Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Program Manager, Automation Centre Of Excellence at a legal firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
The control room gives you the power to manage your digital workforce but bot insights should be included in the package
Pros and Cons
    • "The solution should include an analytics dashboard. As the space is maturing, many vendors sell functionalities as separate components so this is not unique to the solution."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our company uses the solution for automations. 

    As a portfolio manager, the key responsibility is to determine how to use our latest technologies for use cases. We identify use cases in various functions and buy software licenses for them. 

    Once we buy licenses, we use the solution for end-to-end discovery of use cases, onboarding in-house technical staff for ongoing management, and collaborations for training or licenses. 

    Our licenses are used by our technical team within our Center of Excellence. The team handles the end-to-end work that includes development, testing, quality assurance, and production. We are using the solution to its full capacity. Bots are at an optimum because we want to extract maximum value from our licenses. 

    We plan to increase usage once we finish migrating from on-premises to the cloud. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    The solution has helped us embrace more of a digital transformation footprint, bring in efficiencies, and create an internal infrastructure.  

    What is most valuable?

    The solution's architecture is very nice. The three components are a bot, a control room, and a bot developer. 

    The control room is quite a good feature. It is easy to use and gives you the power to manage your digital workforce. It gives you a sense of understanding in terms of how the audit trail happens. 

    What needs improvement?

    The solution should include an analytics dashboard. As the space is maturing, many vendors sell functionalities as separate components so this is not unique to the solution. If I am buying a license, I should at least get a flavor of my analytics with a dashboard related to operational KPIs. Right now, if you want detailed analytics, you need to buy the dashboard separately. This licensing structure adds to the overall cost. 

    The solution should include bot insights instead of selling it as a separate license. From the bot and business perspectives, insights are important for operational agility metrics and managing KPIs. For example, I want to how many hours in a day or month a bot runs for human resources when it performs A, B, C, D, and E and gives benefits across D, E, and F. 

    Buyer's Guide
    Automation Anywhere
    January 2025
    Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
    831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for three years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable so I rate stability an eight out of ten. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is somewhat scalable so I rate scalability a six out of ten. 

    How are customer service and support?

    We get the right support when we ask for it. Sometimes though, service requests are not handled within the timeframe we expect. Issues move in circles until they are placed with the proper technician. 

    There is definitely an opportunity to lessen the response time so I rate support a seven out of ten. 

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Neutral

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I have prior experience with UiPath to a certain extent. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup takes a good amount of time because you have to develop an infrastructure that includes servers and compliance. A lot of time is spent framing those requirements and signing contracts that are quite detailed. 

    I rate the setup a five out of ten because it is not that easy.

    What about the implementation team?

    We worked with technicians from the solution to implement.

    There are some difficulties in migrating to a new platform. There are a lot of internal governance forms or approvals that can delay the process. Lots of things need to be reworked as you go through the process. 

    For about four to six months, you can take on the fixed paper side to get all the needed approvals. In some cases, the process might even take eight months because everything takes time and other business activities may take priority. Separate contracts need to be created for automations and they are usually handled by another team. Many approvals are needed at all levels of the organization. 

    We currently use the solution on-premises but are migrating to the cloud. This process is also not that smooth and requires nudging. We are going back to the drawing board to take another look at things and rework if needed. Most components should be scalable and reusable but we are having a few issues on that front. 

    Ongoing maintenance includes our internal team working with two or three of the solution's technicians to resolve issues. The solution's team routes or allocates the right technician to handle our service request. Our internal team supports and helps their technicians to understand our unique scenario. 

    What was our ROI?

    The solution is definitely worth the money. It is up to you to add quality use cases and utilize the digital workforce along with the human workforce. The tools are there, but the actual metrics derived are your baby. There are many benefits to automation solutions. 

    I won't give 100% credit to the solution. Perhaps UiPath would have given us the same results. The way you use a solution makes all the difference in ROI. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Similar to how competing products are priced, the solution has separate licenses for features that should be included in a bundle package. For example, the analytics dashboard and bot insights are sold as separate licenses. 

    No one wants to buy a product that is too complex because components are sold separately. Give longstanding customers these benefits as icing on the cake. 

    The solution is not the least or most expensive. Pricing is good and in the middle so I rate pricing a five out of ten. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    The options were evaluated before I joined the team, but I believe the company also looked at UiPath, Info Sales, and XCL. 

    No tool, product, or technology is 100% foolproof. Each has its own set of pros and cons, including the solution. 

    The common sales approach across the solution and other vendors is misleading. They make it look like a utopia where you will increase productivity by 200% in six weeks. This is not possible because organizations can't do magic in six weeks. Some of the claims being made by developers or content providers are creating a false impression in terms of senior management. There is no magic wand. There has to be automation. It looks and sounds simple, but implementation is not that easy. Your program, team, and communications management need to move in tandem to give you the inputs or outputs for sensitivities around people, roles, responsibilities, and training. 

    It is important to be realistic when launching a new product or partnering with a player in the market. Be open and honest with customers. Don't make things too glamorous because it will be difficult to achieve that expectation. Stop overselling it and just be natural. A lot of consolidation is happening in the space and customers are aware because they read Forrester and Gartner. You can't fool customers so be honest and let them know that the solution needs to be managed by human beings. 

    What other advice do I have?

    The biggest lesson is to understand the functionalities you need before you buy the solution. Determine if the solution passes the litmus test. Be cautious about overselling it and instead set the right expectations. 

    Ask upfront if some additional features can be bundled because that will really help with your automation journey. 

    I rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Sr. RPA Consultant at Thirdware Solution Ltd.
    Real User
    Good security and bot visibility, and it supports many different platforms
    Pros and Cons
    • "Simply tagging variables used in the bot, can provide automated real-time dashboards that are presentable to management showing them a complete view of how the bots are performing."
    • "The quality and response time of the support, even on Sev-1 tickets, is not satisfactory."

    What is our primary use case?

    The primary usage of this solution is for the development of software bots using this RPA solution for various customers, and also for in-house process automation.

    Bots have been developed for various domains like Automotive, Banking and Finance, HR, Housing, etc, and across various end-user software like Oracle, SAP, QAD, Terminal applications, etc.

    As a first step towards having companies direction move towards emerging technologies, getting the right skillset available for adding Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, NLP, etc, so that we could provide a complete end-to-end solution to the customers.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We internally host v11 and A2019 Web CR of this solution for in-house development and training/learning purposes.

    RPA was introduced as an emerging technology in our company and Automation Anywhere was chosen as the RPA Solution. Thirdware became an AA partner for reselling AA licenses. Thirdware performs bot development as a vendor using this solution and has automated more than 60 processes to date in various domains.

    The Automation Anywhere RPA solution has opened gates for Thirdware to step into providing an end-to-end solution to customers by implementing emerging technologies like Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, NLP, etc.

    AA has brought a completely new skill set for entering a completely new domain and being versatile as a service/solution provider.

    What is most valuable?

    1. Bank-grade security provided by AA with Credential Vault and Lockers. With the level of security provided by AA, it is a global leader and it becomes easy to convince prospects and turn them into customers.
    2. Bot Insights provide visibility. Simply tagging variables used in the bot, can provide automated real-time dashboards that are presentable to management showing them a complete view of how the bots are performing.
    3. Platform support is very good. AA supports on-premise and all major Cloud providers for the installation of the software.
    4. The solution is very scalable.
    5. After learning other RPA tools, I can say that AA provides one of the best user experiences with the user-friendliness of the UI.
    6. The role-based access controls (RBAC) provided by AA are simple to define and provide clear distinction and segregation of duties and roles, and they help to maintain security.
    7. The A2019 bot agent and development on browser means that there is no need to install a thin client like v11 or other RPA tools. The automation development of bots can be performed right from the browser itself.
    8. The Flow view and List view for development mean that development becomes much easier, even for newbie users. The flow view and the drag and drop command flexibility is very helpful. The list view is generally preferred by the developers.
    9. Workload management and Queues are valuable components. With the WLM module, multiple bot runners can be utilized to perform a single task more quickly and thus help achieve SLAs. Multiple bot runners can be used optimally to divide and perform tasks simultaneously on different machines.
    10. Inline Python scripting support with A2019 is possible, which reduces a lot of lines of code for programmers. 

    What needs improvement?

    Technical support provided by Automation Anywhere is not up to the mark and needs a lot of improvements. Solutions or details provided by L1 support are contradicted by L2 and/or L3 support persons, thus leading to confusion.

    The quality and response time of the support, even on Sev-1 tickets, is not satisfactory.

    Enhancements or product issues/bugs are not fixed quickly and no ETA is provided for the same.

    Working of triggers (email file, etc) in A2019 in unattended mode is a feature that was available in v11 but missing in A2019. I would like to see this feature in A2019.

    In v11, RDP-based deployment and auto-login both were possible but with A2019, only the RDP-based approach is possible. Due to this, there is no way to maintain any application open inside the RDP, as each and every time Web CR connects to RDP to run the bot and disconnects, it closes all of the open apps inside RDP and terminates. I need a way where open apps inside RDP must be left open if they are open already.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Automation Anywhere for more than three years, right from v10, v11 until the latest A2019 release.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    All of the bots deployed by our company are working quite stably in production with minimal support required. Unless there are some changes/enhancements to the bot logic suggested by business users, there are no changes or modifications required to the bot to work.

    There was a bug in A2019.14 version which did not allow proper bot deployment intermittently. this had led to a major issue on PROD where schedules were running but bot was not getting deployed on PROD runner machine leading to instability. We had raised the concern with AA team and they have addressed the same in A2019.15 release.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is highly scalable, which is a USP of this solution. Adding more creators and runners is a quick task.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I would rate my experience with technical support as four out of ten, due to a lack of responsiveness and the quality of support provided.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    This was the first RPA solution that was introduced in our company.

    However, personally, I have learned UiPath and found the Automation Anywhere solution better in all the aspects (Features, Releases, User-Friendliness, Cost).

    Customers do ask for a comparison of this solution with the competitors in the market but it is always seen that Automation Anywhere is a clear winner.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward if it is done in express installation mode.

    Custom mode installation and installations involving SSO and AD authentication are more complicated.

    IQ Bot installation requires expertise.

    What about the implementation team?

    All installations and implementations are done in-house in our company.

    What was our ROI?

    ROI achievement for most of the customers is observed from four to eight months from the time of implementation.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The one-time setup cost can be fully recovered with the ROI achievement within six months, provided the implementation of bots is planned properly.

    The pricing and licensing are definitely moderate to costly but easily recoverable by achieving ROI quickly.

    Our setup cost was only procuring AWS instances but installations are performed in-house.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    UiPath was evaluated but it was found that Automation Anywhere is a clear winner and a market leader globally.

    What other advice do I have?

    AA is a global market leader and the best RPA software to go with, in all aspects. If the AA support improves then this definitely deserves a rating of nine and a half out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Thirdware is a Partner with Automation Anywhere and develops bots for customers on this platform.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Automation Anywhere
    January 2025
    Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
    831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Nayeem Mohammed - PeerSpot reviewer
    Account and Delivery Head at Jade Global
    MSP
    Top 20
    Has a favorable learning curve, delivers automation at scale, and helps increase automation consumption
    Pros and Cons
    • "IQ Bot is the most valuable integrated feature of Automation Anywhere."
    • "It is not easy to integrate APIs with Automation Anywhere without a good knowledge of APIs."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Automation Anywhere in the finance domain for tasks such as data reconciliation, data identification, and aviation operations.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We implemented Automation Anywhere to address our outstanding invoices, purchase orders, and quotations from multiple vendors. We utilized the IQ Bot feature, which is integrated into the OCR system.

    For technical individuals, Automation Anywhere is easy to use.

    The learning curve is favorable for non-technical staff, as it typically takes between two to four weeks before they can start automating with Automation Anywhere.

    Automation Anywhere's capability to deliver automation at scale is commendable. We possess the ability to scale up to multiple users across organizations. In fact, I have successfully executed this RPA using a report containing one Lakh operations, which is equivalent to one hundred thousand.

    Automation Anywhere has helped our organization increase its automation consumption. We were able to showcase the use cases and case studies we have completed to market our abilities and services.

    What is most valuable?

    IQ Bot is the most valuable integrated feature of Automation Anywhere.

    What needs improvement?

    For business users, the solution is complex and could be made more user-friendly.

    It is not easy to integrate APIs with Automation Anywhere without a good knowledge of APIs.

    The pricing of Automation Anywhere is higher compared to other solutions on the market, such as Microsoft Power Automate and UiPath, and it has room for improvement.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Automation Anywhere for five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Automation Anywhere is stable. We can rely on it without encountering any issues.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Automation Anywhere is highly scalable.

    How are customer service and support?

    The quality of technical support relies on the partnership we maintain with Automation Anywhere. Gold partners receive excellent service. As long as we maintain this relationship with Automation Anywhere, we can expect consistently good service. However, if the partnership is not in place, it may take some time, but we will still receive some answers eventually.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We still use multiple RPAs depending on the customers' requirements, including UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate.

    UiPath has the ability to integrate with other products, whereas Automation Anywhere has limitations in integrating with APIs and other OCR tools.

    What was our ROI?

    We will see a return on investment eventually, but we need to be patient in order to realize the potential that Automation Anywhere offers three years down the line.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price for Automation Anywhere is high. I would rate the cost an eight out of ten, with ten being the highest cost.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Automation Anywhere eight out of ten. The integrations and pricing model are areas that need improvement. However, Automation Anywhere is a very effective tool, offering its own internal solutions. Automation Anywhere eliminates the need to rely on any other third-party solutions, which is a significant advantage.

    For organizations interested in utilizing API automation, there are several tools available in the market. Additionally, numerous BPM tools can be employed for API integration. However, if they require desktop automation or process automation, Automation Anywhere is a recommended tool.

    Our IT department maintains the solution. We maintain the bots once a quarter for one hour.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1460625 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Chatbot Developer at Infosys Technologies Ltd
    Real User
    Bots can run all day long which affects the overall budgets; the UI should be simpler
    Pros and Cons
    • "Tasks now don't depend upon the unavailability of certain employees/colleagues to be completed. Also, bots can run all day long which also affects the overall budgets."
    • "Though the courses in the certification's learning hub are great and awesome, there is some more space for adding more explained contents."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case is to automate the Client's workflow of reading a ticket from ServiceNow and then assign it to different bots which in turn performs the validations of the tickets with respect to different regions of the client's parameters. After the completion of the validations, the bot will update the ticket as per it's status and then send the hourly output report to Client's operations team. In between, if the bot fails, system exceptions or some business exception scenarios, human team will do the rest of the task.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Automation Anywhere has improved my organization in the following ways:

    1. Repetitive tasks have been automated and hence the employees work in crucial logical thinking processes.

    2. Tasks now don't depend upon the unavailability of certain employees/colleagues to be completed. Also, bots can run all day long which also affects the overall budgets.

    3. Centralized Backup, Security & Disaster Recovery, Bot Insights, Workload Management, ROI Calculator in COE Dashboard.

    What is most valuable?

    1. IQ Bot, Automation Lifecycle Management, Workload Management, Centralized Backup, Security & Disaster Recovery

    2. Image Recognition and OCR activity

    3. Drag and Drop activities eases the task to write codes.

    4. Control Room is very useful for bot's activity insights

    5. Easy to use activities and almost all the artifacts available in the official AA's docs and forums can solve complex codes.

    6. Certification exams are too good and almost cover all the required knowledge to be sound in working with Automation Anywhere.

    What needs improvement?

    1. User Interface can be simpler.

    2. Master Certification now paid (previously it was free of cost) which sometimes creates hesitation to go for it.

    3. Though the courses in the certification's learning hub are great and awesome, there is some more space for adding more explained contents.

    4. Citrix automation lacks the perfect end to end automation.

    5. Web Automation fails when an automated Screen Resolution is changed to some other resolutions. 

    6. Pricing with respect to the competitors is more.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using AA for two years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Performance is up to the mark with limited constraints of applications to be used. An application must be of a certain version provided by certain organizations and thus discontinuation of the said applications affects a lot while maintaining the bot.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is very high. There's no limitation of the number of bots to be used simultaneously and in a single port/machine/ID.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical Support provided almost all the solutions we had.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We had used a different solution for the following prominent reasons:

    1. Cheaper price for same type of tool.

    2. Citrix Automations.

    3. Unavailability of required configurations that supports Automation Anywhere

    How was the initial setup?

    Since the IT team and Infosec looked up for the setup, I don't have much idea about this.

    What was our ROI?

    Since the support for IE is discontinuing soon, we are now moving the base code to EDGE Chromium. ROI will be recounted after that. Previously as per the efficiency, we decreased the numbers from the process.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The installation is a bit of hectic process and also the price is more in market compared to other competitors.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    UiPath, Blue Prism, AssistEdge

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer990828 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Delivering Digital Workforce at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    We have automated our critical functions, like supply chain management and purchase orders
    Pros and Cons
    • "We have seen more efficient processing and less number of errors due to quality control."
    • "We have staff who have been moved out of the mundane tasks and are now doing value-added activities."
    • "We have a few issues which have persisted. These end up restarting the machine. We are hoping in version 11.3 of Automation Anywhere, our compatibility and infrastructure issues will be resolved."
    • "If you work with image recognition and custom objects, there are stability issues."

    What is our primary use case?

    Most of our use cases are for primary supply chain management. We have a lot of business processes and back office automation that we do primarily for our product people and our finance team. Most of the work is automation done in supply chain management, product setup, and product administration. 

    I have been using this solution for almost four years and one year at my current company.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We have automated our critical functions, like supply chain management and purchase orders. Overall, there's been a direct benefit from it so far. We just completed our Phase I project this year. We have staff who have been moved out of the mundane tasks and are now doing value-added activities. 

    What is most valuable?

    Object cloning is the primary way of capturing inputs from screen scraping or mimicking the user flow, and it is 70 percent of the work that we do using Automation Anywhere.

    What needs improvement?

    We have a few issues which have persisted. These end up restarting the machine. We are hoping in version 11.3 of Automation Anywhere, our compatibility and infrastructure issues will be resolved. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    Three to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    If you are using object cloning, it is stable. However, if you work with image recognition and custom objects, there are stability issues. 

    We are on version 10.5.7. We have upgraded bits of it to 11.3, but it is still not operational on 11.3. We are currently working on migrating our infrastructure to version 11.3.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We are still small from a robotics implementation standpoint. We are just about 20 bots right now with no issues. If we scale up to 500 bots, I am not sure how the infrastructure and systems will behave, but I have had a good experience from a scalability standpoint on the tool so far.

    I have a team of about 25 people with six people in support with the rest in development. At any given time, we have more than 50 people running Automation Anywhere.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    This particular ticket management system works well. It's a reliable. If we need to a raise ticket for any issue, there is an escalation mechanism. Though, I have not used it. I try to utilize our customer success manager to be able to right person from Automation Anywhere. My experience has been good, though not excellent, from a support standpoint.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We were not using a solution before Automation Anywhere.

    How was the initial setup?

    In version 11.3, the setup changed. So far, it has been simpler. Also, in version 11, they have changed the design into a Java Jetty architecture, which is more stable. However, we were not familiar with it, so we had some issues with it. Thankfully, Automation Anywhere diligently answered our calls and helped us through the installation. It wasn't easy to install on our own using the guide. We needed support from a technical entity from the support site to be able to do it.

    It needs a lot of coordination between the DBAs, which is a separate team within our organization, the infrastructure team, our team, and the Automation Anywhere teams to execute the deployment. Getting them all together was a good three hours exercise just to install.

    Two people from my team worked on the deployment, one of them being a DBA.

    What about the implementation team?

    I have a technical team of support members who know our internal infrastructure. We built it in-house and the support is not outsourced to any IT vendors. We take care of the infrastructure provisioning, support, etc. We do everything ourselves, along with the help of Automation Anywhere.

    I have a deployed team of six people for maintenance. 

    What was our ROI?

    We have seen more efficient processing and less number of errors due to quality control.

    Savings have not been able to catch it that much. I believe there is huge potential here. This year, we are focusing a lot on the indirect benefits of speeding up the process. For example, we want our key customers to benefit, or buyers and suppliers boost up their business to receive benefits indirectly by freeing up their time.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    They give us a good deal on the licensing because we bundle and customize things. If you ask to get a bulk business deal, you will receive more benefit. If you take other products from the suite, like IQ Bot, you can also receive a deal on the licensing. 

    We have also worked with them for so long now that we have developed a relationship.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    My current company looked at UiPath. We decided to go with Automation Anywhere vs UiPath, because of cost, reliability, and scalability.

    We do look at companies like Microsoft Azure to do unstructured data processing for us.

    What other advice do I have?

    It is a good with a good support app, but I would like it to work 100 percent of the time.

    We are looking to increase our usage in the future. First, we need to locate the opportunities to automate within our organization to automate which are good contenders for RPA engines. We are also trying to standardize our processes to push more processes into the automation pipeline, leading to expansion. We are getting Automation Anywhere to assist with this as part of our Phase II project, and increase our bot usage by the end of the year.

    If you are implementing it, you should have a good business case. Know what you're using it for: Is it for your direct or indirect benefits and what is the business value that you're going to bring in on the tool. Providing the tools for your business are important before onboarding it. Once you have onboarded it, you will need a good, capable team in-house to be able to keep the infrastructure maintained. 

    Start slow. Don't start with a huge approach, then you decide that you failed. Do some proof on concepts. Ensure there is work for your organization. Gain the trust of your stakeholders. Then, take baby steps to move forward.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    Adithya-Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
    Founder at N10 tech
    Real User
    Helps streamline processes, boosts accuracy, and eliminates downtime
    Pros and Cons
    • "The simplicity and ease of use is the most valuable part of Automation Anywhere."
    • "Automation Anywhere could benefit from a more technical focus."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Automation Anywhere to automate processes for our clients and have hundreds of use cases. 

    We implemented Automation Anywhere for redundant and manual tasks that are data-heavy and do not require a lot of logical reasoning in the process.

    We offer cloud-based deployment of Automation Anywhere for our clients. The specific type of deployment depends on each client's needs and preferences. Larger organizations may opt for their private cloud for security and control, while smaller ones might favor the public cloud's lower costs and simpler setup. Ultimately, the ideal deployment model depends on the individual organization's priorities.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Before Automation Anywhere, all of our processes were manual, time-consuming, and prone to inaccuracies due to human error. Automation Anywhere has transformed our operations by streamlining processes, boosting accuracy, and eliminating downtime.

    Business users who have decent logical and problem-solving skills can easily use Automation Anywhere.

    The learning curve is linear.

    Training non-technical employees to use Automation Anywhere takes around one month.

    Integration of automation into our workflows, APIs, business applications, and documents in Automation Anywhere is easy.

    The simpler the process and the larger the volume of data involved, the greater the potential for time and cost savings with Automation Anywhere. This is in contrast to more complex processes that require data manipulation and advanced reasoning or decision-making skills, where the benefits might be less pronounced.

    What is most valuable?

    The simplicity and ease of use is the most valuable part of Automation Anywhere.

    What needs improvement?

    Automation Anywhere could benefit from a more technical focus. As a developer, comparing it to UiPath, I find UiPath offers greater customization and integration capabilities, particularly with core languages like C#. Automation Anywhere currently seems geared more towards business users, while UiPath caters to technical users. Additionally, UiPath's free community edition appears significantly more robust than Automation Anywhere's.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Automation Anywhere for almost 13 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The cloud versions of Automation Anywhere are a significant improvement over the earlier desktop versions. I've been using Automation Anywhere since version five, and while the desktop versions were initially unstable, the cloud versions have been much more reliable. I commend the Automation Engineering team for their thorough testing before deployments.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Automation Anywhere's ability to provide automation at scale is good, especially with the control room and the workload management features.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial deployment is simple, especially for the cloud version. Just create an account, log in, and install the local connector or bot. Then, connect it to our device and access the website. One technical person can complete the deployment in five minutes.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten.

    While everyone seems eager to jump on the AI bandwagon, I believe it's not a mandatory element for every situation. The need for true, cutting-edge AI currently lies in research and development, not in everyday business processes. Current AI implementations tend to be overhyped and unnecessary for many applications.

    Upgrading Automation Anywhere is simple in the cloud.

    There is no maintenance for the cloud version of Automation Anywhere.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer1464537 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Enterprise Manager of Automation at Envision Healthcare
    Real User
    Easy to use for developers with a well laid out UI and many canned tools
    Pros and Cons
    • "I don't think one feature is more valuable than any other. In my opinion, the value is in the totality of the platform. It is easy to use for our developers with a well laid out UI and many canned tools. The Control Room is very easy to navigate and mostly intuitive to use."
    • "I am currently on 11.3.4.2 and the analytics feature of AA, Bot Insights, needs improvement. It is not easy to implement. It is not intuitive for the developer as you have to mark variables for analytics."

    What is our primary use case?

    Currently, our primary use cases are for the automation of medical appeals and charge processing. 

    We are currently on the 11.3.4.2 version in our production environment in a HA configuration. We use bare-metal servers for our production Control Room. All of our bot runners are Windows 10 virtual machines. We are in the process of adding A2019 IQ Bot and Control Room servers into our production environment. 

    In our Dev/UAT environments, we have added A2019 Control Room and IQ Bot servers in addition to our v11.3.4.2 servers.  

    How has it helped my organization?

    It has allowed us to generate additional revenue without having to hire additional people. Our fleet of bots is able to complete the work of roughly 40 FTEs. Without automating these tasks we would have had to hire additional staff or offshore this workload. 

    We have largely targeted processes performed by offshore contractors in order to reduce our reliance on overseas workers. Where we have automated processes performed by onshore workers we have been able to reassign impacted users to more productive work. 

    What is most valuable?

    I don't think one feature is more valuable than any other. In my opinion, the value is in the totality of the platform. It is easy to use for our developers with a well laid out UI and many canned tools. The Control Room is very easy to navigate and mostly intuitive to use. 

    The AA Client is easy to install and configure. I have found it very easy to integrate into our environment. And with the right vision and direction can be used to automate very complex tasks with plus 95% reliability and uptime. 

    What needs improvement?

    I am currently on 11.3.4.2 and the analytics feature of AA, Bot Insights, needs improvement. It is not easy to implement. It is not intuitive for the developer as you have to mark variables for analytics. Because it is very clunky you either have to build "helper" bots to display your bot analytics or use another platform like Tableau. 

    I would also like to see improvement in the segregation of roles. I still do not understand the login in not allowing the Control Room Administrator to also be a Bot Insights Administrator. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using AA for 15 months.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I have found no stability issues with Automation Anywhere.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have found the platform to be very scalable. We have seen no limitations thus far.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Customer service and tech support have always been responsive, knowledgeable and quick with a solution.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    This is our first RPA platform.

    How was the initial setup?

    I found the initial setup to straight forward. Automation Anywhere has been a great partner through the entire process.

    What about the implementation team?

    In-house implementation

    What was our ROI?

    Our ROI was roughly 10 months.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    RPA solutions are not cheap. There will be a large cost to implement any RPA solution but ROI can be huge and very quick if you are not timid. Do not go slow. Embrace the platform and it's huge potential and your RPA program will be a cash cow for your organization. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We did evaluate UI Path and Blue Prism before choosing Automation Anywhere.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Gajanan Shalgar - PeerSpot reviewer
    Software Engineer at OMFYS Technologies India Pvt.Ltd
    Real User
    Top 10
    Enables us to automate many processes and increase productivity
    Pros and Cons
    • "V.11 has three different recorders but A2019 Automation Anywhere created an all-in-one recorder called Universal recorder which more reliable to use."
    • "Automation Anywhere changed OCR features in A2019. My suggestion is to improve the OCR command scope and usability. We use OCR for PDF data extraction as we use in V. 11.x product."

    What is our primary use case?

    Automation Anywhere provides a tool for RPA. We can create software bots that mimic humans. The RPA solution is created to work for repetitive tasks and to use human resources for a creative perspective. Automation Anywhere provides the best feature to make a software bot for processes. We use it for SAP, HRMS, SQL, etc.

    Environment: we have a V11.x environment and A2019 cloud-deployed environment on AWS Cloud. Right now we are doing a migration process from V11.x to A2019.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Automation Anywhere provides an RPA solution for my organization. We automated many processes through Automation Anywhere in which productivity increased. We also implemented the IQ Bot by extracting invoice data to CSV format and uploaded it to Oracle E-Business Suite. We implemented Automation Anywhere in many department processes. We have two unattended bot runners. We implemented more then 40 processes until now. I used both V11.x and A2019 and I like more A2019 than V.11.

    What is most valuable?

    Automation Anywhere provides many features for automating processes.

    1. V.11 has three different recorders but A2019 Automation Anywhere created an all-in-one recorder called Universal recorder which more reliable to use.

    2. One of Automation Anywhere's best features is the IQ Bot. In V.11 we created many instances & train many groups. In A2019 Automation Anywhere updated IQ Bot to provide more accuracy. They included Python scripting for validation. Before that, we used Macro for validation.

    3. Automation Anywhere provides more commands in A2019 and also provides a feature called Packages through which we can update commands that we need.

    What needs improvement?

    Automation Anywhere changed OCR features in A2019. My suggestion is to improve the OCR command scope and usability. We use OCR for PDF data extraction as we use in V. 11.x product.

    Automation Anywhere has a perfect structure of working. Automation Anywhere has the best product structure. It also provides support for customers and they respond in 24 hours.

    They still provide updates on packages to get more accuracy in process creation. The automation has already improved very much.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using AA for 1.5 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Through Automation Anywhere, we can create stable bots for processes.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Through Automation Anywherl, we create bost for process and it very scalable & secure. 

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I only use Automation Anywhere tools V 11.x &A2019

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is easier than the migration. We have to follow the steps given by Automation Anywhere for the initial setup. If we have any issues with the setup, Automation Anywhere provides support.

    What about the implementation team?

    We implemented in customer environment. 

    What was our ROI?

    We have to calculate ROI before the process creation to get clarification and to understand the benefits of automation. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Automation Anywhere provided the best quality for products like iPhones. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Before using Automation Anywhere I checked Blue Prism & Ui Path but I preferred Automation Anywhere because it is best in quality. It also has IQ Bot for unstructured data converting in structure.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Private Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Amazon Web Services (AWS)
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Automation Anywhere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: January 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Automation Anywhere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.