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reviewer1724226 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Associate at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Has both list and flow view; biggest con is the lag
Pros and Cons
  • "The code, once developed, is pretty stable."
  • "As a solution, it could have been easier to use than in the current state."

What is most valuable?

The solution has really changed a lot when it comes from v11 to A360. When it was v11, then it was complete scripting, and it was not the UI, the drag and drop features that the other tools provide. You just drag an activity and drop it. It was actually scripting. So it was relatively difficult to develop a code for someone who is not very familiar with basic coding skills.

There are more valuable features with the updated solution. Now they have both the list view and the flow view. They have increased some features in terms of data types. They now have good usage of the data table and have added variable types. It's convenient.

What needs improvement?

One area that could be improved with the cloud solution when it comes to A360 is we have seen a certain lag. It's not a very happy tool. There are stability issues, but that is something that they maybe looked at already. They have come up a long way, and they are actually promoting the IQ bot as well. The document OCR/ICR techniques are something they're already working on, so I'm looking forward to that as well. 

As a developer, the biggest con is the lag. It's pretty inconvenient to face that delay in things happening. We come across that pretty often. 

It's not necessarily an added feature that I would be looking for, but in general, as a solution, it could have been easier to use than in the current state. The way the tool has been built, it's not easy to build a solution when it comes to using Excel automation. And it's not that convenient.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with the solution for a little less than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The code for the solution, once developed, is pretty stable. I would say there is no issue in terms of stability there. It is only the initial accessibility in terms of the build phase where we have seen that issue of the lag.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is pretty much achievable, and I don't think we have faced any issues. We have had bots earlier. But when it comes to larger processes or where there's a situation where we need to use multiple bots for common processes and things like that, there, I have not been able to use those solutions. I don't work as a developer. I work as a solutions architect and a business analyst, and that is one place where I have felt Automation Anywhere is not that capable.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service is comparable to Power Automate and Microsoft; they are responsive.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for cloud-based solutions are all straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

When it comes to pros, the solution is convenient. And now it has both the list view and the flow view in terms of the code. So whether it is a seasoned developer or whether it's a newcomer, they have made it slightly easy. I feel that for a first-timer, Automation Anywhere would be something that is relatively difficult to pick up.

I would rate the solution a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1468968 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Project Engineer at Bradsol - Brad Contech Solutions
Real User
Good database commands and Excel integration have helped speed our processes and make them more secure
Pros and Cons
  • "We mostly used the Database commands in order to make the process faster and more secure, rather than using Excel or a CSV for reading the input files."
  • "They need to make the AA stable across all browsers and I hope to see it fixed in the next version."

What is our primary use case?

In one of my insurance domain processes, I need to extract the details of customers from an input Excel file and I need to update details like Address, DOB, and Names, all based on their requests in a web-based application.

With respect to our environment, we used Excel commands for doing operations and we faced a few Excel issues in production. Everything was fine in Dev and QA. Then we used Excel as a DB and it provided a permanent resolution.

How has it helped my organization?

This product has helped us a lot by improving and growing the business in different domains. Initially, when we have started RPA with AA, we implemented it for only one domain. Now, we are in a position to automate most of the processes across domains.

What is most valuable?

In V10 and V11, most of the Windows and web-based commands are helpful. We mostly use the Database commands in order to make the process faster and more secure, rather than using Excel or a CSV for reading the input files.

What needs improvement?

When we think from a business perspective, business applications are more compatible with their specific browsers. Let's say one of my customers is using Firefox, which is the most compatible browser for their application, when we try to automate that with AA, we don't get accurate and stable results. They need to make the AA stable across all browsers and I hope to see it fixed in the next version.

As I mentioned, if we don't close an Excel file in a safe manner, then when we try to open it or another Excel file in the same place, most of the time it will lead to issues. As we are working with unattended automation most of the time, no one will be available to take care of those issues when they happen

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for the past four and a half years. I have worked on versions 9, 10, and 11. Currently, I have started working hands-on with A2019. You are moving to A2019 very soon. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AA is not stable across all different browsers.

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

RPA is what I have been working on since my career started. 

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

I can suggest Automation Anywhere.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I tried multiple options but I found that Automation Anywhere has better options when compared to all of the other tools.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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
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.
Senior Analyst at Capgemini
Real User
Good automation with PDFs and has helped increase our productivity significantly
Pros and Cons
  • "The ROI on major bots has been phenomenal."
  • "Excel, Outlook, and Word automation are very difficult with V11."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use this product for Web Applications, Outlook, and Excel.

How has it helped my organization?

It helped to increase productivity in a commendable manner.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is PDF automation, where we can automate templated PDFs with almost 100% accuracy.

DOMX path support for identifying the web elements is helpful.

The Control room features, such as pooling devices, Queues, and the secure environment, are also valuable.

What needs improvement?

Commands in Excel, Outlook, and Word automation are very limited and hence facing difficulties automating complex requirements for the above applications with V11 version. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for two years.

How was the initial setup?

Relatively the installation is complex compared to other competing technologies. Lot of things has to be worked around for Control room setup and for starting the bot development like user creation and specific roles getting assigned etc... 

What about the implementation team?

I've installed it on my own using installation guide. But a lot more things are involved while installing

What was our ROI?

The ROI on major bots has been phenomenal.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
reviewer1467651 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect Associate Manager at Sprint Nextel
Real User
Saves times, reduces errors, and decreases dependency on human resources
Pros and Cons
  • "In particular, with our requirements, we have seen reduced dependency on the workforce and we had proper execution of our business process."
  • "The product should improve on Voice Recognition and IoT pretty soon, as this is the next big thing in and I would like to see this upgraded in the next release."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case was related to automating a daily job, which involves a lot of manual effort and was error-prone. We did involve RPA to automate the job and also have a pretty useful notification system in place too.

We had a requirement of pulling in data from a location, dumping it all into some spreadsheets, and then applying logic. Once that is complete, the distribution also needs to be controlled, and we have achieved all of this by implementing RPA.

There are also use cases for us where it is still a work in progress, including tasks in finance/accounting, and HR as well.

How has it helped my organization?

AA has helped our organization to improve productivity with less manual dependence. It has come up with certain paradigms in RPA that largely reduce human efforts.

The use case that is mentioned above had a dependency on three FTE on a daily basis to process data for us, and implementing RPA has helped us save this effort. 

There have been processes that were tedious and had dependencies on resources, as well as being error-prone. The involvement of AA has reduced problems to a considerable extent.

What is most valuable?

RPA is a feature that really helped eliminate errors during the execution of structured business processes. In particular, with our requirements, we have seen reduced dependency on the workforce and we had proper execution of our business process.

It has also opened doors for an intelligent notification system as well, with the help of which, we are getting the proper input from the different stages of our program.

Cognitive Automation helps by self-improving, using AI and ML for complex data.

Altogether, these important features help to form the organization as a digital force.

What needs improvement?

The product should improve on Voice Recognition and IoT pretty soon, as this is the next big thing in and I would like to see this upgraded in the next release.

This is the age of Voice Recognition where systems like Alexa and Cortana are ruling. I would love to see certain features for these.

In addition to this, there should also be a community version that will be able to provide support without a cost. This will make sure that the outreach for Automation Anywhere would increase up to a considerable extent.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for approximately one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is quite stable. I have used it for features like RPA and cognitive intelligence and didn't find any instability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is certainly scalable and the support is quite good too.

How are customer service and technical support?

They have pretty decent customer service support. I had reached out a couple of times and I found them decent and knowledgeable. In addition, they have a good SLA too.

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

Other than evaluating UiPath, I have not used a different RPA solution.

What was our ROI?

The ROI is pretty good. I have used it in one of my use cases where I have a dependency on three FTE, and I was able to reduce it by a considerable margin.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

UiPath was the option that I was evaluating but ended up choosing Automation Anywhere.

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?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1455396 - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation Developer at UnitedLex
Real User
Cost-effective, easy to learn, and handles many automations out of the box
Pros and Cons
  • "It can be easily learned by anyone who spends a bit of time with it."
  • "Training is good and interactive but the final certification exam is very tough and it requires in-depth practical knowledge."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case is to extract information from web applications.

We use this tool to perform an end-to-end process flow that includes extraction, execution, and updating.

The product is simple to use and provides a good base of functionality out of the box to cover most automation scenarios. It is also very extensible in that functionality can be added through the use of class libraries, and AA works as the glue between several processes at our company. Many times, it is the quickest and most effective solution to implement right away, while other solutions require exponential amounts of support.

I am updating my review score to be slightly higher due to its expanded realm of use cases I have explored and successfully implemented.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps in increasing accuracy and decreasing human errors. Also, it helps to double the rate of productivity. It is highly accurate and gets up and running in a very short period of time.

You can keep the Bot learning by feeding more and more data sets, which makes the whole process highly efficient.

It is very cost-effective when deployed and when scaling out to the limit. Each command in the tool is more effective to build a bot very easily, without any issue, and less coding is required.

It can be easily learned by anyone who spends a bit of time with it.

What is most valuable?

The Workflow Designer helps to create the sequences and assigning end-to-end tasks.

Image Recolonization helps with scanned PDF documents, where it will identify certain clauses. Using AA validates all of the PDF documents with high accuracy and less time.

Bot Creator and Task Editor and valuable features.

IQ Bot and Meta bots are super-efficient and AA has a control room that is easy to use with lots of features.

IQ Bot helps to automate PDF and image documents.

It helps in daily reporting through email automation.

Exception handling is pretty decent and we don't have to worry about a process being stuck, as it moves to the next iteration on its own.

What needs improvement?

Cloud-Based architecture is what we expect.

Training is good and interactive but the final certification exam is very tough and it requires in-depth practical knowledge.

I think the process design flow should be simpler than the present feature. Nothing much, but requirements keep adding with complexity, so automation becomes complex for now. That should be one more area of improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for two years.

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

We did not use another RPA product prior to this one.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We came to know about UiPath and Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

This is a perfect solution for us and Automation Anywhere helps us to close many deals. I thank them for that.

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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1452882 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Testing Consultant at dhdigital
Real User
Increases productivity, reduces errors, and frees up resources for more valuable tasks
Pros and Cons
  • "OCR, Image Recognition, Object Cloning, and PDF integration help us a lot."
  • "The Image Recognition functionality should be enhanced to improve the accuracy of checkboxes."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Automation Anywhere to automate manual processes and make the organization digital. We have replaced most of the human resources and we are utilizing them for more valued tasks. Now, the other business users are attracted by the output of it and are approaching us to automate their processes in their respective lines of businesses.

We started at version 10 and moved to version 11x. It is more powerful than the previous one, but the new cloud-based RPA has attracted us more and we are migrating to A2019.

How has it helped my organization?

We have increased our productivity by five times as of now, and we are still growing.

Now, most of the processes are automated and even free from an audit perspective, as they are completely automated without human intervention. This is getting better and better.

The user is experiencing much higher outputs without error, rather than using humans who are prone to errors. As this works 24 by 7, they are preferring to automate the task and get it processed using the bot. Multiple business lines are adopting this.

What is most valuable?

OCR, Image Recognition, Object Cloning, and PDF integration help us a lot. We have used these mostly, as our system is legacy. We automate primarily with image recognition and MetaBots, which are mostly accurate. 

Metabots are a useful feature that helps us overcome the issues that we face using image recognition. The reading of data from Excel is much easier and is getting even better in A2019.

The bot store helps us to download most of the reusable utilities and overcome our issues. We also earn at the same time.

What needs improvement?

It can be improved in a few areas where the legacy system can be read through object cloning.

The Image Recognition functionality should be enhanced to improve the accuracy of checkboxes. In A2019, the bot agent will be deployed on the local machine when we run the bot runner, but to download it takes too long, and the user will lose patience. My advice is to improve on this.

Sometimes, the files are getting corrupted and this causes us a lot of trouble. This is an issue that is still pending.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for three and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Automation Anywhere is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is very good and we have had a pretty good impression from the beginning. It has not changed yet.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is very good. Whenever we raise any ticket with the support team, they respond immediately. Our issues have been resolved on our schedule after they determine the root cause of the problem.

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

We did not use another RPA solution prior to this one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. The technical team from Automation Anywhere has helped us in installing. They were able to answer our questions wherever required.

What about the implementation team?

The vendor assisted us and they were very good. They are very responsive and reliable.

What was our ROI?

Not sure as it is from higher management. As of now we cannot share it.

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

The price is very reasonable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, this product seems pretty good as of now.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Software Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Good third-party integration, easy to learn, and the automation code is very readable
Pros and Cons
  • "Since it has capabilities to integrate with third-party applications easily, it makes the life of an automation engineer very easy."
  • "The API integration should be improved further since it is a bit difficult at the moment to connect with the API in the enterprise version."

What is our primary use case?

I am working for a company that is engaged in process automation.

In our company, we have used AA in several projects like finance process automation, payroll, accounts payable, and account receivable processing.

Each of the projects that I have engaged in is different from each other. For example, the finance automation project mainly focused on reconciliations, Excel automation, etc. AP and AR processes mainly focused on front-end navigation through the Chrome browser to download invoices from customer portals and upload and process them in their accounting application, which is also a web-based one.

Automation Anywhere assisted me with all the functions that I require to automate the processes and tasks.

How has it helped my organization?

The AA tool has more than 500 functionalities, which is really useful in feasibility studies.

Since it has capabilities to integrate with third-party applications easily, it makes the life of an automation engineer very easy. 

Our organization works with a few other leading RPA tools also. When compared, every RPA tool, coding/scripting in AA is much easier for a developer. The code is also very readable, which increases the user-friendliness when it comes to code maintenance.

The effort to train a beginner to code in AA is low because all of the commands and functionalities are simple.

What is most valuable?

Excel automation, database integration, and object cloning are few functionalities that I find valuable in the tool because most of the business processes work around them.

With Excel automation, we can open, close, save, and navigate through the Excel workbook. Most importantly, macro integration within Excel is easy, and with that, it unleashes all of the capabilities that we can do with macros to be executed by integrating with AA.

Database integration allows us to integrate with SQL Server and Oracle databases.

Object Cloning means that frontend navigation is made easier. With AA the object cloning command, we can capture the UI objects and customize them as per the process.

What needs improvement?

  • The API integration should be improved further since it is a bit difficult at the moment to connect with the API in the enterprise version.
  • The object cloning command should be improved such to increase the capability and capture more objects in the UI.
  • It would be more advantageous if the email automation allowed us to integrate with cloud-based email servers.
  • Metabots should be improved further, allowing for the same functionality as the task bot.
  • It would be great if AA could reduce the price of IQ Bot.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability mainly will be based on the system architecture. The tool is stable from 11.3.2.4.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is scalable across many processes and can integrate with many third-party applications.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is excellent and they work round the clock to sort out any issue we have.

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

In AA, the tool has more capabilities and functionalities when compared with our previous RPA product.

How was the initial setup?

Setup is very straightforward and there is a complete guideline provided.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented in-house.

What was our ROI?

Using AA has improved the lifestyle of the employee. Monetary ROI cannot be revealed as per company rules and policies.

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

Pricing is affordable and I would recommend beginning with the Starter Package.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

To evaluate the products, the company went through the reviews.

What other advice do I have?

When considering all the facts, this is one of the most user-friendly RPA tools that I have worked with.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Program Manager - RPA at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Reduces cost while improving efficiency and accuracy but scalability needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features is IQ Bot. If you compare Automation Anywhere with any of the other organizations, we may get same type of RPA solution, as there are multiple organizations. But, IQ Bot was one of the primary reasons to choose Automation Anywhere. Using IQ Bot, we can extract more data out from the documents that are unstructured. Therefore, we need to do two things at the same time: We need to extract the information from image-based documents We need to make sure that the efficiency and accuracy of the extraction is improving with each extraction."
  • "They are working on scalability, but I'm expecting them maybe a faster pace for the thing already in place. They need to improve the extraction and accuracy. It's a sort of a journey that we started with a few fears that may end up with a 100 or 200 fears. These are our expectations from IQ Bot. We are quite hopeful that a future release will solve this problem."

What is our primary use case?

I am leading a team of RPA COE.

I'd like to explain something about the organization. We are a pioneer in mortgage real estate. For more than 20 years, we are serving US based clients and mortgage banks. The main purpose of using the Automation Anywhere is to have something which is more than RPA that is artificial intelligence. We wanted to combine all these skills so our client can get all the benefits. We do not want to train our bot constantly. We want to have something which has a self-learning bot.

This is why we opted for Automation Anywhere and are using IQ Bot. Because we have a machine learning compounded into it, which means by using this tool, our bot is self-learning so we don't need to train again. That was the primary reason.

How has it helped my organization?

RPA serves us as a tool or process that improves the efficiency of any organization. Being part of a BPM, we know we cannot go ahead and have more people all the time for any process. At this stage, we need to do something so we can do two things in parallel:

  1. We can reduce the costs. 
  2. We can improve the efficiency and accuracy. 

This is what we were able to do using RPA.

What is most valuable?

One of the most valuable features is IQ Bot. If you compare Automation Anywhere with any of the other organizations, we may get same type of RPA solution, as there are multiple organizations. But, IQ Bot was one of the primary reasons to choose Automation Anywhere. Using IQ Bot, we can extract more data out from the documents that are unstructured. Therefore, we need to do two things at the same time:

  1. We need to extract the information from image-based documents
  2. We need to make sure that the efficiency and accuracy of the extraction is improving with each extraction.

That is a primary feature of IQ Bot and the main reason that we opted for Automation Anywhere.

What needs improvement?

IQ Bot is the primary reason that we are using this. We are the one who started using this sometime back. What I realized is that it is just a product that came to be into existence. There are a lot of things that can be improved with a lot of scope. We are already engage with Automation Anywhere, giving our feedback, so they can improve. For example, they can improve the scope of extractions. IQ Bot does have some limitations. We have received assurances that in future releases this problem will be solved, and we should be able to do more extractions based upon future releases.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is what I mentioned about things that they need to improve. They are working on scalability, but I'm expecting them maybe a faster pace for the thing already in place. They need to improve the extraction and accuracy. It's a sort of a journey that we started with a few fears that may end up with a 100 or 200 fears. These are our expectations from IQ Bot. We are quite hopeful that a future release will solve this problem.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a good to some extent. We faced an issue where the IQ Bot was very unstable. There were out days, but it's just good their support team is quite helpful. Whenever we set up new environments, we may face these type of issues. However, these are technical challenges which we might expect from any tool. These are new things for everyone, even for Automation Anywhere.

Initially, we faced stability challenges with the IQ Bot server, but now those are stable as compared to previous versions.

How was the initial setup?

It was quite straightforward, considering that people are able to understand what they need. The need is clear, so it's a pretty straightforward solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not exactly look at another product, but being within the industry prior to this, we used a few different products. The main reason for not choosing the others were they were lacking artificial intelligence and the machine learning component, which has the algorithm within it. 

Automation Anywhere has been more sustainable and scalable.

What other advice do I have?

There is still a lot of scope issues. There is always a gap between the customer and what they sell us. So, the customer is never satisfied. I want to give an eight, nine, or 10, but I still have a lot of expectations from Automation Anywhere, so I'll go for a seven (out of ten).

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
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.