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IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs Infraon Desk comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
665
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (2nd), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
IBM SmartCloud Control Desk
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (32nd)
Infraon Desk
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Help Desk Software (35th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (29th)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
KM
Computer System Engineer at Informatika d.d.
Has centralization and asset management features, and a helpful and knowledgeable technical support team
What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk.
reviewer1621719 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Service Delivery at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customizable, easy to manage using a single dashboard, but the features in my version are quite basic
Infraon Desk is very flexible in nature and can be customized for my needs. The fact that I can customize it the way I want is the best part of the tool for me. The customization took longer than I expected to complete, although it may be the team that I was interacting with. They might not have had enough manpower in place. If enough resources are available then the customization is easy. All of the information that I need for monitoring the entire platform is available on a single dashboard. This is very helpful with respect to managing. The multi-channel ticketing options that this solution provides are very important to us because it's all about how we engage with our customers and what options we offer for them to communicate with us. Nowadays, there are many collaborative platforms and many methods for ticket logging. Every system of this type should be flexible enough to provide a mobile app, at least for Android and iOS, and not be confined to using Windows alone. Similarly, self-service portals as well as integration with Slack, as this product has, are important options that many people use.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We have worked with various tools over many years and we believe that Automation Anywhere is one of the most stable platforms."
"The control room is the best part as everything can be seen and controlled from there, scheduling storing of credentials, and much more. I have used PDF extraction and other tools where data needs to be extracted and it works great at that part. I highly recommended this tool for automation."
"In 2018, we looked at some other products on the market, but Automation Anywhere was a perfect fit. We didn't have any issues that Automation Anywhere couldn't solve. The critical factor for us was its ease of use. We liked the drag-and-drop interface and the low-code capabilities."
"Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten."
"Automation Anywhere helped me achieve three main goals: reducing repetitive manual work, improving process consistency, and scaling automation while maintaining centralized control and monitoring."
"The valuable features that I see for automation with enterprise RPA are IQ Bot and Bot Insights. If you do anything, Bot Insight will provide the dashboard. It starts from the developer with artificial intelligence and the dashboard, which will provide the visibility of business-level metrics as well as operational-level metrics. Those are the good things I see in automation."
"I would rate Automation Anywhere a perfect ten out of ten, considering it is significantly better than what we had before."
"From my developer's point of view, the tool is pretty strong."
"SLA integrations, reports, and integration with other applications are the most valuable."
"The workflow capability is useful. It's not a manual helpdesk operation. It's fully automated, even when an alarm has occurred. It covers the complete cycle of initiation to resolving the events. This is its most strong feature that is easily integrable with a monitoring solution. It creates tickets, and the workflow feature is the most important one."
"The most valuable are its flexibility and agility. It's quick to change it, to adapt it to your needs. That's the most important for us."
"Overall, it's a good product that I would recommend."
"In the early stages of our company, all requests were done in notebooks, and none of it was centrally managed. But now we have a central tool which is an entry point for all requests that come in."
"Overall, it has helped us continuously improve our business processes."
"The solution is very easy to work with."
"The solution has been stable."
"It is meeting our requirements and we are very happy and satisfied with the services of Infraon Desk."
"Infraon Desk was the best choice for my budget, considering the features and customization that I wanted."
"Infraon Desk is very flexible in nature and can be customized for my needs. The fact that I can customize it the way I want is the best part of the tool for me."
"There are a few dashboards and they are helpful because, in our organization, we have different groups of people who need different kinds of dashboards... as head of network operations, I need a top-level view. I want to see how many calls are open and how many calls are pending, on average, and some trend analysis. Whereas a manager in my team might like to see slightly more detail."
 

Cons

"We have trouble with large volumes of data in Excel and are not getting good results."
"The Excel command has some limitations that they are working on."
"As far as stability is concerned, there have been some challenges. Sometimes, we experience our computers freezing up for no apparent reason or the network being inaccessible."
"Verbose logging of bot compiling and deployment from the control room. Events occurring during compiling, pre-processing the bots should be logged in the control room or bot launcher logs."
"Apart from the Chrome issue, which took them maybe a week to fix, we lost a lot of processes during that time, but it just happens unfortunately."
"Not all data is good quality. This presents a challenge for automation, which is important."
"Automation Anywhere could use to be more stabilized."
"The main request I have for Automation Anywhere is to focus more on technical demonstrations."
"Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"The reporting in relation to updating could be improved upon."
"What needs improvement in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is its graphical interface because it needs to be more user-friendly. IBM is a big company, but this solution is a little bit outdated. The most common comment I get from customers is that IBM SmartCloud Control Desk looks old and needs a refresh. Its frontend needs a little bit of work. The solution needs to be more modern. In the programming world, you see a lot of new technologies, but this particular solution is still on Java. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk isn't like web-based service request tools, and that's an area for improvement. What I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is a more upscale technology. IBM SmartCloud Control Desk has small issues with document links and attachments, and those could bother you when you're using it for a long time. A more user-friendly GUI is also another improvement I'd like to see in the next version of the solution, plus a better user experience, and it would be great if IBM could resolve the current issues I've noticed in IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."
"Support has been the biggest problem for us. I understand that because we use the product of a global company, some changes are not quick to deploy."
"Support has been the biggest problem for us."
"The solution lacks a graphical user interface."
"The product is kind of clunky to use."
"The time calculations can be improved. While working on reports, it was taking the time only in seconds, which was hard for me to work out. While creating some dialogs in the service portal, you have to use certain data types in some fields. It was very tricky to make them work. I was testing a certain type of input, and it didn't work. It didn't show me the domain that the fields have to show. I had to make the change to the database, and only then it worked. It was a tricky thing to make them work with the dialogs. Their technical support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"Better connectivity and integration with more collaborative platforms would be helpful."
"The version that I am using is very basic and I wouldn't say that it has extraordinary services capabilities that I've never seen before."
"The reporting is okay, but it doesn't give you reports that make you say "wow," like you might see from a tool like MRTG or PRTG whose reports give you a good feeling. The detailing is not there in the Infraon Desk reports and there are no graphical elements in them. The reporting is slightly weak and needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Automation Anywhere is expensive, making it more suitable for enterprise organizations."
"They're very flexible around pricing and licensing."
"Overall, the pricing of Automation Anywhere is good."
"It is expensive. I would rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten in terms of pricing."
"It is cost-efficient in terms of licensing. I found their support good when I was working for the airline client. However, I hear from my managers here that the support price for Tier 3 or premium is a little higher. That is why we are not going for Automation Anywhere. Its price was okay for our client, but for us, it seems expensive."
"We have seen ROI in terms of cost and time with a couple of our projects."
"Yearly, our licensing costs are about $90,000 to $100,000. There will be additional licensing costs when we add more Bot Runners to our infrastructure."
"I really enjoy the pricing options with Automation Anywhere, as they are able to flex their ability to adapt to the needs of the customer really well."
"The license for IBM SmartCloud Control Desk is paid yearly and is on a per-user basis. You buy the product and pay for its license yearly. IBM is changing the licensing structure, but for now, it's a yearly license. There's no additional cost. It's just the license that you need to pay for to use IBM SmartCloud Control Desk."
"The licensing we have for IBM Control Desk is on a yearly basis. They have a concurrent license and an administrative license. And with these, you get all the products. There aren't any additional fees for extra add-ons or anything like that."
"It's basically for a big company because of the costs. A small company can't afford the licensing cost. For medium and large companies, it's the best product. The price of the license is on the higher side compared to others."
"The price of this solution is reasonable and it was well within my budget."
"The pricing model is very competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Performing Arts
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business161
Midsize Enterprise86
Large Enterprise562
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
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Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
SmartCloud Control Desk
Everest Service Manager
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
St Vincent's Health Australia, Kalibrate Pty. Ltd., Cognizant Technology
Airtel, BSNL, Cloudnine, D-Vois, Geojit, Indian telco
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM SmartCloud Control Desk vs. Infraon Desk and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.