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ITAnalys692c - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Analyst at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Frees up our staff from the mundane, repetitive tasks they were doing previously
Pros and Cons
  • "The standout qualities of Automation Anywhere were the ease of automation and that it is an intuitive tool. After a simple walkthrough, a couple of hours or two, you would be able to hit the ground running."
  • "We have a lot of use cases that depend on certain Java applets, and currently we're not able to leverage the Object Cloning that would speed up our automation designing. So we have to revert to more image recognition-type of designing, and it just takes a long time to get that bot built."

What is our primary use case?

Primary use case would be order-scheduling for us. What we do is we take internal orders and we schedule them with our customers. There is a lot of data that we're managing both in our systems and in our customers' systems.

How has it helped my organization?

The looping functions definitely save us time. What Automation Anywhere has done is free up more time for our staff. They're able to handle exceptions in our processes instead of having to do the mundane, repetitive tasks they were doing previously.

What is most valuable?

The object looping functions are definitely very useful, especially when there are repetitive processes. We can design one path and have it do it multiple times until all the data's completed.

What needs improvement?

There are two big pain points for me. One is communication of all known bugs and the issues with the current versions that users that might be on. A heads-up of known issues would be a nice-to-have. If we're spinning our wheels, and we have that piece of information, it would make it a lot easier to either justify an upgrade or a process change here, to handle that particular bug or issue, given that it's a system-wide known issue.

The second thing is that we have a lot of use cases that depend on certain Java applets, and currently we're not able to leverage the Object Cloning that would speed up our automation designing. So we have to revert to more image recognition-type of designing, and it just takes a long time to get that bot built. We have one, solely web-based use case, and we can deploy those kinds of use cases fairly quickly and then make modifications on the fly with them. But when we have these other use cases that leverage image recognition, it makes it difficult to be agile and to do updates or edits fairly quickly.

Those are the two biggest pain points and opportunities. I have raised these issues with Automation Anywhere and they've mentioned that the automation piece is something that they're currently unable to do, but it's somewhere on the roadmap to deploy. We just haven't received the date for when it will be.

Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's mostly stable. Sometimes we do notice that our Automation Anywhere services get disconnected. That happens, maybe, once every three weeks. When the service is disconnected, you can't run any automations on that particular environment. So someone has to go in there and reinitialize those. But for the most part, it's pretty good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From the current setup that we have, I'm not sure how much we can scale up. We had an initial PoC and our first go-live was less than a year ago, so we haven't had those discussions on what it would take to either increase by one or two servers or 20 servers, or what that would look like.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is pretty great. Sometimes, I feel that their office hours are not in line with our office hours, so getting a response can take either half a day or a few hours. With production outages, we can become dead in the water.

Once we do have someone on and responding to our tickets, they're pretty knowledgeable. If a ticket has not been routed to the correct technical support group, it gets routed fairly quickly and addressed. Their knowledge is pretty good.

The only times that I would have negative feedback about support are when we go through most troubleshooting techniques or steps that a technical support agent would walk me through and, at the end, the problem is deemed a bug. That's when I would feel like we were spinning our wheels. I know that those are the necessary steps to identify it's an actual bug and not some sort of configuration or update that we needed.

Our current customer success manager is fairly good. He's always on top of our tickets and if I ever raise a question to him, he's definitely very helpful. I do feel like we're being taken care of.

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

Sometimes we used simple data loaders or macros from Excel, but nothing more advanced. Our organization began to look at something like this solution because, from a resource standpoint, there was a need to expend more on the workforce. Not having to expand our workforce even more was preferable, if we could carry out these repetitive tasks through an automation. We definitely wanted to leverage that instead of adding more people.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty simple. We got the minimum requirements for all of our environments, and we had a technician, a technical expert from Automation Anywhere, who walked us through the setup. That was actually the easiest part.

From a software installation standpoint, it was roughly a couple of hours. But from the infrastructure side, there were some setups on our end that we needed to carry out. That took a little while longer.

Three people were required for the deployment. One to coordinate resources, another from our side, and one technical expert from the Automation Anywhere side. In terms of people involved in managing the solution, for the entire software, we have roughly one stakeholder for each department that we have automations in. The solution affects many people, but the number of people who are actually involved in designing and maintaining it, is between five and ten.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a return on investment. Every time we have these processes running, it's definitely helping out on that front.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There were a few top candidates out there. We had demos and we went through the entire vetting process. The standout qualities of Automation Anywhere were the ease of automation and that it is an intuitive tool. After a simple walkthrough, a couple of hours, you would be able to hit the ground running.

What other advice do I have?

Definitely take an inventory of all the systems that you have plans to carry out the automations in and ensure that the software is compatible with them. You definitely want to have use of that automation. As I mentioned, a few our use cases have to leverage image recognition, and that isn't really all that flexible. It just increases our automation time. 

Every customer will receive a demo of how easy it is to create an automation through a web browser, but it's really all those other applications that a company may have that bring the most value. You want to make sure that you take that inventory and that Automation Anywhere gives you a thumbs up that they can automate fairly easily.

We're trying to leverage the analytics module. Right now, when we carry out a process, we'll have records of all the orders that were processed but they're all in separate spreadsheets. It's a painstaking task to consolidate all that information to get an idea of how much work we actually did. I know there's an analytics module which we haven't been able to leverage yet, and that's one of the reasons we want to upgrade to version 13.

Any increase in usage will depend on ROI and justifying it. We've had some initial requirements but we haven't ironed out many concrete details.

I would definitely rate the software a nine out of ten. If it covered all use cases and all software, if it was that easy to automate, I'd give it a ten. But since there are some applications that are not as compatible as others, there's some room for improvement there.

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
SeniorAsced7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Associate, IT at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Attended automation is great, but unattended automation is a bit of a struggle
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is its Excel integration."
  • "It does not easily integrate with customized solutions."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is process automation. We have automated our reconciliation process.

So far, it has performed okay.

How has it helped my organization?

We have automated our processes.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is its Excel integration.

We have business users who are developing bots using this solution.

What needs improvement?

It does not easily integrate with customized solutions.

I would like to see more Excel functionality, especially around the copy and paste functions. A lot of our business users utilize the copy/paste special values. We are currently not getting any formatting, etc. It is just a raw data set. To fix this, there are some workarounds that Automation Anywhere needs to build into the app. This would make it a lot easier for us.

Automation Anywhere should better vet their partners and resellers for their packs.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable. Once the upgrades were put in for the latest release, it has been running pretty smoothly in our environment. The key things that Automation Anywhere needs to address is the changes which are in the Microsoft environment going forward and how they are going to address not having Explorer there.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is pretty easy. It is pretty intuitive for any IT person to scale their environment.

How are customer service and technical support?

Automation Anywhere technical support has been great. Some of their partner support is less than to be desired.

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

We did not use a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. There was no need for a reseller or partner to do anything, if they were just going to click the "Next" button.

From pilot to production, we did a three bot pilot, but we did not put those bots into production. We pretty much cut down that environment and started everything back up from scratch. 

Now, we have those three bots out in production. They are programmed to be easier and more affordable. Then, we have the rest of our processes that we have identified to take to production for automation that seem pretty easy for the next stage.

What about the implementation team?

We purchased a partner pack. I would not recommend it. The Automation Anywhere support is far superior.

What was our ROI?

With the bots that we have in production, we have two of them that are time savers. We have a third bot which takes longer being automated than it did with the human process.

At the moment, it is about even time. We are not using it as a money saver.

What other advice do I have?

Start slow. Ensure you have enough processes in the pipeline to keep moving forward. There will be a hurdle to get over, and once you get over that hurdle (learning curve), it will be a lot easier going down that slope.

Attended automation is great. Unattended automation is a bit of a struggle.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
ProcessI4690 - PeerSpot reviewer
Process Improvement Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Enables us to automate multiple repetitive and time-consuming processes
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to learn and with it, it's easy to replicate knowledge."
  • "We had several issues when trying to connect the different components, due to our firewalls. They were eventually solved by our internal IT and the AA technical team."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for robotic process automation.

How has it helped my organization?

Several manual/repetitive/time-consuming processes were automated, giving back time to the process owner. In addition, for most of them, the process follows a single standard and additional controls were created.

What is most valuable?

  • Easy to learn
  • Easy to replicate knowledge

What needs improvement?

There are general performance issues which are probably being addressed in the latest versions. To clarify, we currently we don’t have any issues, but during our implementation we had cases for which we needed to open tickets with the AA helpdesk.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling is a big job, but it is completely scalable. A whole new team/department needs to be created in order to develop and monitor robotic process automation.

How is customer service and technical support?

Technical support is very good, quick, and effective.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very complex. We had several issues when trying to connect the different components, due to our firewalls. They were eventually solved by our internal IT and the AA technical team.

Deployment took three months.

Our implementation strategy was teamwork among our IT, the end users, and the software provider's technical team.

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

Pricing is too high for small-scale groups. The Control Room yearly fee is high, making it difficult to break even.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

A case study was developed. We evaluated Automation Anywhere vs Blue Prism as an alternative. I wasn't part of the business case, so I did not make the final call as to why we went with AA over Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

Put together a solid strategy to develop and maintain automations. Also, work closely with internal controls and internal auditing.

In our organization, we have four developers using it. In terms of how extensively the solution is being used, we have automated 24 macro processes and many more are in the pipeline.

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
ManagerA8e80 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Administrator of Strategy Team at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
We Would Like To Pose FAQ Questions Directly To Automation Anywhere Japan. The Product's Automation Ensures Accuracy.

What is our primary use case?

We are a service department which handles toys and games. Currently, we are at the phase of selecting a representative from HR, Administrative, Accounting, and IT to develop our day-to-day operations. We have not implemented the solution yet. 

We have done the RPA for the tasks. We have developed it, but haven’t reached the stage of implementation yet. The PoC is done, and now, we are in the development.

How has it helped my organization?

Automation can reduce tasks and actual working hours. It ensures accuracy. Humans errors are inevitable when humans do tasks, so this issue will disappear. 

What is most valuable?

We looked into three vendors originally, but we thought that a control room, or the control feature, would be the most important aspect. It is why we chose this vendor. 

What needs improvement?

Yes, the support from Automation Anywhere has room for improvement. Because we have contracts with Deloitte, and now that Automation Anywhere has its Japan office, things would be smoother if we could pose questions directly to their Japan office regarding “Bottasan” and FAQs.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as stability is concerned, it is fairly stable. However, it does stop occasionally, so there is some instability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We only have four machines for the development and actual work. Once we are done with the development, we will implement it in groups. At this point, we don’t know about its scalability yet.

How are customer service and technical support?

We are getting technical support as a consulting service. Automation Anywhere Japan is doing the technical part of “Bottason” for us. We are receiving our support as such, but as far as the daily incremental technical issues, we ask Deloitte for help.

How was the initial setup?

We received the manual, so our IT department set it up. I believe it was relatively easy.

What was our ROI?

We haven’t seen any returns yet.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this product as a five out of ten. It is partly because our process has not progressed much, and also what I said about the support. We get the support from the company we have a contract with, but I would like to see more worth in the new Automation Anywhere Japan.

It’s good as an RPA company. For an organization who is looking to do some business renovation, the solution can work well depending on its purpose and usage. You can also expect good scalability. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to those who just want to increase their number of bots.

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか?また、パフォーマンスはどうですか?

我々の会社自体が、グループのシェアードサービス部門を担当しています。

人事、総務、経理、ITとあり、それぞれの部門から代表者を選んで、それぞれの部門の業務を実際、AAで開発をしているという段階です。ただ、まだ実装はしていないです。

業務自体の開発はAAでしてるんですけど、実装には至ってないですね。

POCが終わって、開発を貯めてるということですね。


からの感想でもいいんですが、当ソリューションのどんな機能に最も価値があると思われましたか? 

製品を選ぶ時にもともと3社ほど対象にしていました。将来の開発、実装を見据えた中でやっぱりコントロールルームというか統制機能ですよね、そこが重要になってくると考え、選択しました。。


どのようなメリットがあるとお感じですか?特に御社の業務処理がどう改善できるとお考えですか?

自動化によって業務短縮ができること、時間的には拘束が減るっていうのと、あとは正確性のところです。業務を人がやるとどうしてもミスが出てしまうところは、その辺はなくなってくるかなと思います。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

安定的だとは思います。たまには、止まったりっていうところがあったりするので、その辺で一部不安定なところがあるかなと思っています。


当ソリューションの拡張性に関してはまだ印象はおありでないですね?

今はまだです。開発機で4台とか、実機で4台なので、もう少し自分たちの業務がきっちり開発出来てからグループ内で展開しようと思っています。今の段階では見えてないですね、そこまで。

テクニカルサポートを利用したことはありますか?ある場合は、サポートをどのように評価しますか?

テクニカルサポートという…そうですね、コンサルティングは受けてます。テクニカルなところでもAutomation Anywhereジャパンから”ボッタソン”を提供頂いたりしています。

そういうサポートを受けてますが、日々の細かいテクニカルなことは、パートナー企業に訊いていますね。

初期セットアップには御社も関わってされましたか?セットアップは簡単、それとも複雑でしたか?どういった意味で簡単、あるいは複雑でしたか?

セットアップは一応マニュアルを貰って、弊社のITがセットアップをしたというところで、そうですね、比較的簡単な方だったと思います。


たまに止まるという安全性では改善が必要かと思いますが、将来他にも改善して欲しい点や欲しい機能などはありますか?

そうですね、Automation Anywhereからのサポートという所で、契約しているパートナー企業がありますが、-今AAジャパンが出来たので、そこでも”ボッタソン”以外の質問とかFAQとかそういうのは受けてもらえるとより、スムーズに運用できると思っています。直取引ではありませんが、我々は将来、AAの台数拡大したいという思い、目的はAAジャパンとも一緒だと思いますので。

ここまでで投資対効果っていうのはどうでしょう?

投資対効果はほぼないですね。残念ながら。

ベンダーをお選びになる際、最も重要だと思われる条件は何ですか?

今はやっぱり運用と育成の所ですかね。運用体制を我々できっちりやらないといけないのですけど、そこに関わって来るガイドラインとかも紐づいて来ると思いますし、あとは育成のところもどんどん数を増やしていかないといけないかなと思いますので。

他のベンダーは検討されましたか?最終的に当ソリューションを選択した理由は何ですか?

やっぱりコントロール機能というか、統制機能というか、そこが将来的に重要になってくるかなと思ったので、そこでAAが一番しっかりしていたと考えたからです。

このソリューションに1から10の評価(10=最高)を付けるとしたら、どのように評価しますか?

5自分達がなかなか進めてないというのがあるんですけど、サポートの所ですかね。今は契約先とはあるんですけど、Automation Anywhereジャパンができたことによるメリットを強調したい。

このソリューションあるいは同様なソリューションを探している、同社あるいは他社の同僚の方に、どんなアドバイスをなさいますか?

RPAの企業としては非常にいいと思ってるんですけど、あとその目的というか、使い道とで業務改革を伴うような企業であれば、非常に有効性もあるだろうし、将来的な拡張性も期待できると思います。ただ単に、ボットを一杯作りたいという所に対しては勧められないかなと。

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
SeniorMa8f54 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager IT Department / Corporate IT Planning at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Real User
The Structure Is A Client Server, So We Can Expand The Environment Quickly, If Needed

What is our primary use case?

It’s mainly for back office tasks, such as accounting and supply chain management (SCM). Currently, we are implementing RPA for these back office tasks. 

How has it helped my organization?

We are not just doing RPA. We are tackling it along with the review of a business process as a set, improving the process and automating simultaneously.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that a job by RPA can be done three or four times faster
than a human without human error.

What needs improvement?

E.g., when the robot handles tasks, there are triggers. It could be triggered when it receives an email, when it finds a file, when the specified time comes, etc. As there are many outside points of contact, it’s hard to understand how they are prioritized when a trigger priority is the same. Since I wouldn’t know which trigger is being prioritized unless I actually give it a try, I want a clear understanding of it. 

Also, please make it possible to set a trigger with the control room. 

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as the stability is concerned, some unknown errors do occur. While I am sure the Automation Anywhere is working to improve this, there is room for improvement. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. The structure is a client server, so we can expand the environment quickly, if needed.

How are customer service and technical support?

Currently, we are getting it through a vendor from who we purchased a license. So,
when we have questions, we contact them, then they contact Automation Anywhere’s headquarters. We always get answers, but it is a bit time consuming. Here is where I think some improvement can be made. 

How was the initial setup?

We were given the manuals, so we did it ourselves. It was not hard or challenging. We
did receive support, but there were no issues. 

What was our ROI?

This initiative is not something that we expect will have a quick, huge impact. We are still in the process of expanding and penetrating the solution. We will enter the phase where we see targeted impact shortly. In order to achieve this, we would like to see the support by Automation Anywhere reinforced along the way. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did look at two or three other solutions. In our company, the people in each business unit would be creating robots rather than the IT programmers or specialists. With that in mind, Automation Anywhere can be user-friendly and simple since business unit staff can even create robots, and that’s one of the big reasons that we chose it. The other reason is that we wanted to have control and governance over the task assigned to robots. Those two points made Automation Anywhere’s structure a great match for our needs.

We have started using the solution overseas, and in some areas, including Asian Pacific, robots are made by the local staff. When they have questions, they want to ask questions in their native language, but the support is not available in some of the languages as of now. I’m hoping these language improvements will be something improved going forward

What other advice do I have?

In regards to advice, if looking to reform your business process and automate in the same way as we did, they would need something appropriate. We chose Automation Anywhere. If you have a lot of simple tasks, you may want to process with speed and obtain something else. There are different tools for different purposes. Get the right tool and think about the way to do it for whatever you are aiming for.

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか?また、パフォーマンスはどうですか?

主に会計系、SCM領域のバックオフィス業務を主にRPA化しています。

当ソリューションはどんな点において最も役に立ちますか?

人の3-4倍くらいの速さでミスがなく業務が自動化される点と考えています。

当ソリューションを使用するとどのようなメリットがありますか?御社が機能する上
でどのような改善をもたらしましたか?

単なるRPA化だけではなくビジネスプロセスの見直しもセットで取り組んでいます。
プロセス改善も同時にできています。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

安定性で言うと原因不明のエラーというのは多少発生しています。この点については
改善の余地があると考えています。

当ソリューションのスケーラビリティに関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

拡張性は非常にあると思います。クライアントサーバー型なので、増加したい部分を
必要に応じて迅速に拡張できると考えています。

このソリューションにテクニカルサポートを利用したことはありますか?ある場合
は、サポートをどのように評価しますか?

今は弊社がライセンスを購入しているベンダー経由でサポートを受けています。確実
に回答は頂けていますが、時間を要する部分もあり改善する余地があると考えていま
す。

初期セットアップには関与されましたか?セットアップは簡単、それとも複雑でした
か?どういった意味で簡単、あるいは複雑でしたか?

マニュアルを頂き自分たちで実施しました。セットアップは難しくなかったです。支
援も頂きましたが特に問題はありませんでした。

当ソリューションの次のリリースに含まれていたらいいなと思うのはどのような機能
ですか?また、それはなぜですか?

例えばロボットがタスクを動かす際にトリガーがいくつかある。メール、ファイル、
時間を指定など。トリガーの優先度が一緒の場合、これらトリガーの中でどれが優先
されるのかがやってみないとわからないところがあって、そういった所がクリアにな
っていると良いです。また、トリガーをControlRoomで設定できるようにしてほしい。
こういった点を含め、管理ツールの機能がもう少し強化されると良いです。

どのようなROIが見いだせていますか?データを提供してくださいますか?

初期段階から大きな効果を出そうという取り組みではないと考えており、現在は社内
にRPAを浸透させている段階です。これから狙った効果が出るフェーズに入ると思って
います。Automation Anywhereさんのサポートもより強化して頂く必要があると感じ
ています。

他にどのようなベンダーを検討していましたか?最終的に当ソリューションを選択し
た理由は何ですか?

他に2つ、3つ検討しました。弊社では、ITプログラマーやスペシャリストというより
も、業務部門の人にロボットを作成する前提です。Automation Anywhereはユーザー
に対して非常にシンプルで分かりやすく、業務部門の人でも作ることができるという
ことが一つ大きかったと思います。もう一つは、ロボットがやる仕事、タスクをコン
トロールするガバナンスの観点がありました。これら2点から、Automation Anywhere
のストラクチャーは弊社のニーズに合っていたため、選定しました。

このソリューションに1から10の評価(10=最高)を付けるとしたら、どのように評
価しますか?そしてその理由は何ですか?


8

海外でも利用を開始しており、APACの現地スタッフが開発しています。質問がある場
合、現地の言葉で問い合わせをしたいのですが今はそれができない言語もあります。
こういったところで今後改善もあると思いますので、期待も込めて残りの2点。

他の会社でソリューションまたは同様の他のソリューションについてリサーチしてい
る同僚の方がいたら、どのようなアドバイスをすると思いますか?

色々なやりかたがあって私共みたいに業務プロセスを改革するのとセットで進めると
いうことであれば、…我々はAutomation Anywhere を選択しました。

本当に単純な業務が沢山あって、スピードを持ちたい、出したいというのであれば、
違うツールかもしれません。狙う業務形態にあったツールは変わります。

何を狙おうとしているのかによってツールは選ぶべきですし、やり方も考えるべきだ
というようなことは申し上げるかなと思います。

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Associate Systems Analyst at NSEiT Limited
Real User
Speeds manual data processing tasks and supports both scheduled and trigger-based process execution
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features is the error handler, as this command has helped me design bots that can handle multiple errors and exceptions."
  • "Most of the Excel commands such as filtering and removing duplicates are not available."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use cases consist of the following:

  1. Filtering and manipulating multiple Excel, CSV, XLS files to gather relevant data as per the business requirements.
  2. Extracting text from searchable and non-searchable PDF files and uploading the data to separate output files or web-based forms.
  3. Scheduling tasks to run on a daily basis or implementing trigger-based process execution.
  4. Implementing email automation in various modules.
  5. Working with external macros and JScript files, depending on the given business logic. 

How has it helped my organization?

Automation Anywhere has by far, provided one of the best and easiest solutions to implement RPA. It has helped increase our productivity in the following ways:

  1. The scheduling and trigger-based solutions provided by Automation Anywhere have saved the effort of manually checking the conditions and executing tasks.
  2. The OCR commands have made document processing efficient to a certain extent.
  3. Working with external scripts has been very useful; I have used JScript and VBScripts in my processes.

What is most valuable?

The features I found most valuable are:

  1. PDF Integration Commands: It is easy to extract text from PDF files in two ways, plain text and structured text. Automated password protected files, as well.
  2. FTP Commands: I found it very easy to automate processes where I have to extract, upload, and rename files on the SFTP server for my process.
  3. Error Handler: One of the most valuable features is the error handler, as this command has helped me design bots that can handle multiple errors and exceptions.
  4. Object Cloning Features: This is one of the most reliable features provided by Automation Anywhere.

What needs improvement?

The product is amazing, nevertheless, it would be really great to see the following points being implemented:

  1. Better OCR Extraction: The OCR extraction is good to some extent, but I have seen some cases where it has failed to extract text from a few documents, and this was quite unexpected.
  2. More Excel Commands: The set of Excel commands I am currently using in Automation Anywhere V11.3 are limited. Most of the Excel commands such as filtering and removing duplicates are not available.
  3. Options to edit Document and PPT files: The scope of projects could be expanded if we have such commands. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Automation Anywhere for more than a year.

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?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1469001 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Development Associate at Accenture
Real User
Is easy to use, has high scalability, password security features, and easy access
Pros and Cons
  • "We used to do many daily routine checks and jobs. We have implemented the automation knowledge which resulted in good productivity, time-saving, and extra efforts being reduced."
  • "Automation Anywhere can also be improved in machine learning and artificial intelligence. It would make our lives easier."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for automating daily routine jobs, where I have saved a lot of time. I have enhanced my automation knowledge. We have automated the daily reports and it will trigger automatically once jobs are completed from the backend database which has saved a lot of extra work for our team, saving workforce and time. 

The implementation of the bot is easy and can be built in less time when compared to the other automation tools. No coding knowledge is required to build the Automation bot. It's very as simple, easy to use, and maintain.

How has it helped my organization?

We used to do many daily routine checks and jobs. We have implemented the automation knowledge which resulted in good productivity, time-saving, and extra efforts being reduced. It has saved a lot of extra work which we used to put for manual report sending. Implementing the bot is so easy that a new joiner can learn it within weeks. You don't need coding knowledge which helped us a lot because many other automation tools require good coding knowledge to develop a bot. The password security feature helped in securing the passwords.

What is most valuable?

Easy to use, high scalability, password security features, easy access, etc. There is no coding knowledge required which helped us a lot because many other automation tools require good coding knowledge to develop a bot. 

The password security feature helped in securing the passwords. Implementing the bot is so easy that our new joiner also can learn it within weeks. It helped us in testing the application end to end without any errors. Record and playback features helped in making our work less and efficient.

What needs improvement?

The debugging tools need to be included, for where and why it has failed to execute the bot in a clear manner. Maintaining the bot is a little tough sometimes during a failed issue. If Automation Anywhere is developed in a real-time environment, we can do daily routine our home routine jobs much easier. I am learning a bit daily day by day. 

Automation Anywhere can also be improved in machine learning and artificial intelligence. It would make our lives easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this for the past six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Good stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

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

I have used Selenium and now i am trying to switch to AA.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have evaluated a few other tools, UFT and Tosca.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1457208 - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer at a tech services company
Real User
Control Room allows admins to be able to control how the bots work, create users, and be able to give roles to a user
Pros and Cons
  • "Business analytics provides real-time data that's something other competing companies lack. It uses statistics and graphs to show the performance of the bots which processes are lagging behind and if you need to give priority to certain tasks."
  • "Automation Anywhere should add a couple of commands which will help most developers not to always use a script, a good example is in String operations."

What is our primary use case?

I am a developer and I have developed bots mainly for insurance companies. Most insurance companies in my country usually have big problems trying to transfer data from one application to another, this hence has made it very difficult for them to be up to date with their entry. Usually, they are faced with a one month lag since they employ humans to do the work for them. 

In addition to this, the data transfer usually contains a series of errors, and in that area accuracy is very key. A slight mistake can end up ruining things big time .

How has it helped my organization?

Our company's reputation has made it easy to improve recently after beginning to offer RPA services to clients.

Before AA, the insurance companies used to do data manually from one app to another, but after introducing them to automation the speed and accuracy have been outstanding. They had a lot of workload hanging around. 

After automating the process, my company has been able to acquire new clients who are interested in automating their processes using automation anywhere. This hence means more work for us which is always a good thing.

What is most valuable?

1. I would say business analytics, it provides real-time data that's something other competing companies lack. It uses statistics and graphs to show the performance of the bots which processes are lagging behind and if you need to give priority to certain tasks. 

2. The control room and the bot creator - the control which is the brain is a powerful feature that allows administrators to be able to control how the bots work, create users, and be able to give roles to a user. 

The bot creator allows developers to be able to customize bots according to the client's needs 

What needs improvement?

Most clients use systems which use old Java versions, trying to automate on these systems is really difficult since most features/commands are not supported. Java earlier than 1.7 cannot work something and most firms I have interacted with their systems are old. Another thing according to Automation Anywhere, it's main aim is not to change the client's system but to be used on top of the existing one hence Automation Anywhere should consider those clients since in my country most of them use systems which date back to 2000, and they are not willing to spend another fortune to change them just so they can use Automation Anywhere.

Additional features: Automation Anywhere should add a couple of commands which will help most developers not to always use a script, a good example is in String operations.

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?

This solution is stable, as of now, I can't complain about anything but more attempts to make it more stable would be okay maybe I haven't encountered one yet but I'm sure it's flawless when it comes to stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Definitely would like it, scalability means more new features.

How are customer service and technical support?

Most customers we've interacted with at first are usually not certain about automation but immediately we do a proof of concept, they are eager to implement. 

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

I have only used Automation Anywhere and I love it.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

It was an in-house one.

What was our ROI?

Anything above 50%. Most clients cannot go for anything less.

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

I usually advise them not to worry about the overall cost since the outcome will be profitable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, I had considered UiPath.

What other advice do I have?

I like the way Automation Anywhere has migrated from v11 to a2019 my concern is about bots in a2019, once you delete them it's impossible to get them back.

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