Automation Anywhere Reviews

We have built over 75 automations with Automation Anywhere across various teams in the organization, delivering a high value for our internal teams. We have explored a couple of process transformations with Automation Anywhere using their IQ bots and AI automation tools.

We have integrated applications like SAP ECC, One Source Automation, and SharePoint using Python code. Our company has 25 AA developers. 

AA improves process consistency and reduces human error. We have saved our clients considerable time using Automation Anywhere. While we don't assess the dollar savings, we look at the amount of time saved per project. The tasks were previously completed by hand, but Automation Anywhere enabled a lot of process automation, giving users automation that runs around the clock. For example, we can automate processes to address point-in-time reports so a user doesn't need to wake up at midnight to handle these issues. 

We haven't gotten approval to implement AI, but when we do, I believe it will accelerate the time savings we realize through automation. We will work with other teams to show them the value of AI and automation. 

Automation Anywhere's most valuable feature is its ease of use. It's easy to envision a solution or process to transform with Automation Anywhere from end to end. We can realize the value much faster because it's easy to use and understand. 

All the features are impressive. We haven't had a chance to use the Copilot or other AI features, but the studio is great. It's the platform where we build the bots. The IQ Bot used to be excellent, but the IQ Bot isn't available anymore. I believe it's document automation, which is also very good.

Anyone at any level can use Automation Anywhere. Once you get the hang of it, it's highly intuitive, and the learning curve is short. We started seeing value from Automation Anywhere within a month or so after implementation, but that was with the older version. It's even faster now that everything is on the web.

Training employees using the courses takes a couple of weeks, followed by another week or so of hands-on learning on the platform. It takes about four weeks to onboard a user.

Automation Anywhere can improve its integration. For example, you can't directly integrate Automation Anywhere with SharePoint or third-party applications seamlessly. Adding seamless third-party integration would add a lot of value to the platform. We need to use APIs or Python coding to integrate the third-party applications. If Automation Anywhere could add some connectors, that would be great. 

I'd love to see the ability to build web or mobile applications that are integrated with Automation Anywhere bots, so that a user can work on a web interface directly. Then, it can be linked to the Automation Anywhere bots in the background. They just hit a button, and all the data or information will be used by the bot to do some process in the back end.

We have used Automation Anywhere for five years.

We've never had any issues with stability.

It's easy to build automations and scale Automation Anywhere.

I rate Automation Anywhere support 10 out of 10. The tech support is great. We have a CSM we can contact for information, and they're very responsive. 

Positive

We use the SaaS model of Automation Anywhere, so the deployment was easy. We set up the infrastructure in under a week. We worked closely with the Automation Anywhere folks because we wanted a clean slate. We didn't want to migrate from the older version to the SaaS edition and took it as an opportunity to clean up the bots. It didn't require much effort, and only two people were involved. The upgrade process was simple. Maintenance is minimal. It only takes a couple of people to maintain 75 bots. 

Automation Anywhere's pricing is excellent.

I rate Automation Anywhere nine out of 10. I would recommend it to others. It's intuitive and easy to implement. 

Automation Anywhere is removing the boring, repetitive tasks from the workforce.

I've worked on different models over different frameworks. 

I do the coding as well as the deployment side. I prepare documents and the user ID. Sometimes, if the user ID is not prepared, then I jump into the process to get it done. With the technical feasibility of the document, I take the technical feasibility and do an estimation to code the bot. I configure the bot, then code it according to the entity and get it reviewed from the client. Then, I run the bot through the Hapi port, as well as different scenarios which might come up.

Once the client is happy, we have a couple of rounds of testing. We have a "You Ready" phase where we code for a few days and the client provides data. We run through the data and this give them the technical results. When they're happy, then we finally move the code over.

One of the clients that I worked with to automate their process received invoices from 12 different companies and different regions. These are the process steps that we automated:

1. We could get the data from PDFs (the invoices were in a PDF format).
2. We accepted the data, uploaded it, and filtered out some of the data. 
3. Once we extracted the data, we use it to search data on particular websites for a particular invoice number to be processed. 
   
4. We used the invoice number to process the invoice.
5. We got approval for the invoice. 

I worked on another process where it generated offer letters for different people with templates. We would get the data in a dump. We would take that data put it into a template, and then into a Word file.

With another client, we used to receive around a million files. Per day, we would have to process around 70,000 to 80,000 records, uploading data where the volume was huge. We deployed the process in multiple bots, using about 20 bots to get the process done. For this client, every second used mattered. We had to code the bot in such a way that we could save every second for them. We had to figure out how much time the bot took and the cost savings for any particular data. We used the workload feature of Automation Anywhere get it done. The manual process took around 30 to 40 people around five to six hours a day, where the bot finishes between one to one a half hours. This was a huge time savings for the client.

For the client with 70,000 to 80,000, we created an SQL database to maintain all their records using bots. E.g., if a bot failed, then another bot would retry using the same information. In the "You Ready" phase, this process was 95 to 98 percent successful. When we finally moved it to production, we had between 99 to 100 percent accuracy. This took us around one and a half months to set up. Two development levels were involved along with an architect who was guiding us.

The most valuable feature is the object cloning. If you compare it to the other RPA tools, object cloning in Automation Anywhere is the most valuable. Mainly for web application, object cloning comes in very handy. Most processes are built as either a website or as a desktop application. Out of 800 commands, around 150 to 200 will be cloned through object cloning. In Automation Anywhere object cloning, there is a special feature called DOMXPATH, where we can customize it to any level. If IDs getting changed, which happens in some cases, then we find out the pattern. Based on the pattern, we come to the particular text box and button. Then, we can use bots along with parent-sibling relationships to get things done. 

I like that it has PGP Command and it is able to connect to a Citrix environment. 

We have the MetaBot feature, which is valuable because we can read reusable components in the MetaBot, then use them as a framework.

The training and resources for this tool are very good. They are so simple that anyone can easily learn it. One of the tool values is its ease of use.

The Excel part needs improvement because we use it as a database. Right now, we are using UiPath for this feature, as that RPA tool allows us to sort, search, and filter in Excel databases. 

The IQ Bot is pretty immature, in regards to AI and machine learning. I would like them to add additional logic.

I have been using it for almost two years now.

Automation Anywhere is quite reliable and stable, especially compared to the other RPA tools. E.g., with UiPath, code that was working yesterday might not work today.

We have experience minor issues with Automation Anywhere, such as with the object cloning, where it required us to restart the machine. Once the machine was rebooted, the solution worked fine.

It takes one or two people to handle the daily maintenance of this solution.

We code our bots with tasks and subtasks in such a way that we can easily combine them when new features come up.

The initial setup is pretty simple and fast. It can be done from the web Control Room, which can be done easily.

For coding, we are keeping the information in XLS or XML files. We use MetaBot to retrieve the data. We keep our URLs in an Excel file, so when we go to our production environment that it will automatically take the URLs and implement them.

One or two people can deploy the solution easily if they understand the requirements.

In most of the cases, the product value is very good. If the infrastructure, implementation, and framework are good, then generally, the client can get a good return on investment. However, getting good resources is tough since most people have limited experience in RPA products who struggle a lot to use these tools.

The coding for Automation Anywhere is a lot easier than for UiPath and Blue Prism. I have about a year and half of experience with UiPath. Compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere is easy to use and bot development is faster. If you try to develop the same bots in UiPath, development of the same bots in Automation Anywhere will be faster. If the client wants the bots to be developed very quickly, we will do it Automation Anywhere. However, if they give us time, then we will us UiPath. If the process is huge and complex, then we go with Blue Prism.

Another key advantage of Automation Anywhere is the object drawing feature. This comes in very handy. Whereas, if we use UiPath, we have to use the .NET code and commands versus Automation Anywhere where can use scripts or create MetaBots. 

Companies need to do feasibility testing to avoid trying to automate processes which are not right for automation. Then, they should examine which vendor is the right one for the automation process, e.g., Automation Anywhere or UiPath. They need to establish the proper infrastructure for the RPA product, like licenses and an RPA team. The RPA can be a mixture of trained professionals and people who are learning as they go from the training provided by the tool.

Version 11.3 updated a lot of features that were previously not there, like workload automation and analytics dashboards.

I am always learning new things with this tool.

Our primary use case is banking/financial. Processes we have automated include loans, ledgers, mortgage loans, and even some of the record management systems.

In some of our use cases, people were spending more than three hours per day just generating reports. And then we created an automation for this and it reduced the time to 30 minutes. It improves employee productivity so they can use their time in other areas.

I like the way it works with structured data in the back office and the way it does repetitive work.

In terms of ease of use for developers, we're able to create reusable components. We don't want people to have to rebuild things from scratch. In this way, developers can take the reusable components and complete their development processes more quickly.

The bot creation process is pretty straightforward. Anyone can go in and learn it easily, and then they can build a bot. I like it.

When it comes to integrating the solution with other applications, there are some challenges. For some third-party solutions, there are no direct interconnections. For example, there were no direct connections with SAP systems. So, we had to create connectivity between Automation Anywhere and some third-party solutions. They have now improved that situation a lot and we can connect SAP and other systems as well.

If they want to sustain their position in the market, they have to be flexible, working on how we can integrate with third-parties, working on a machine-learning product. People are expecting that and it would be really helpful.

From the IQ Bot perspective, frankly speaking, they still have to improve a lot. I got IQ Bot training in San Jose. My expectation from a straight, technical, architectural point of view was that I would be able to create my own algorithm and integrate it. But with IQ Bot, I am not able to integrate anything. It is already well-defined, so I have to use that particular option only. I know I can not go with any other machine-learning platform. I hope they will be coming out with version 12 where we can integrate it with Python algorithms and other stuff. It might only be in the future, it might only be on the roadmap. But as of now, it is lacking a lot in that area. We are expecting, for most of the documentation, things like tags, that there would be a checkbox option. That's lacking in IQ Bot.

The stability has increased a lot. When we started with version 10.2, there was a lot of instability. There was no way we could keep the bots active, there were scenarios where it became disconnected. There is also the code deployment perspective and a lot of other angles. People are always only thinking from the business perspective, but as a technical architect, I think about operational effectiveness and how they can improve the product's maturity.

The stability has improved a lot.

However, when upgrading, they changed their internal architecture. They moved it to a JT Java platform. When moving, some of the existing features did not work in the new version. It might be that they have to improve their regression testing to improve clients' satisfaction. It can happen that what is running in production currently, if I move to a new version, suddenly is not working tomorrow. People are not happy with that and say, "I want to roll back to the older version." They are not able to use the new features.

When moving to a new version, they have to think about what features people are using and what kind of impact there will be. Small business users will be fine, those who have ten bots or 15 bots. But there are organizations like mine that have around 700 to 1,000 bots, and that makes changes very difficult to handle. It could be that 10,000 tasks are using something and if that thing is changed it will be hard to update. I might have to spend a year on that. People will never accept that.

Scalability-wise, they have increased it a lot, based on the clustering method. As a technical architect, I'm going with always-on production and data centers. That means that if any data center goes down - there is a natural disaster or something else that happens - how do you make it such that you can bring up another data center? I'm coming up with a design for that based on the latest version, version 11.

The initial setup is very simple. It's Windows-based and it's a straightforward installation. We used to say they need to come up with a silent installation option, with the previous version. But now, with version 11, they have introduced, even at the server level, a silent installation. That means we can make it automated instead of manually installing it.

We measure the ROI of automated processes by how much of a benefit we're getting from it. We look at how much time it takes and how many robots we're using and we include the licensing and operations costs. Finally, we take into account how much faster the performance of the bot is, compared to how long it took to do the process before automation.

We have saved time and money, but when people think of going with RPA they cannot expect that they will immediately see ROI. They have to sustain and increase the RPA options. They will have to spend a minimum of one or two years increasing their use cases for automation. Then they will see a good ROI. They should not expect, within three months, to say, "Hey, I have automated, where is the ROI?"

All organizations have a certain strategy or checklist. In this case, management will think first about licensing cost, about the total cost of investment. After that, they will think about the product's features and functionality. They will also look at support. They will consider the use cases, the current processes they have identified already, and based on all that they will decide whether to go with Automation Anywhere or another product.

In terms of our bot creation process, people come to me and say, "I have a process. How do we automate it?" We need to understand if it's a cognitive use case or a straightforward use case. If it's straightforward, we tell them we'll use this product and build it for them with four to six weeks of development. Then it can go to production. If it's cognitive, then we really need to understand it better. We need to use a third-party product, like Kofax or maybe an IQ Bot if it is fit for the scenario. Based on that, it takes some time and then we'll move it to production.

We have a process architecture review committee where we review all the processes. We cannot blindly go forward with all the processes that have scope for automation because it's all licensing cost. We need to think about whether we can automate a given process with any other IT automation solution, like scripting or macros. If that is not possible then we have a fit for RPA. Then we have to go through our checklist, walk through the use cases, and look at the percentage of the automation scope: Is it a 100 percent automation scope or 80 percent or 20 percent? We need to to know if there is any manual validation or manual intervention required and how that is handled.

Initially, we failed with the Citrix automation where we have a lot of use cases. We ran into a lot of limitations with Automation Anywhere in version 10.5. But with version 11, they have AI Sense which we can use for Citrix applications. We are currently exploring this option.

I have taken courses at the Automation Anywhere University and I have advanced professional certification from Automation Anywhere, which I completed for version 10.5. I'm also doing it for version 11. I also have an official certificate for IQ Bots.

At the moment, for us, everything is on-premise. We're not ready to go with cloud. So we have to build our own platform. We have to build our own bots.

I would rate this solution at seven out of ten. They have to improve on the product's maturity level. When they are introducing new versions, they have to conserve the existing commands and features, so that they work when we move to the new version. And they also have to come up with more flexibility, so their solution can integrate with our scripting and our own algorithms. That will make it easy to convince our business areas to increase the adoption of RPA.

In the financial industry, Automation Anywhere helps us streamline tasks by automating processes like invoice entry and employee onboarding, along with many other functions.

Businesses leverage Automation Anywhere to streamline their workflows and minimize operational problems.

Automation Anywhere has empowered our clients to achieve greater accuracy, enhanced control over their processes, and liberated employee time for more strategic endeavors.

Automation Anywhere is easy to use even for non-technical people once they receive the training.

Automation Anywhere is considered user-friendly, with the learning curve manageable for beginners. The available resources provide a solid foundation for new users to get started.

It seamlessly integrates with our daily applications, providing a valuable human-like interaction that enhances the automation process.

Co-Pilot improves productivity by automating tasks like reviewing purchase requisitions, which previously required multiple people. It also allows individuals to manage workloads that once demanded multiple people, allowing them to focus on more valuable tasks.

Generative AI stands out in automation, especially for crucial tasks like invoice processing, where it can extract information, or for tasks requiring web research, going beyond simple rule-based automation.

Automation Anywhere offers integration with various Large Language Model applications, and for connecting these external systems, utilizing their API is the best approach.

Automation Anywhere's document automation, powered by IQ Bots and now enhanced with AI, stands out as a particularly valuable feature. This combination allows for seamless integration of a wider range of document types, streamlining our workflows.

Automation Anywhere's current requirement for upfront annual payments limits flexibility for customers. Offering a wider range of payment options, such as monthly installments, would be a welcome improvement.

While Automation Anywhere's current learning materials cater to junior and new users, senior developers require more in-depth content to effectively utilize the platform's full potential.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for six years.

Automation Anywhere's technical support has a prompt response time, with Portuguese-speaking representatives in Brazil. For complex issues, they efficiently escalate tickets to a global team of engineers for further assistance.

Positive

I would rate Automation Anywhere ten out of ten.

We are a reseller. We first implemented it for an auto company and then decided to implement it for other customers as well.

We use it for workload automation. By implementing Automation Anywhere, we wanted to automate processes. We have not had any big problems with Automation Anywhere. The problems are in other systems.

Before Automation Anywhere, our clients did not have any other tool. Everything was done manually, and now, a lot of processes are automated by this tool. They save lots and lots of money.

We usually use Co-Pilot for approvals in a department. For example, when the accounting department needs to approve an invoice, we can use Co-Pilot and get the data, accept the data, and get the confirmation for the invoice. It can be automated by RPA. There is about a 5% to 10% increase in productivity because it is not so much stabilized for the client, but there is an opportunity to grow up to 40%. We are now playing a little bit with GenAI. We want to use some ChatGPT stuff and approve it through Co-Pilot. We can then use RPA. It could be a nice process. For example, we are building automation to compare the competitors in the market for a retail company. We can use ChatGPT to get some data from the website, and RPA can then make a comparison of these retail companies. We can then give the information to the finance department, for example, to change the price of the product or something like that. This is a really nice and great opportunity for customers.

The biggest benefit is cooperation with the robots. Approvals are great for us and for our clients. It is very nice for this.

We have mostly integrated SAP applications, and then there are also some specific automations for the customers. They usually have some internal applications that they are using. The integration components that we use vary depending on the target application. Sometimes, we are not able to get the data from the application via API, so we can use the UI automation. It is nice for automating the scraping technology for applications.

The main benefit for which we usually start using this solution for a project is to save overtime for employees so that employees are much happier because they do not want to do overtime. However, after that, when we start automating big processes, they are even able to reduce the number of employees. That is an aspect of automation, but overall, companies can save a lot of money because automation tools can help you save working capacity.

I like the new GenAI and Automation Co-Pilot, which is something like attended automation. It looks very nice now. GenAI is the most valuable to me at this time.

Reporting could be better because there is a little bit of overkill in getting information about the utilization of the bot license. This could be a little bit improved.

We sometimes have a problem with the connection between the control room and the database, but it is not very often.

We have been using Automation Anywhere since 2017.

For a small process, it could be a ten out of ten, and for a really complex process, it could be a six out of ten. That is because there are a lot of different ifs or decisions in the process. If a process is very complex and there are a lot of decisions, that could be a little bit bad for the stability of the bot.

Its scalability is great. You can reuse a lot of processes or roll them into different locations if the process is the same. For scalability, it is very nice. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

Knowledge-wise, they are great, but sometimes, the timing and the communication with the support can be a little bit crazy. Their knowledge is great, but the timing and scheduling of the calls are not so great.

Positive

We have worked with UiPath and Blue Prism. For us, Automation Anywhere is the winner. We chose it because we see the most opportunities for this tool. It is much more modern than Blue Prism. From my point of view, Automation Anywhere has a bigger price value than UiPath.

It is easy to learn how to automate processes with Automation Anywhere. It is not as easy as UiPath, but it is still easy to learn. UiPath is a bit easier to use because it has the UI and you mostly use the boxes. Automation Anywhere is more technical. It is a little bit more difficult than UiPath, but I understand why. In a few weeks, a nontechnical person should be able to automate a short or easy process.

We have the cloud as well as on-prem deployments. We now have something like a robot as a service. It is a hybrid with the cloud and on-premises setups.

It is quite easy to install it and connect it to the databases. The deployment is very easy.

The deployment duration usually depends on the client. It can take two or three days to set it up properly.

It could be a one-man job, but you need help from other departments to open the connection between the database and the control room and everything like that. The installation itself is a one-man job.

In terms of maintenance, a little bit of maintenance is required. The maintenance is mostly related to the bots or processes. It is not much related to the platform. Sometimes, you need to do upgrades and sort out some issues with the connections. Maintenance of the bot is a bit of a different story. If there is a change in the target system, we have to change the bots. It depends on the changes in the companies.

The maintenance effort depends on the version because sometimes, it is very easy to upgrade and everything is good, but sometimes, you update the platform and you need to change lots of bots. On average, it is easy to upgrade it. We can upgrade it with just one button.

Overall, we have nine people working with Automation Anywhere. Our clients are mostly enterprises.

It can save money and resources. You can save everything. There is a huge return on investment with its license.

I do not have the metrics for the ROI because it depends on the utilization of automation in a company. It could be a 100% ROI in one year. It could also be 1%.

It is somewhere in the middle. The price and value of Automation Anywhere are better than UiPath. The pricing is good globally. It could be a little bit cheaper, but it is good.

I would recommend Automation Anywhere because there is a price-to-value benefit. There are a lot of opportunities to save money in companies or enterprises. It is a very helpful technology, and it can help you to be a better competitor in the market.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten.

We use it for P2P, AP, O2C, AR, inventory management, finance and general ledger, and HR.

Moving forward, we see opportunities to operationalize AI within our organization for loss cash discounts, payment term mismatch, credit blocks for vendors, duplicate invoices, accounting entries, and invoicing in SAP.

By implementing Automation Anywhere, we wanted to achieve productivity and decrease the complexity of the processes. The key issue has been the complexity. RPA is not meant for complex processes. When a process becomes complex, we face a lot of errors. That creates slowness of processing, some interactions at critical moments, and frustration in the business because the job is not done. As an alternative, we have to work manually.

We built many complex bots, and that was not the best strategy. It is better to simplify and then automate, and not automate to avoid simplification. When you take this wrong approach, you have to deal with many technical issues, and you are not able to leverage and benefit from the other tools as part of the automation itself. In the business roadmap of an RPA project, there should be some reporting or dashboards of bots' portfolio so that you can see the percentage of successful processing, the rate of failures per bot, and the rate of exceptions. There should also be something to measure the return on investment to be able to say that this bot is meeting expectations and productivity. It was worth it to invest in this bot, and it costs less than manual work. If the bot is always facing issues, it will be better to come back to manual processing. We should not move from manual to automation without thinking about simplification. We need to simplify first and then automate.

We have a centralized infrastructure, but we have a decentralized business strategy. We gained 60% productivity, which is at a high level.

Automation Anywhere is easy to use for business users who do not have tech skills, but first, they need to be able to play the role of business analyst. You should not have many points of contact. You should have a single point of contact, which we call SPOC, and this person should be a business analyst. This single point of contact should collect all the requirements and needs and be able to communicate them in a structured way in order to enable the solution team to tackle the points. It is easy if the person who is supposed to do it follows the learning of the business analyst and is able to speak English. We have English speakers because we are in a multinational group. They should also have a minimum level of experience in IT or in general business. If the training is intensive, it takes three months to train non-technical employees on Automation Anywhere usage.

The RPA automation itself is valuable. We are not using the other components that are part of the platform much because we want to first stabilize the platform, the environment, and the infra.

It could be improved in terms of the global analysis of all the issues caused by the dependency components. For example, if bots are running on virtual machines on Microsoft Windows 2019, sometimes an issue might come from the virtual machine. Automation Anywhere should work closely with Microsoft or any other editor with which there are some issues occurring and stopping the bots from running properly. They need to collaborate together to enhance and improve the platform and the dependencies. It should not be that because the problem comes from Microsoft, Automation Anywhere does not tackle the issue. They should tackle the issue even when they are not responsible 100%. Microsoft or any other editor should work with Automation Anywhere.

I would like them to include process mining.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for three years, and I have been using UiPath for two years.

I would rate it a five out of ten in terms of stability because of the issue of dependency components, such as Microsoft components.

I would rate it a seven out of ten in terms of scalability.

Their support can be improved in terms of understanding the issue more deeply and involving enough resources based on the criticality or urgency of the issue. They should involve the right resources and the right number of resources. If we need an architect, they should bring us an architect. If we need an engineer, we should have an engineer in front of us. They should provide the right person at the right time.

Neutral

I have worked with UiPath. The move to Automation Anywhere was not my choice. It was a group choice.

We have a hybrid cloud. The implementation is easy if you are business-oriented, you first tackle simple use cases, and you involve all the teams. The complexity is always there, but to have less complexity, it is important to ensure these three elements. 

We include people from development, monitoring, management of development and monitoring, central IT management, and central business management.

In terms of upgrades, it is difficult to upgrade Automation Anywhere. The upgrades of Automation Anywhere are sometimes not adapted to the clients. They sometimes choose to upgrade the platform during a critical period, such as accounting month-end closing. It is definitely not the right moment to launch the upgrade. Automation Anywhere sometimes pushes general upgrades during critical periods. The best will be to take into account the constraints of the clients in order to not make it difficult for them.

In terms of maintenance, if the bots are running 24 hours a day, you need three people or at least two people for monitoring. The upgrade of bots requires one developer.

You get a return on investment only after 18 months. You can get 50% savings.

It depends. For example, for my group, we are centralizing the infrastructure in Paris. Our contract is signed with Automation Anywhere in France. The currency and the pricing of Automation Anywhere in France can appear beneficial and interesting for Germany and Scandinavian countries, but when we share our infra and are internally charging other countries such as Poland, Brazil, or some other country with a lower currency value as compared to Euro, it becomes less beneficial. They would prefer to sign the contract directly with Automation Anywhere because they will benefit from a price that is as per their local market.

The price works well for France, but it becomes a bit complex when you centralize it for all the countries or groups. In the international context, you have to propose something a little bit tailored for some countries, such as Romania or Brazil.

When it comes to automation and AI, I always think about being business-oriented. Always start with the needs of the business and do not automate just for automation. You have to think about relevant use cases and also scalable use cases. In a multinational group, it is important to not think individually. This way you can collaborate more and reuse more things. You can reuse the components that have already been built. It is also economical.

Each center of automation should have a governance plan. The governance plan should be very precise, and it should expand the roles. Each stakeholder should know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it at each cycle or phase. After that, you should come to the functional and technical aspects. Without a governance plan, nothing is possible.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a seven out of ten.

We sell Automation Anywhere to customers who want to automate their processes within the hospitality industry.

Our customers can deploy Automation Anywhere both on-premises and in the cloud.

It is easy to learn and use Automation Anywhere.

Learning to automate using the solution for simple processes in HR and IT is easy. For areas such as finance, the training takes a few months and requires a technical person to train the team.

Integrating with co-pilot is straightforward when using SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, or other international systems. However, challenges arise when integrating with in-house systems.

Co-pilot helps increase productivity for our customers.

We often integrate SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft with Automation Anywhere. There are no issues with the integrations as long as we configure everything properly.

Automation Anywhere enables our customers to achieve savings of over 60 percent in time and money. While employees may take breaks and vacations, their automated processes continue to operate seamlessly without interruption, ensuring a consistent flow of work.

The ability to automate renewals of government licenses four times a year is valuable.

The marketing for Automation Anywhere has room for improvement.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for three years.

Automation Anywhere can provide automation to scale as long as the organization has the budget for it.

The technical support is great.

Positive

I use both UiPath and Automation Anywhere. UiPath has a more aggressive marketing strategy and a larger market share. However, our banking, insurance, and high-level customers prefer Automation Anywhere over UiPath.

The deployment time depends on the number of processes being automated.

Despite being less expensive than UiPath, Automation Anywhere remains cost-prohibitive for many small and medium-sized businesses.

I would rate Automation Anywhere nine out of ten.

Our customers are all enterprise-level. 

Automation Anywhere does not require ongoing maintenance and offers 24/7 support if any issue arises.

I use Automation Anywhere for the reconciliation process in the finance sectors, telecom industry, and banking and insurance sectors. Mostly, I use it for reconciliation and data feeding for SAP and Oracles applications. Sometimes, I use APIs, too.

Automation Anywhere has improved the way our organization functions. With every release, the tool improves its standards and technical aspects. They have also improved a lot from the security point of view. IQ Bot structures the unstructured document. It is very important to our organization. The time taken to realize the benefits of the solution depends upon the process. If it is a simple process, we would need one month.

IQ Bot is valuable to us for document understanding.

The product has to improve document understanding. It must also provide more training.

I have been using the solution for more than seven years.

I rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten.

The product is deployed across multiple departments and teams. More than 200 people are using the solution in our organization. I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten. We faced some problems while scaling the tool. Once we upgrade the package, it doesn’t work. When we update the package again, the issue gets resolved.

It is very easy to contact the support team. The team responds to our queries within a day. The product provides different levels like Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. If we enroll in the Bronze level, the support team will help us, but the time will be delayed. They'll reply within a day.

If we choose Silver, the team replies within two working hours. However, we get a response from the team within a day. The team reaches out to the customers who have raised tickets. The support team responds quickly. The team shares the documentation with us. If it doesn't work, they will immediately set up a meeting, look into the issue, and try to help us with the steps to follow.

The support team follows certain steps. If we raise a ticket, they provide some steps in a document containing the solution to our issues. We can immediately connect with the right person if it doesn't resolve our issues. To save time, if we raise a request to connect with the support team member, instead of sending a document, they should immediately connect with us to provide support.

Positive

It's very easy to deploy the tool. We just have to export it from the development control room and import it to another control room. We can select the files we need and export or import them. It is very simple, like a file upload or download.

The time taken for deployment depends upon the number of files or packages since we use multiple workflows and tasks. It depends on the file size. However, it should not take more than three minutes. Even if it is complex, the deployment is completed within three minutes. If it is simple or moderately complex, depending on the file size, it uploads within 30 seconds. While deploying the product, we can see the progress in the control room.

I have experience in deploying the solution. Whoever has the right to deploy can deploy the product. We can deploy it parallelly. The number of people required for the deployment depends upon the process. If it is five to six processes, one support team and one deployment team member is enough. We have five administrators. We also have 15 members in the support team.

The infrastructure team has some upgrade or patch activity every month. The team informs us about it. Usually, it happens only on weekends. Most of the bots will be idle on Sunday. It will run only for a few cases. Maintenance takes three hours monthly.

I have seen an ROI on the solution. The ROI depends on the use case. Some use cases have more documents we have to read, and we need to feed them into some applications. We check the FTE benefits and calculate the ROI based on it.

The product’s pricing is reasonable. The pricing depends upon the partner. We can get Runner, Attended, Unattended, IQ Bot, and Bot Insight licenses. The price is reasonable if we can get whatever the organization needs. There are no additional costs.

The product fails in some environments. In some applications, the product behaves weirdly. UiPath is mostly accurate, and we are able to automate it. Automation Anywhere has to improve its technical features. It doesn’t work in some applications without any workaround. UiPath has better stability than Automation Anywhere. Everything works perfectly in UiPath. Sometimes, some controls don’t work after an upgrade in Automation Anywhere. We must update the package again to make it work. Compared to Automation Anywhere, we might have to wait longer for UiPath’s support team.

Currently, I am using Automation 36O. The solution has added Google, Microsoft, and forms recently. We can easily integrate them. We can build a custom form for an Attended bot. The user can feed data, and the bot can pick it up and run it. Most of the tools have integrated this form. Instead of creating custom forms, the product provides an in-built forms section.

The solution has drag-and-drop features. There is no coding. If a person is well versed in coding like Java, Python, and VBScript, they can integrate the product. Even if we have no technical skills, it is very easy to drag and drop. It will work. We just need logical thinking.

The time taken to train non-technical employees depends upon the employees. Within two weeks, the employees would be able to understand the tool. They would also be able to develop simple processes. It is easy to expand the product across an entire company.

Integrating RPA bots, APIs, business applications, and documents into the solution is not hard. It is user-friendly. Integrating any web application or third-party application like Salesforce is very easy. I have used Salesforce API and some third-party web applications. The tool also provides some in-built APIs developed by the web application team. When I face some restrictions, the team provides me with APIs, which are easy to integrate. If something is not possible to automate in GUI, we choose a different solution for API building. Everything can be done within Automation Anywhere. It is easy to integrate the solution with third-party products.

We haven't explored more opportunities. We are using only simple processes. I would choose an RPA solution over an API integration. We need to have some security controls and approvals before we can integrate APIs. In RPA, we can not only integrate API but also have other in-built action items.

People can definitely choose Automation Anywhere. We will see a lot of changes and improvements in the upcoming versions. Based on these updates, organizations will get more benefits from the tool.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.