered by ManageEngine is ServiceDesk Plus, a platform that provides both cloud-based and on-premise deployment options. ServiceDesk Plus offers a wide range of functionalities, including IT Service Management and IT Asset Management (ITAM).
Features
Here are some of its key features:
- Customizable ticket templates: Allows for tailored ticket creation.
- Visual ticket lifecycle builder: Enables visual management of ticket lifecycles.
- Self-service portal: Provides users with a portal for raising requests.
- Knowledge base: Offers a repository for IT knowledge and solutions.
- AI-powered features: Includes AI-driven predictive intelligence for ticket triage and virtual support agents.
- Reporting and analytics: Offers customizable reporting options with enhanced chart types.
- Preventive maintenance tasks: Schedules and manages periodic maintenance activities.
- SLAs and escalations: Manages service level agreements and escalations.
Reviews for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Users generally provide positive feedback about ManageEngine products across platforms like Gartner Peer Insights and G2. Users highlight the excellent automation capabilities, which simplifies Incident Management.
Some users feel that the user interface could be improved for a better user experience, with certain parts feeling outdated or harder to navigate.
Support can be inconsistent, with some users experiencing difficulties in communication or receiving timely assistance. Lastly, the reporting capabilities are a point of contention, with some users finding them useful while others consider them not very effective or lacking depth.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus pricing
- Standard plan: Starts at $13 per technician per month. It includes basic features like an IT helpdesk and reporting but lacks advanced features such as CMDB and Asset Management.
- Professional plan: Starts at $27 per technician per month. It includes everything in the Standard plan plus IT Asset Management.
- Enterprise plan: Starts at $67 per technician per month. It offers comprehensive features including change management, project management, and ITIL compliance.
- Add-ons: Features like Service Catalog, Problem Management, and Change and Release Management are available as add-ons for the Standard and Professional plans.
Pros and cons of ManageEngine:
ManageEngine is a solution picked by many customers in the market. In the Gartner Magic Quadrant, ManageEngine is recognized as a Challenger, indicating its strong competitive position in the market.
Some of its main strengths include:
- Cost-effectiveness offering: The affordable pricing aligns well with the needs of the tools target midmarket customers and larger, value-oriented customers.
- Broad product portfolio: This includes complementary products, including Endpoint Management, network monitoring, application monitoring, and active directory management solutions.
- Customization: While most of its new customers are midmarket, ManageEngine has demonstrated considerable enterprise growth.
At the same time, the solution also comes with a set of drawbacks, making customers (probably including those you are reading this) look for other alternatives out there. Some of the most frequent challenges users have found are:
- Low product innovation: While the vendor has introduced some AI/ML capabilities over the past 12 months for field and template recommendations, it still lags behind more advanced products in this category.
- Limited integrations beyond the Zoho ecosystem: Customers may be forced to build custom API connections to many other popular ITOM tools.
- Poor customer support: Slow response times and need for more proactive assistance.
- In 2023, 24 company products were affected by two significant vulnerabilities rated 9.8 out of 10 on the severity scale (they allowed remote execution of malicious code and were patched).
InvGate Service Management as a ManageEngine alternative
InvGate Service Management is an advanced software solution for IT Service Management. It assists organizations in streamlining their IT support processes and improving overall service delivery to end-users.
The software offers the flexibility of both cloud-based and on-premise deployment options, allowing organizations to choose the hosting environment that best suits their requirements.
With InvGate Service Management, organizations can establish a cutting-edge IT services department equipped with industry best practices, including Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, and Service Management capabilities. It also provides a self-service platform and personalized dashboards and reports to enhance user experience and facilitate efficient operations.
InvGate is a technology company that specializes in creating software solutions for IT Service Management and IT Asset Management. Their primary focus is to develop tools and platforms that enable organizations to optimize their IT operations, improve service delivery, and increase overall efficiency.
Customers reviewing InvGate Service Management said:
Let's take a look at the main advantages of InvGate Service Management when compared to ManageEngine.
User interface
Starting with the user interface, InvGate Service Management offers an intuitive and modern design, making it easy for users to navigate and interact with the system. That's is actually one of the aspects that convinced this major pharmacy store chain to choose it. Its Level One Support Efficiency Leader commented: "The key factors that made us choose InvGate were that Service Desk is a very intuitive tool, especially for the user. It is based on ITIL guidelines, and it is easily scalable."
On the other hand, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus falls short in this area, with an outdated design that may not provide the same level of user-friendliness.
Customer support
InvGate Service Management sets itself apart by providing responsive and proactive customer support. Users can expect timely assistance and proactive measures to address their needs. In contrast, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus may suffer from slower response times and a lack of proactive assistance, which could impact the overall user experience.
Reporting
Reporting capabilities are essential for tracking and analyzing ITSM processes. InvGate Service Management offers robust reporting capabilities, empowering users to generate customizable dashboards and gain valuable insights.
On the other hand, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus has some limitations in its reporting functionality, which may hinder the depth of analysis and reporting capabilities.
Learning curve
InvGate Service Management strives to provide a user-friendly interface with a shorter learning curve. This approach benefits users with various levels of technical expertise, enabling them to quickly adapt to the system and leverage its features effectively.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, however, may require users with limited technical expertise to invest more time and effort in overcoming the learning curve.
Feature set
In terms of the feature set, InvGate Service Management offers comprehensive ITSM capabilities, covering various IT processes. It's a single solution for everything from Incident and Problem Management to Service Catalog and Knowledge Base Management.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus also provides comprehensive ITSM capabilities.
Cost-effectiveness
Switching costs encompass more than just the monetary aspect of acquiring a new tool. It's important to consider the additional expenses and considerations involved to fully understand the consequences of migrating from one help desk software to another.
InvGate Service Management positions itself competitively in terms of pricing, providing good value for money. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus also offers affordable pricing, making it accessible to organizations with budget constraints.
ManageEngine competitors
To follow up on your search, here is comprehensive list of ManageEngine alternatives to look through when looking for the service desk solution that best meets your needs:
- ManageEngine vs. ServiceNow
- ManageEngine vs. Cherwell
- ManageEngine vs. Ivanti Neurons
- ManageEngine vs. Jira
- ManageEngine vs. Freshservice
- ManageEngine vs. SolarWinds
- ManageEngine vs. Aranda Service Management
- ManageEngine vs. BMC Helix
- ManageEngine vs. TOPdesk
- ManageEngine vs. SysAid
- ManageEngine vs. Zendesk
- ManageEngine vs. SymphonyAI Summit
- ManageEngine vs. EasyVista
- ManageEngine vs. TeamDynamix
In conclusion
Finding the right ManageEngine alternative for your service desk software needs is a crucial decision that can greatly impact your ITSM processes.
You can make an informed choice by thoroughly evaluating options like InvGate Service Management and comparing their features, support, and pricing. With the right alternative, you can streamline your IT operations, enhance customer support, and drive overall organizational efficiency. Request our 30-day free trial or book a meeting with our experts if you have any questions!
