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reviewer1460619 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sap BW on HANA Consultant at Infosys Technologies Ltd
Real User
Converted daily routine tasks into automated processes at minimal cost with available infrastructure
Pros and Cons
  • "AA control room is one central system to manage our tasks. We found it excellent to administrate. It was used for easy scheduling of process/task in Remote desktop. This helped to avoid manual intervention to trigger tasks."
  • "The accuracy in Web Recorder needs to be improved, defective outputs found most of the time(not sure if is a website side issue)."

What is our primary use case?

It is primarily used for automating manual processes in Project. Automation was carried out in a two-way process, downloading files from client email and scanning values from PDF file. Post these values were compared with thresholds and return mail is sent. Most of the process is carried out in the Windows environment and the Gmail suite is used as the target output location. It also included SAP application BEx for downloading the file as an Excel sheet and sent as an attachment to an email. This was all implemented in AA, and saved a few man-hours in Project.

How has it helped my organization?

It was helpful in managing manual task automations and innovative ways to be introduced to projects. It most benefitted us in converting daily routine tasks into automated processes at minimal cost with available infrastructure. This was the most valuable use, that it didn't cost clients infrastructure. Also, a daily status update of the process is sent through an email easily, updating all stakeholders with daily status. The overall features proved a profitable deal in implementing AA in Project.

What is most valuable?

AA control room is one central system to manage our tasks. We found it excellent to administrate. It was used for easy scheduling of process/task in Remote desktop. This helped to avoid manual intervention to trigger tasks. 

Also, various features like easy email and file reading eg: PDF, XML, etc were innovatively helpful to scan out values and use as variables in code. 

Another helpful feature is the easy command sidebar provided, where we can easily drag and drop a required command.

What needs improvement?

The accuracy in Web Recorder needs to be improved, defective outputs found most of the time(not sure if is a website side issue). 

You cannot add dynamic variables in PDF scanned values, hopefully, this can be added as a new feature in future.

Integration with most-used email applications eg: Gmail, Outlook, etc for ease in sending mails without any configuration of port or hostname. This could help to concentrate on actual problems, instead of spending time to figure out port and hostname for sending or receiving emails.

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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AA for the last five months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Recognizable stability observed in tool with various tasks performed in parallel.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability may vary situation with each situation. According to me, most of the time we will get expected results with substantial capacity of computation in the process.

How are customer service and support?

Customer and technical support both were supportive and were able to provide solutions quickly.

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

We used Blue Prism and the reason we switched was because we found more ease in using features and less documentation required compared to Blue Prism.

How was the initial setup?

Complex, since there are multiple applications involved, SAP, EMail through Gmail suite. Setting up an application in remote desktop with access to SAP and emails. 

What about the implementation team?

In-house.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI is 22.81%.

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

License for AA, before investing in infrastructure list out and analyze the current setup, since AA can be implemented at a minimal cost as well without extra infra/setup.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We previously used Blue Prism.

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
reviewer1442211 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Development Team Lead at Accenture
Real User
User-friendly with a helpful screen recording feature, saves time, and reduces errors in manual tasks
Pros and Cons
  • "It an easy, simple, and user-friendly tool that can be accessed through the mobile application as well."
  • "The mobile application can be improved by adding more functions and capabilities abuse right now, only a few features are enabled for mobile users."

What is our primary use case?

We had been handling various daily reports that need manual Excel work. We have now automated those daily tasks using Automation Anywhere, saving an enormous amount of time on the manual effort. It is now human-error-free.

The Screen Recorder feature is the feature that I like the most, as it can automate anything on your desktop screen by recording your actions or the cursor movement. This makes it easy to learn and configure for any type of environment when it comes to automating regular tasks. 

How has it helped my organization?

We implemented Automation Anywhere as one of the primary tools for automating various tasks within our organization. We have implemented this tool for various customers as well.

By providing the companies with such a useful and productive tool, they save a lot of time and money on tasks that can be performed by small bots.

It an easy, simple, and user-friendly tool that can be accessed through the mobile application as well. You can control and monitor your bot through mobile apps, which creates flexibility in handling the software. 

What is most valuable?

The Automation Anywhere Screen Recorder feature allows us to do things very easily. It's easy to automate regular and routine tasks. It can automate anything on your desktop screen by recording your actions or the cursor movement, so it is easy to learn and configure for any type of environment.

There are three features by which you can automate things. You also do have the console window to monitor each action the tool is performing. You can correct the code if you feel it captured some wrong action. 

What needs improvement?

I would like to have a simple bot dashboard window for admins to manage things easily. This is important when an organization has a huge number of tasks to be automated because managing tasks can be complex.

It would be very helpful if the bot dashboard were simplified for admins.

The mobile application can be improved by adding more functions and capabilities abuse right now, only a few features are enabled for mobile users. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for the past two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is quite stable and we do receive a lot of updates that enhance and add more features. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a highly scalable application.

How are customer service and technical support?

So far, it's good and responsive customer support.

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

We do use other RPA solutions, although I don't want to mention the names. The simplicity of this application makes it a win. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it through a vendor team.

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

I don't deal have cost specifics but I can say it is a tool that provides value for the money.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing Automation Anywhere, we also evaluated Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

In summary, I feel that Automation Anywhere is heading in the right direction. 

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
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Automation Anywhere
December 2024
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reviewer1442205 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. software engineer at Accenture
Real User
Saves time and improves data consistency, but the training videos should be more engaging
Pros and Cons
  • "The scheduling feature allows for scheduling of the bots to a specific time every day, which helped remove the dependency on humans completely."
  • "One area where I can see room for improvement is the training material that is available."

What is our primary use case?

The problem statement is to automate data reconciliation between three systems, namely SAP, Ariba, and manually-updated Excel. Supplier and Purchase data flows in from different systems and separately, which sometimes results in data inconsistency.

In the current scenario, two people spend two days per week to verify and reconcile this data and then save it. This is a big cost and investment for the client. The ask from Automation Anywhere is to automate this process, including a re-upload of the data back to the systems with results of reconciliation. This way, there is no manual effort spent. 

How has it helped my organization?

As mentioned above in the problem statement, the task is to automate the data reconciliation effort between SAP, Ariba, and Excel sheets from SharePoint. The developer team was able to create four bots as a PoC to automate these steps and additionally upload the data back to systems with reconciliation results. This brought consistency in data.

What we were also able to do for the client is to schedule these bots at a specific time every day, which helped remove any kind of dependency or human intervention. This also improved accuracy.

What is most valuable?

The solution was a mix of recorded runs and scripting. The developer team had a basic understanding of the tool, which made their job quite easy.

Features like reusing each and every piece of code for things such as login scripts, data extraction scripts, etc, helped us to speed up the implementation of PoC for the client.

Another valuable feature was the one-place control-all type mechanism, which helped to have a center point of control for bots running on multiple systems.

The scheduling feature allows for scheduling of the bots to a specific time every day, which helped remove the dependency on humans completely.

We were also able to get the results sent via email.

What needs improvement?

One area where I can see room for improvement is the training material that is available. I am aware that the Automation Anywhere university has a lot of training content, and even better, all of it is categorized with respect to the user's role in development. I took the training course related to architecture. This course and content were nice but the videos had a digital voice over, which made it non-engaging for me. After certain videos, you cannot concentrate much.

The other point that is relative to my experience is that for a completely new person to RPA, Automation Anywhere may come with a small learning curve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Automation Anywhere for between ten months and a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability will mostly depend on the system under automation.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Qe started with four bots and now there are going to be only more. The target is for approximately 25 bots to be deployed.

How are customer service and technical support?

I did not need to reach out to the service team myself, but the development team seemed to have no complaints.

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

This is my first encounter with an actual implementation for RPA. Automation Anywhere seemed to fit our requirements.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is mostly straightforward, although there was some initial confusion with the right version of the tool to be used.

What about the implementation team?

Deployment was done by our in-house development team.

What was our ROI?

On a very high level, I can say that we saved two days for two people per week with this automation.

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

My only suggestion in terms of pricing is very generic and that is to consider that as much as RPA saves cost and does automation, please get a realistic estimation done on whether you are really achieving any ROI over your investment with RPA. Once you are sure about it, go for it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The other tool in consideration was Blue Prism; however, the internal development team advocated for Automation Anywhere as a better fit for the requirements, which is why we implemented it.

What other advice do I have?

The tool comes in with a lot of capabilities, however, you are the best judge to use only what is needed.

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
RPA Specialist at a manufacturing company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Human errors have been reduced due to bot use
Pros and Cons
  • "Human errors have been rectified due to bot usage."
  • "We could use more accuracy with IQ Bot."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is for day-to-day activities. We are also automating the activities that the SMEs are doing.

We are an agriculture-based company. We have automated finance, HR and MDM for B2B. We have automated more than 300 processors within a year and a half. 

How has it helped my organization?

Human errors have been rectified due to bot usage.

What is most valuable?

  • We can easily use the drag and drop.
  • We can connect to the OCR capabilities. 
  • We use the MetaBot and IQ Bot. 

What needs improvement?

We could use more accuracy with IQ Bot.

We want to automate fully with Citrix. However, we are only able to do this at 70 to 80 percent.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have being using Automation Anywhere for four year: versions 9.x through 11.3.2.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. We have not had any downtime.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Everyone uses it.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is great and responsive. Whatever issues we face in the production or our environment, the support team will help us within a short amount time. This is helpful to us when automating all our processes.

Last week we had some issues with our current version, the technical support rectified the issues with a day.

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

We went with RPA to reduce human errors.

How was the initial setup?

It's easy to set up.

What about the implementation team?

We install the Automation Anywhere Control Room and VMWare on our clients' machines.

What was our ROI?

Our customers have seen ROI.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Customers chose Automation Anywhere because it is good to use. Security-wise, it matches the competition in the market.

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend Automation Anywhere. From a technical perspective, developers can easily create bots and get things done with this tool.

Day-to-day, the Automation Anywhere improvements have been good.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
MTS IV Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It is a difficult solution to use for back-end processes, though the tool is easy to use with its API call
Pros and Cons
  • "We got the solution because of its ease of use with the API call, avoiding the use of developers."
  • "They do not include the basic functionality of column headers in Excel worksheets. This is missing, and we need it."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is to automate complex processes without using a development team.

We have had a lot of issues using Automation Anywhere and find ourselves stuck. We have an open ticket and are still working with them to resolve this. 

What is most valuable?

We got the solution because of its ease of use with the API call, avoiding the use of developers.

What needs improvement?

It is a difficult solution to use for back-end processes.

We can automate easily, but we have to use more functions. We would like to see more GUI-based automation instead.

They do not include the basic functionality of column headers in Excel worksheets. This is missing, and we need it.

We cannot currently copy data and send it on an email.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. When we open tickets, we immediately receive a response. 

In some cases, we make suggestions, and they tell us that they can't make the fix. This is okay, too.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. First, we create a bot. Then, we send the business an approval. Once they have verified everything, then we need to open a ticket. Finally, the bot is deployed to production.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed in-house.

What was our ROI?

We are using Bot Insight to measure our ROI.

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

We are not receiving the right information about their features, e.g. Automation Anywhere University, or anything that they are selling. They need to improve their documentation.

What other advice do I have?

Search all industry-designed RPA tools and choose the best one for your process.

I completed my advanced certification through Automation Anywhere University. While the courses are good, what you learn in the courses and what is in the real world are two different things. The documentation in the University does not have the proper documentation and cannot provide help, when necessary.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
ChiefITA7b2f - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief IT Architect at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
From a developer standpoint, the tool is very strong, but they are looking forward to code versioning coming out
Pros and Cons
  • "The Control Room for the bots and its ability to connect bots with APIs are the most valuable features."
  • "I would like to see GitHub or GitLab integration in the next version."

What is our primary use case?

We automate bots for our clients. We identify processes that our client need to automate. If we see that Automation Anywhere is the best platform for them, then we recommend it, and help them to implement some bots.

I work with South American clients.

What is most valuable?

The Control Room for the bots and its ability to connect bots with APIs are the most valuable features.

From my developer's point of view, the tool is pretty strong. Our developers are happy with the features that Automation Anywhere has.

What needs improvement?

Our developers are looking forward to code versioning.

I would like to see GitHub or GitLab integration in the next version.

It would be nice to have more screen scraping features for legacy systems. This needs improvement, because it doesn't work very well at the moment.

I would also like to see cloud capabilities, but they announced that is coming.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It took one to one and a years to scale to our current number of bots.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have seen that the South American support is not as good as it should be. I would recommend them offering onsite support after the initial support. 

They offer onsite support at the beginning, and this works well. Once this team leaves, the client is not enabled to work with the product. During the second and third stages of the setup, the client then has to hire a partner to help them resolve issues and put things into production. 

We don't feel Automation Anywhere was there for our clients after the initial setup.

What was our ROI?

We measure ROI by saved time, FTEs reduced, and number of errors reduced.

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

Once the license is sold, the support could improve.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The main players in the market do pretty much the same thing.

What other advice do I have?

Don't choose the platform first. Identify what you are trying to solve. Look out for the type of support that you will have in your region (local support). Assess the local support.

The developers have to love it, or they are not going to use it.

For some legacy systems, integration with other solutions is not as easy as it sounds. For standard integrations with other solutions, Automation Anywhere is alright.

I haven't used the cognitive document processing features.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Continuo8ac2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Continuous Improvement Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We use it to automate IT processes and it has good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability is good."
  • "We would like it to be more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to automate IT processes.

What needs improvement?

We would like it to be more user-friendly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

It took us a year and a half to scale from our pilot to the current number of bots that we have.

What was our ROI?

We measure ROI by number of man-hours saved.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

Start small. Pilot it for a couple of processes. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
RoboticPe593 - PeerSpot reviewer
Robotic Process Automation Manager at Imerys
Real User
It is a well put together solution which allows us to produce more quality work faster
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility which has been built into it is its most valuable feature."
  • "Our first automation removed manual work from employees, so they are now able to more quickly product quality work."
  • "The support and user community need improvement. For example, it would be nice to have a place for those who create bots to have a place to share information and success stories."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to automate manual tasks to free up space for more value-added tasks.

How has it helped my organization?

Our first automation removed manual work from employees, so they are now able to more quickly product quality work.

What is most valuable?

The flexibility which has been built into it.

What needs improvement?

The support and user community need improvement. For example, it would be nice to have a place for those who create bots to have a place to share information and success stories.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable.

We're in the process of scaling currently. We started off with two pilot automations, then we needed an engagement strategy to get people excited about it and get their ideas. Then, we needed to prioritize those ideas and go deeper into the processes. But, we plan to start on the next phase soon.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. You create ticket on the website, then hear back from someone. I do wish they were a bit quicker with a solution.

How was the initial setup?

It was a bit complex. You can contact support, and they will help you through it.

What was our ROI?

We measure our ROI as time savings per month returned back to the business. We are currently saving about 150 hours per month.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Automation Anywhere, UiPath, and Blue Prism. 

We chose Automation Anywhere because of its user-friendly interface. It is a well put together solution.

What other advice do I have?

We don't currently use attended automation.

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: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Automation Anywhere Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.