SysAid vs. ServiceNow: 2024 Comparison of Features, Pricing, & Integrations

As the COVID-19 pandemic draws to a close, many businesses find themselves reliant on remote teams to complete critical tasks like service management. Firms that choose from among IT service management (ITSM) software systems, such as SysAid vs ServiceNow, can overcome the challenges of remote assistance. However, selecting the right ITSM for your company can be difficult because each ITSM platform has its own set of features while still meeting your company’s most basic needs.

One worthwhile comparison is SysAid vs ServiceNow. This page sets these two of the best ITSM software systems side by side to help you compare features, prices, and usability. The goal is to help you make an informed decision for the improvement of your business processes.

Statista reported that the global IT investment is expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2022. Managed services accounted for over $152 billion in 2020, while Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) was expected to account for over $157 billion. IT services are the second-fastest expanding segment in the IT business, after enterprise software.

InformationWeek’s State of ITSM and ESM survey results show that enterprise integration and automation will impact the way enterprises think about service management in the future. Most service organizations are manually performing routine ITSM operations like user administration, onboarding and offboarding, name changes, etc. The report also demonstrates that while many firms have a good degree of ITSM maturity, there is much potential for development, especially with the gap in the use of ITSM software systems. In addition, the high cost of ITSM platform administration prevents many firms from getting the most out of ITSM and ESM projects.

InformationWeek’s poll showed that only 8% of businesses have fully optimized ITSM, and only 10% of organizations claim to have automated workflow management. Only 31% of companies have an ESM program that goes beyond IT. The top challenge in ITSM implementation is heavy reliance on IT to administer the system, according to 44% of the respondents.

More than half the respondents claim to have a mature IT service desk organizational structure and processes but 58% of ITSM practitioners admit they lack or are unsure of their ITSM framework. Only 10% of ITSM pros consider themselves highly advanced in change management. Nevertheless, self-service is valued by most businesses, with 81% maintaining a knowledge base and 56% running a self-service portal. However, only 25% of self-service portal users find the feature useful.

Overview of SysAid and ServiceNow

SysAid

SysAid is the ideal blend of help desk and asset management software. Because the platform is modular, this is possible. You can begin with one module and add more as needed or when your team has mastered it. An incident and service request management module, IT asset management, chat, mobile device management, mobile apps, and industry benchmarking are all part of the system. It is also compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, allowing users to access it from any location.

Being one of the top IT service management on the market today, SysAid is expectedly ITIL compliant. In addition to basic ITIL capabilities such as problem and change management, sophisticated workflow, and automation, it provides self-service, mobile device management, chat, password reset, mobile apps, and industry benchmarking.

You can track your assets, detect errors, and patch them. It also has a help desk where you can report problems. The priority and deadline dates of your tickets are used to send SysAid reminders. SysAid prioritizes tickets based on service level agreements and assigns them to the appropriate agent. Furthermore, SysAid supports customized workflows. It manages user data using LDAP and integrates with SSO, communication, and analytics platforms.

SysAid is a program that automates IT processes such as user creation and access. It alerts you to real-time activities such as CPU load and memory usage. A CMDB can also be used to view the relationships in your IT network. SysAid also provides actionable analytics to assist you in process improvement.

ServiceNow

ServiceNow is a cutting-edge asset tracking and configuration application. This solution can be used to replace resources that are no longer functional. In addition to its location and usage, ServiceNow informs IT professionals about where an asset is in its lifecycle. These statistics allow IT teams to renew contracts and replace equipment at the appropriate time.

ServiceNow assists businesses in lowering equipment costs by optimizing asset maintenance. As a result, they can fully utilize the material.

Furthermore, ServiceNow makes it easier to manage IT procedures, operations, and challenges. It is a cloud-based IT solution primarily for small and medium-sized businesses, but it also works with large corporations. With fewer than 1,000 employees, this option is ideal for businesses with small IT departments.

ServiceNow has a controllable system that can easily run on the infrastructure of a company. ServiceNow assists in the automation of manual tasks through self-service, CMDB, and knowledge management.

With a single click, the system can also generate reports. Users of ServiceNow can also provide FAQs and company links, which are made possible by ServiceNow’s extensive and dynamic knowledge base. It also includes ticket routing automation and a self-service portal that empowers and increases productivity.

Comparison of SysAid vs. ServiceNow

Core Features

The ability to keep track of everything is invaluable, and SysAid makes it feasible. SysAid employs artificial intelligence (AI) based on data from thousands of enterprises to automate ITSM, allowing IT to focus on running the company. Request, change, and problem management features bring service management across your business, thus improving the agent and employee experience. The help desk features are straightforward, and concerns are resolved swiftly. It’s also accessible via a cloud or on-premise deployment, offering you more flexibility in terms of how and where you use it.

Digital and fixed asset management, ticket automation, self-service, and automated reporting are all included in SysAid. Its key differentiators include tickets being automatically classified, prioritized, and assigned to the most relevant individual or group within IT using the SLA. It notifies the appropriate manager about delays, among other things. Repetitive operations such as restarting printers, creating users, and providing access are also automated by SysAid. Employee self-service fixes, as well as escalation guidelines, are also automated. It comes with ready-to-use templates.

Meanwhile, IT, Cyber, HR, Operations, Finance, Legal, Facilities, Field Service, and other departments all can use ServiceNow to define, structure, and automate the flow of business processes and tasks across the enterprise.

ServiceNow has a built-in CMDB (configuration management database) that maintains and manages current and past CIs (configuration items), as well as upstream and downstream connectivity across deployed assets. Its recent updates include the ability to track occupancy levels and assign work teams to various regions of the business, a Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management product, as well as an Operational Technology Management platform for smart manufacturing.

SysAid gives admins a single view of priorities, statuses, and assignments of tasks.

Integrations

SysAid integrates with various applications to allow you to extend the system’s capabilities. It integrates with BI Analytics powered by Qlik, TeamViewer for a robust remote control solution, GFI Software for superior patch management capabilities, and Automate Joe, which is SysAid’s built-in service orchestration engine and powered by CA Automic. On top of these, SysAid offers third-party integrations with leading software applications and services, like Jira Software, Slack, Skype, Salesforce, Trello, and many more.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow extends your IT system’s functionality by connecting different functional areas of your business through the ServiceNow platform. It also integrates with Jira, McAfee, Slack, Salesforce, GitHub, and many others.

Pricing

SysAid provides tailored price quotes based on your business needs and the size of your team. Nevertheless, SysAid offers help desk, ITSM, and ITSM+ plans.

• Help desk. Get everything your growing team needs to succeed in IT, including asset management, ticket automation, self-service, automated reporting, and cloud or on-premises deployments. It is simple to use, quickly resolves issues, and thus increases productivity.
• ITSM. To top everything that the help desk does, this package adds an ITIL Package, workflow automation, workflow automation, third-party integrations, and advanced custom fields, giving midsize teams and mature IT departments alike more power and control with less repetition and an improved experience for end-users and agents.
• ITSM+. Get even more power with advanced analytics and automation for enterprises through BI analytics, task automation, and a business value dashboard. You can scale service management to other departments and drive value and greater business impact.

ServiceNow also creates custom quotes that would cover business value assessment for advanced capabilities like Virtual Agent and DevOps Change Velocity. Scalable packages for all stages of business growth with ITSM Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. As such, pricing is tailored to your requirements. Nevertheless, there are two packages from which your cost could take off.

• ServiceNow Express. This is for beginners and SMBs. It provides powerful IT automation solutions for incident, problem, and change management, as well as a central repository for all IT assets, their locations, performance, and issues. Also, it has Visual Task Boards that allow IT managers to quickly change team members, add tasks, reset priorities, and collaborate. One-click reporting on any metric shows business leaders the value of IT.
• ServiceNow Enterprise. Offers all that the Express has plus, more customization. This is ideal for larger businesses.

SysAid gives your an easy view of how your processes are performing plus, advanced analytics.

Ease of Use

A complete IT helpdesk solution appears to be a circuitous route to asset management without helpdesk tickets. The SysAid user interface may appear confusing at first, but once asset management is integrated with the existing SysAid help desk ticketing system, it becomes more comprehensible.

When you log in, you will see ‘issue tickets,’ which will take you to the asset management dashboard. Here, you will find a sortable list of assets by type, configurable charts, and a grouping diagram. This easy view of assets is unique to SysAid. You may even personalize the dashboard to display only the data you want.

With the initial look of the list and subsections not in alphabetical order, ServiceNow could be confusing. You could feel overwhelmed, but the filter navigation box is the simplest way to get a handle on this UI. This filter only displays parts and subsections that match what you type in; the view should be straightforward as long as you know what you’re searching for.

An add-on is required to capture asset data using a MID-server rather than a client agent. This is an additional cost, however. Meanwhile, depreciation can be tracked by presenting it on the asset, and you can develop a hardware catalog, allowing employees to choose models and place purchase orders. Finally, ServiceNow’s changeable UI color theme is intriguing. There are no custom themes, however, the default could be altered.

Getting Started

Asset integration is one of SysAid’s strong suits. You can map columns, exclude data, and save your choices when importing assets from a spreadsheet (CSV format). The formatting of the dates could be a bit challenging but these are clear and simple to fix.

Unless you are familiar with the SysAid UI, expect more training than some of the asset management-only choices. The dashboard navigation involves multiple tabs, windows, and lists. Nevertheless, once you get the hang of the system, you will find that the platform certainly provides a lot of features and modules that are vital in making your processes efficient.

You will need the training to construct your own customized asset views help. SysAid provides training videos for free on their website. You can start with the orientation video and work around the UI. Once customization is in place, end-users and you will appreciate the ease of use.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow Express offers a large number of pre-built reports and the option to create custom reports, which you can save as a JPEG or PNG file. ServiceNow, however, involves a steep learning curve with much emphasis on online and in-person training.

SysAid’s straightforward forms make adding users and other information easy.

Use Cases

Both SysAid and ServiceNow are scalable and flexible. To begin with, SysAid offers cloud and on-premise delivery options, as well as varying features and pricing. The ticketing system can be customized, allowing for better end-user experience and better service delivery, which are benefits of SysAid.

Your organization’s ticketing system can grow with your organization’s IT support. This system is simple to set up, and you can customize it as your company grows, changing categories and other variables as needed. The large customer base assures industry relevance of the ticketing system and availability of someone with similar operational issues in the SysAid Online Community. Besides, it has self-service, self-help, chat, and email, which users expect.

Ticketing systems must be more than just a way to track issues. SysAid’s dashboards and reporting help optimize operations, meet targets, and identify and implement improvements. The SysAid ticketing system allows for remote support, password reset, and monitoring. In addition, the SysAid ticketing system has standard user interfaces and procedures for IT staff to switch between capabilities and screens.

Meanwhile, ServiceNow is a configurable platform that can be customized to meet specific business needs. You build an architectural model based on which ServiceNow capabilities and features can best meet your needs. Some organizations get by with just one instance with basic settings. Other very large or global organizations may consider more complex architectural models due to compliance regulations, business models, data sovereignty, data segregation, and/or user segregation requirements. ServiceNow helps you address whatever needs in processes you have.

SysAid vs. ServiceNow Comparison Table

SysAid vs. ServiceNow–Which Is Better?

Efficiency in IT service is vital to any organization, so looking into SysAid vs ServiceNow to choose the right ITSM for your organization is worthwhile. While both platforms are flexible and scalable, SysAid can assure that the processes you are using are already tried and tested across various industries via its ITIL feature.

Plus, SysAid,’s intelligent ticketing, which automatically classifies and delivers requests to the right people is worth mentioning. It also makes self-service easy.

Read our analysis of SysAid Pros and Cons to learn more. Meanwhile, if your organization is not requiring so much power, ServiceNow is an apt alternative.

By Jenny Chang

Jenny Chang is a senior writer specializing in SaaS and B2B software solutions. Her decision to focus on these two industries was spurred by their explosive growth in the last decade, much of it she attributes to the emergence of disruptive technologies and the quick adoption by businesses that were quick to recognize their values to their organizations. She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.