Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Software Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helpful automation for Excel operations, but our high-availability setup was not straightforward
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature in this solution is the IQ Bot."
  • "We would like to see the scalability improve from a local perspective."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for this solution is in finance. We have a lot of things that we are trying to automate, including performing operations in Excel.

We are using IQ Bot for one of our use cases.

I am currently trying to prioritize use cases to fit different scenarios and make the best use of this solution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature in this solution is the IQ Bot. We are also able to perform many types of operations.

What needs improvement?

We would like to see the scalability improve from a local perspective.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. We do see downtime, but it has more to do with the operating system and the servers. From an application perspective, the downtime is close to nil.

Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,528 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution has scalability. We have more than forty bots running.

How are customer service and support?

From a technical perspective, their support is pretty good. We get a ticket after submitting a request for help.

How was the initial setup?

We have a high-availability setup, so it was not a straightforward one. 

What about the implementation team?

We performed the implementation, although we had to contact Automation Anywhere for assistance during the installation.

What was our ROI?

The initial numbers look good, so I think that we will see ROI over time.

What other advice do I have?

For anybody who is considering an RPA solution, I would suggest exploring the limits. Compare products and decide, but try this one out.

We are excited to try a cloud version of this solution.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head, Computer Science at Christ University
Real User
Bots allow our human workforce to use their intellect by taking away their mundane work
Pros and Cons
  • "We can see what the bots are doing when they are working."
  • "Automation Anywhere has to be integrated with machine learning and AI systems to read images and videos, then put the information into another format."

What is our primary use case?

We train students to find their own problems on a day-to-day basis, then use Automation Anywhere (or an RPA solution) to solve these issues.

We are using the latest version.

How has it helped my organization?

With this type of work, there is usually manual labor and human error. The people who do it may not like working on it for long. That's a big problem. If we can get a bot to do the same job doing the same thing, then our human workforce can use their intellect. 

What is most valuable?

There are many valuable features, including the reading material and taking data from websites. We can move quickly working with PDF files.

We can see what the bots are doing when they are working.

I like the bots that take data from databases and websites, then change it into another format. The bots can use this data to fill out forms, which is very tedious.

It is very easy for anybody to learn. Anybody spending time for the solution can learn it.

The UI is great and intuitive.

What needs improvement?

Automation Anywhere has to be integrated with machine learning and AI systems to read images and videos, then put the information into another format.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is pretty good. We haven't had any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability requires a lot of resources which needs a longer based goal. 

With a cloud-based platform, we can create bots and apply them to any system.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward with no hassles. 

What other advice do I have?

Most people are aware of Automation Anywhere and what it does.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,528 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Process Leader Purchase to Pay at Eaton
Real User
Improves our accuracy on transactions and FTE savings
Pros and Cons
  • "The ease of use and its ability to change the code when something in the main process or core process changes. The ease of use is really good."
  • "We have some ERPs tools which are not compatible with Automation Anywhere because they are legacy systems. We find that Automation Anywhere does not work with these at times. Just enabling the usability of Automation Anywhere on some of these legacy ERPs would help us, as we struggle regularly with this issue."

What is our primary use case?

Primarily, we have it deployed across multiple verticals in finance and are looking to expand that to other areas, like engineering and supply chain within the organization.

We use the RPA solution and are looking to explore the IQ Bots.

How has it helped my organization?

In finance, it has helped us deliver on productivity and provided us with FTE savings. It does improve transaction accuracy as well. In these ways, it has really helped us.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use and its ability to change the code when something in the main process or core process changes. The ease of use is really good. 

What needs improvement?

We have some ERPs tools which are not compatible with Automation Anywhere because they are legacy systems. We find that Automation Anywhere does not work with these at times. Just enabling the usability of Automation Anywhere on some of these legacy ERPs would help us, as we struggle regularly with this issue.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is pretty scalable within the functions that we have deployed. We have increased the number of transactions compared to what we started off with. We see its usability across functions as well. We can use the same bot across other functions if you have capacity.

How are customer service and technical support?

The customer service that they provide is good. They have good turnaround time with fast responses whenever there is an issue. They give us the right solution.

What about the implementation team?

We set up all three of our use cases, which were simple, medium, and complex.

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI. Our business cases only get approved if there is an ROI.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated the UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and WorkFusion. We evaluated them before latching onto Automation Anywhere.

We chose Automation Anywhere based on its simplicity of the usage, its ability to interact on our transactions and processes. Those were the two primary drivers that helped us decide.

What other advice do I have?

Streamline your processes and simplify them, then bring in RPA as a solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Team Lead at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
The technical support is good and responsive
Pros and Cons
  • "We had some business users who created their first bot four weeks back, and they were thrilled. It was very easy for them because of the drag and drag. They understood the process very well."
  • "The initial setup was complex because we had to make sure all the security aspects were approved by our leadership."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is automate processes which had delays or inconsistencies.

We are focusing on automating back office tasks, such as financial process with financial documents and HR processes.

How has it helped my organization?

We had some business users who created their first bot four weeks back, and they were thrilled. It was very easy for them because of the drag and drag. They understood the process very well.

What needs improvement?

We are looking forward to seeing it in the cloud and how it works there.

It needs more functionality and customizability for bots.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. We are happy with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. They are responsive to any questions that we have.

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

We were not using another solution prior to Automation Anywhere.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex because we had to make sure all the security aspects were approved by our leadership.

What about the implementation team?

We did use a consultant for the deployment. It has been a good partnership for us.

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI by having our employee do more value-add activities.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We chose Automation Anywhere versus other RPA software because of its scalability.

What other advice do I have?

There is still room for improvement, which is why I am giving it an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Tech Advisor at Ernst & Young
Real User
We have been able to reduce our number of FTEs by using this solution
Pros and Cons
  • "We have been able to reduce our number of FTEs."
  • "The ease of use is its most valuable feature."
  • "We have received 70 percent optimization using this solution."
  • "I would like to see extensive OCR capabilities in the next release."
  • "They need to make the solution more robust."
  • "While the ease of use for non-tech users is good, it could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is from a compliance and regulatory standpoint.

How has it helped my organization?

We have been able to reduce our number of FTEs.

What is most valuable?

The ease of use is its most valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

While the ease of use for non-tech users is good, it could be improved.

I would like to see extensive OCR capabilities in the next release. That is a must.

They need to make the solution more robust.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has been pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is pretty scalable, but it does depend on how you develop the bot.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a little complex. For a person with a technical background, it is doable.

What was our ROI?

We have received 70 percent optimization using this solution.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. 

Look at the solution's capabilities and compare it to what your automation needs are.

It is leading the market from the automation standpoint.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
AVP Solutions at CIGNEX Datamatics
Real User
We save time through our reduction in cycle time
Pros and Cons
  • "The bot creation process is relatively simple."
  • "I would like centralized orchestration and better exception handling in the next release."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is for automating our mortgage and loan origination processes. 

How has it helped my organization?

We brought onshore a lot of what we were doing offshore, saving our company close to $20 million.

What is most valuable?

Centralized automation is its most valuable feature.

The bot creation process is relatively simple.

What needs improvement?

It is reasonably useful for developers. It can be a challenge for a developer, as it limits what they can do.

I would like centralized orchestration and better exception handling in the next release.

Because of the stability of the application and how it interacts with some of our legacy applications, it does cause difficulties.

For how long have I used the solution?

It has been three years since we started the bot process.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution is getting better. We have had some issues with the Control Room stability, which makes it harder for us to manage the bots. This is in recent versions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are scaling up, but I don't think that we are scaling correctly.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is solid. They are pretty responsive.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is mostly straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We used Ernest & Young for the deployment. They helped us get a lot of the work done.

What was our ROI?

We measure ROI through time and labor savings (FTEs). 

We save time through our reduction in cycle time: 30 to 35 days.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

Have your business plan well-developed.

The solution is reasonably wide open, so it integrates quite well with other solutions.

The IQ Bots are of limited use to us right now.

We don't use AISense, and the version of the application that we use isn't capable with Citrix.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
It allows my clients to scale their businesses quickly, but the interface is not intuitive for business users
Pros and Cons
  • "My clients have seen tremendous value when it comes to automating business processes. The robust nature of the application allows them to scale their business processes pretty quickly."
  • "The reporting capabilities are pretty nice."
  • "The interface is not intuitive for business users who are used to seeing the process on a flow chart, like a Visio workflow diagram. This may be because of the nature of the way the interface is structured and the way the functions are built in list type of format."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is to automate business processes for a manufacturing company.

How has it helped my organization?

My clients have seen tremendous value when it comes to automating business processes. The robust nature of the application allows them to scale their business processes pretty quickly. They receive the benefits in around a quick 12-week period.

What is most valuable?

The reporting capabilities are pretty nice. 

The Excel component is valuable, when compared to other tools in the market.

What needs improvement?

From an ease of use point of view, on a scale of one to ten with ten being really easy, I would rate the tool a six. The interface is not intuitive for business users who are used to seeing the process on a flow chart, like a Visio workflow diagram. This may be because of the nature of the way the interface is structured and the way the functions are built in list type of format. I feel like there is a bit of a learning curve for anyone who is new to the program. As with everything, it takes time and you start to get better at it. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From pilot to production, we scaled our last bot in about nine weeks. It was a very interesting process because the building deployment can be done pretty quickly, but if you don't narrow down the scope early, you can face a lot of challenges. I don't think this necessarily has to do with the platform. It is more about understanding and narrowing down your scope from the beginning. It's okay to add more functionality later, but that adds delay to your overall timeline. However, being that it's very easy to configure the bot and add components to it, this is one of the benefits of building with Automation Anywhere. You can make changes pretty quickly.

With everything, you will have to be careful and not get caught up always making changes. You have to really narrow the scope down quickly and build it in very small components. Don't build everything end-to-end. Break down your processes, as much as possible, and deploy as little functionality as possible. This makes it way more easy to manage. It is also a much better way to build a bot.

How are customer service and technical support?

I did attempt to reach out to customer support a few times. I didn't really get any response. 

I would rate them a five out of ten. There is room for improvement.

How was the initial setup?

It does take a lot of space to install. However, you are installing a very powerful application which has very powerful components in it.

What other advice do I have?

Pay attention to what you're doing, and the following:

  1. Capabilities that you have in-house.
  2. Support down the line. 
  3. Handing over your solutions to someone else to pick up. 

You want to have this type of mindset. 

With any tools, you have to ensure you have the right capabilities in-house to be able to help build out and manage any solutions in the future, along with managing your army of bots in deployment. 

It is a good, powerful application. It can fit pretty much any use case, but that is one component to it. The other component is do you have the right in-house skills to help you manage the Automation Anywhere bots?

I took the RPA Advanced course for developers (entry-level) in Automation Anywhere University. I took it a while ago, and I don't know if it's changed now, but it was very informative, detailed, and intuitive. I came from automation tools, so it was a bit easier for me to pick up on the information because of my background. The course was pretty informational. I felt comfortable building an application, building a bot, and putting it into production after the course.

Building a bot can be pretty quick. If you understand what the problem is that the bot is trying to solve, then you can get it done pretty quickly since the process is easy and straightforward. However, if you are coming from other tools or are not an experienced developer, you might face a bit of a challenge in the beginning. Everything will eventually come pretty quickly, as you can build a bot in an hour, or even less than that.

I'm learning how to use the IQ Bot, which is a pretty good component of the application. I can see how it would be a really powerful feature for some of my clients.

I haven't used the Citrix feature yet.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
Specialist at Bancolombia
Real User
It has helped us a lot with our digitized work
Pros and Cons
  • "It has helped us a lot with our digitized work."
  • "The Automation Anywhere University courses have helped us, but it could improve some things, like how the courses are designed."

What is our primary use case?

It is our RPA platform. It is the main platform that we use for backups.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us a lot with our digitized work.

We have automated a lot of the bank's processes.

What needs improvement?

My team has taken courses through the Automation Anywhere University. The courses have been good. They have helped us, but it could improve some things, like how the courses are designed.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable, but we have experience issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are working on scaling it now.

We use it with more than 17 applications. So, we work it on a very large scale.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. 

How was the initial setup?

It took us two years to scale it from the pilot it to our current number of bots. The process was too much work.

What was our ROI?

We have saved 53 minutes through automation.

What other advice do I have?

It is a very good product.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Automation Anywhere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Automation Anywhere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.