Automation Anywhere Reviews

We use it for doing automation inside of Citrix. It's for image-based automation.

It's very easy for business users to learn Automation Anywhere. You do not need to have technical skills in order to leverage the product. It is pretty easy to learn how to use it.

The learning curve in terms of making automations is low. It's a low-code platform. People are finding it very easy to learn how to do things. 

It might take six to eight weeks in order to train non-technical employees to use Automation Anywhere. 

It has been good for our financial management reporting. 

Using RPA bots and APIs is easy. It's easy to integrate.

Automation Anywhere has helped us increase automation consumption. We do a lot of financial reporting, even on SAP. We've done a lot of automations around ERP and our SAP database.

Automation Anywhere was difficult with certain applications with respect to Java platforms. For these, we'd likely use UiPath instead. Handling Java-based applications or browser-based applications could be better. 

Automation Anywhere should have more Excel-related functionality. 

I've used the solution for four or five years. 

The product is not at all stable. They should improve the stability.

The solution scales enough. We haven't faced any scaling problems. 

The product has a very good support team. We have not had any major challenges with them.

Positive

We also use UiPath.

We migrated to a gateway situation. It was challenging as the architecture was different. We faced a lot of issues and it took time to migrate. There were a few functionalities that were not working and we needed to recreate the workflows. When we started, most of the ports were not working. The migration did not go as expected. Then, there was a new version of my initial VPN. It took more than a year to migrate.

The solution does require some maintenance. You do need to maintain the bots. 

We have witnessed an ROI while using Automation Anywhere. 

The pricing is still high. For every new feature, there is an additional charge.

I'm an Automation Anywhere customer.

We have not yet started using Co-Pilot.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten. It's good for automating processes. 

Project 1: Built an unattended bot to automate a complex Audit process for a healthcare client. There are 90+ bots deployed and it is processing 1000+ cases of different types every month.

Project 2: Built assisted bot for a healthcare client. It was used by customer service representatives. Unfortunately, this process was not used for a long time due to latency issues and a functionality gap.

Project 3: Working on migrating the Audit process automated using Automation Anywhere v10.5 to the new version, A2019.

AA has helped to automate a complex Audit process. The process was tedious to the auditors, as they need to log in to a number of applications to collect audit data for validation. It involves web, desktop, and mainframe applications (total of 20+ applications of 40+ roles).

The whole process was automated such that the bot will log in, collect screenshots, build the PDF, and then report the results to the auditors. This saved auditors from doing the mundane manual task of logging into multiple applications independently. Also, the auditors had to manage credentials for all of the applications before, whereas now, the bot takes care of storing the details in a secure vault.

The most valuable features for us are:

1. Object cloning with an option to enter wildcard selection was very useful when working in a web application that generated dynamic HTML content.
2. The Terminal client options have helped in automating terminal applications effectively.
3. The Windows capturing features that allow for automating desktop applications works seamlessly compared to web application automation.
4. Excel automation is one of the clean and very useful features that helps in reporting, as well as other Excel-related operations. Having the option of using Excel as a database helps with performing logic.

Areas that can be improved are:

1. For assisted automation, the AA bot needs the facility to be triggered through an application interface after collecting input from the user. There is no inbuilt option available in AA to collect all the inputs in an interface. In our case, we built a desktop application to collect all of the user input and, on submit, the .NET code will run the ATMX file.
   
   Can AA provide a simple user interface through which a user can collect input and submit it to trigger the bot?
   
   
2. It needs an option to change the Windows resolution.
   
   
3. It needs to have an option to select an object after a three to five-second delay. It is useful in the case of menu selection and this option exists in other tools.

We have used several versions of Automation Anywhere since 2019, as follows:

• 2019 May - 2020 January: Used Automation Anywhere v11.3
• 2020 March - 2020 October: Used Automation Anywhere v10.5
• 2020 October - Current: Migrating from AA 10.5 to A2019

We have used WorkFusion RPA, which had options for machine learning features first.

Our company is an implementation partner for Automation Anywhere, and XLNC Technologies is a consulting organization for whom I work. I am the head of delivery operations.

We are working with around 14 clients who are on Automation Anywhere. We have been able to recommend and further resell starter and enterprise packs. Implementations performed by us scale up from one bot to 10 bot runners

My primary use case for Automation Anywhere would be the one which yields higher ROI , has repetitive tasks to be performed and doesnt involve fuzzy logic for sure . Cases that we have achieved success are extraction of data from PDF's , SAP automation, AD Integration, Integration with CRM and Payment links, KYC documents and web scrapping. Listed are low hanging fruits and will boost confidence of the stakeholders in the RPA deployment , recommend to look at such use cases when looking at Automation Anywhere and its implementation.

I have worked in Dubai, and we implemented RPA for one of the major retail giants. We started out with one process (bank reconciliation) and scaled up to almost 200 bots in six months. Sales was improved by at least by 80 percent. 

During the Dubai shopping festival, there were big launches that happened on the sales/retail domains. Bots compared products with other competitors, looking at the pricing ranges then locating the price for your own product, then bringing them to the home page for easy access. All these sort of changes were managed by bots. It had a direct impact on the customer lifecycle. 

In my current implementation, which is happening in India, with the poker companies, if you played poker, then you would have observed when you are trying to make out a cash-out if you don't get your cash-out in four to eight hours that you tend to get worried about the poker game in which you were playing. One of the use case that we received was to go ahead and make cash-outs almost on a real-time basis along with the tax deduction. Because in India, there are tax deductions which happen. Before, it used to take almost a day to go ahead and get the tax deducted. Then, the cash-outs were being made in eight hours. Now, it is happening in one to two hours. This boosts the customer confidence and experience. When the customer experience increases, obviously sales will increase. 

Automation Anywhere has multiple features in it. If you could look at the agnostic tools that are available on the market, almost everybody has a similar features, but Automation Anywhere has quite a secure platform. It is highly encrypted.

It is highly scalable on cloud and virtual machines. 

Automation Anywhere is a tool. It is not able to go ahead and extract the hand-written documents. Most of the automation tools that we have in the market are not able to get an accuracy of close to 80 to 90 percent on hand-written documents. So, I'm eagerly looking at a release from Automation Anywhere, wherein they could plug in an LP or look at some sort of a platform which could convert hand-written documents into a readable format. If they could bring in they own platform, this would make a big in-roads for the entire automation industry.

If it is able to integrate with any plug-ins available on the market which could read hand-written documents, that would be good. IQ BOT is one cognitive bot that they have launched, and if they could extend this particular cognitive bot to hand-written documents, then they would have an edge over other automation giants already in existence.

Recently, they launched the business analytical dashboard, which is cutting-edge. We can see in real-time the business dynamics and the way the metrics are behaving when the bots are being run. If we could have a ready-made application allowing for input processes and metrics into it. Then, it provides the approach that you should take to start the automation and when the process should expect to be completed. 

Automation Anywhere already has bots stores and digital workers being enabled on the website. Instead of putting it on the website, if a couple of digital workers could be made inherent in the tool itself, then the customer who is buying the package gets an edge over other partners or other vendors. E.g., if Automation Anywhere could package a digital worker along with my existing tool, as sort of an add-on, then that would add value to my package. Similarly, if I am from SCN, maybe an SAT module digital worker could add value.

There are hundreds of codes or utilities available. 60 percent just go down the drain and are never used, because there is no utility towards them. If they did something like Amazon, a pay-as-you-go, to get a digital worker, it would be cutting-edge technology. This would save costs for me and would optimize my implementations. The same benefits could then be shared with my customers. 

Stability is an important part of the product. It has accolades across the globe. If it did not, stable companies in the tech and finance industries wouldn't have gone for it. It's stable because it's highly scalable on cloud and virtual machines. The codes developed in Automation Anywhere don't tend to go back, skip, or miss out. 

The current version launched is 11.3. We are more comfortable with 11.3 now. However, the earlier version, 10.7 was good to work with, but since there even newer version coming, we work with 11.3 for now. Version 11.3 does have some bugs, but they are manageable because there is a good technical support team provided by the Automation Anywhere. We haven't had any major hiccups.

The moment that you start having access levels missing or security is being quite stringent about not opening a couple of bots, they are not providing admin access rights nor providing accesses to VPNs, that's when the stability issues come in. Then, we start blaming that the application stability, which in fact is wrong, because you are not meeting the prerequisites.

Other tools tend to give me exceptions when I am scaling them on the cloud. While the infrastructure might be available, systems won't be able to talk to each other. The codes tend to miss paths, and sometimes codes are not getting applied in the application. However, with Automation Anywhere, we haven't seen any such issues until now, wherein large scale developments are being found to be unstable. 

The good thing about Automation Anywhere is the website has a detailed architecture which talks about having a load balancer and how you can scale up. 

Currently, I have been working with clients in the US and Dubai through remote support. I have been developing bots remotely where I have been able to access their virtual machines. The virtual machines are separate for creators and runners. I have around six creators on virtual machines, which is good enough to start off. There are around 25 runners which are deployed on 25 VMs. This is in US. That's how we are operating them, and it's the largest setup that we work on.

In India, clients start small. They start with a starter pack, which is only allowed to be issued by an implementation partner. If you go onto the Automation Anywhere website, there is nothing called a starter pack. So, organizations will tend to start small with a starter pack, which may come in a bundle of two or three creators, one runner, and one controller. They want to test how it is functions in their organization. If they can pick up low hanging fruit, which means if they're picking processes which are smaller but high in volume, then they will have higher ROI. Then, these organizations tend to jump onto an enterprise level deployment in a maximum of six months. That is the trend that we have seen. 

However, the moment the client starts going big and is not able to get the right ROI in place, that's where they tend to start dropping the ball. Then, they start looking for another RPA software or decide RPA is not for them.

I have been receiving good technical support them, and hence I'm sitting on the sidelines. This is because if I didn't get the right support along with the right documentation and KMS, then I would not be able to fix issues first on my own. If I'm not able to do this, then relying on the technical support would be the last thing that I would do. The technical support that Automation Anywhere provides is fantastic, especially their acknowledgment and response times. Their knowledge base articles are quite descriptive. You will be able to fix issues on your own if you are quite tech savvy. Even if you are not, then they're quite detailed enough to follow.

If you don't get the right support, then there is an escalation channel available which you can reach out to. There is a community, where get solutions. There doesn't seem to be any issues with the support currently being provided by Automation Anywhere. I find them quite responsible and available whenever I have issues.

It is quite straightforward doing an initial setup of Automation Anywhere. This is because it has a well-defined installation guide which talks about how to install Automation Anywhere software. However, automation only works when IT support is quite adequate. So, if the IT and infrastructure teams at the client site are not supportive, for example, then I'm not able to provide admin rights or open security ports. That is when the entire installation moves into a messy state. There is a way to cater to such issues. Because this is a new technology coming, if you meet with the IT support team along with the CISO of that particular organization and set the right context and objective that company wants to achieve with automation, this roadblock can be fixed.

Otherwise, I haven't faced any issues with the setup.

We start off with the planning phase. Then, we go into the asset process gathering phase. We map it along with data gathering, wherein we gather data about the collaterals, the documents which are required in the process, standard operating procedures (SOPs), user login credentials, access rights, and business logics. Once that is done, we recommend a target operating model. Once approved by the business, that's when we start development. We start doing regression testing when post development is over. Finally, we do the handover the new app to the customer operations and can deploy the bot.

If I have to do a process discovery, which includes understanding the data gathering and creating an address process map, it takes a maximum five to ten business days (simple process). It takes this amount of time because the SME has to give me their time, and I never get all the information that I need in one shot since there are a lot of business and technical exceptions that I have to cater to. I have to be quite inquisitive in asking in the process, then the process gaps and the exceptions. I have to make a map, follow up with a sign off, then get it close.

A medium level complexity project can take 25 man days and a complex process could take a least a month and a half.

If I am deploying eight to ten processes in a span of six months, I need maximum three developers. If I'm developing out 50 bots in six months, then I need 20 developers.

Once the bots are deployed, I need a support team which works in three shifts. My support team would consist of a solution architect and three developers spread across three shifts. The monitoring team would consist of a solution architect and one or two IT support people. This is for a large scale bot development. If it is a smaller scale deployment, a smaller support team is needed for monitoring.

We have saved customers 400% in terms of time saved by implementing this product.

We implemented automation in an HR domain. We had 60 percent reduced error rates, 25 percent freed working hours, and the response time from the HR department was faster than before. We automated candidate screening, payroll automation and expense management. In finance and accounting, they had a reduction in 70 percent error rates, 35 percent working hours were freed, and there was improved satisfaction for the internal customers after the automation implementation. Finally, in IT, there was 90 percent is the reduced error rate, because in IT everything is binary.

The pricing and licensing of Automation Anywhere plays an important rule in the Indian market because in the Indian market $10,000 USD is too much. Hence, the pricing tends to go down depending on the customer relationship with the partner: A starter pack is $10,000 and an enterprise pack is $100,000. If you go through an implementation partner, you can get good deals. They can save some money. 

An annual contract is really beneficial for support.

I have been working in RPA for almost two to three years now. We started off with Softomotive. Then, we began working with UiPath and Automation Anywhere.

We have (or are currently working on) PoCs with WinAutomation, WorkFusion and Blue Prism.

The biggest difference between Automation Anywhere and their competitors are the spread that they have. You don't need to look out for testimonials on why to use Automation Anywhere. There are big giants who are already using it. The feature list that they carry with them makes them stand out. Their industry first bot, IQ Bot (a cognitive bot), has already won an award for the best technology deployed in 2018. It goes in and extracts data from invoices and applies machine learning if the data is not set to the right columns, putting it back to the right columns, then goes ahead and extracts data from purchase invoices. 

It's the best product that we have at this moment.

Start small. Don't take big steps if you are automating.

We are a reseller. We first implemented it for an auto company and then decided to implement it for other customers as well.

We use it for workload automation. By implementing Automation Anywhere, we wanted to automate processes. We have not had any big problems with Automation Anywhere. The problems are in other systems.

Before Automation Anywhere, our clients did not have any other tool. Everything was done manually, and now, a lot of processes are automated by this tool. They save lots and lots of money.

We usually use Co-Pilot for approvals in a department. For example, when the accounting department needs to approve an invoice, we can use Co-Pilot and get the data, accept the data, and get the confirmation for the invoice. It can be automated by RPA. There is about a 5% to 10% increase in productivity because it is not so much stabilized for the client, but there is an opportunity to grow up to 40%. We are now playing a little bit with GenAI. We want to use some ChatGPT stuff and approve it through Co-Pilot. We can then use RPA. It could be a nice process. For example, we are building automation to compare the competitors in the market for a retail company. We can use ChatGPT to get some data from the website, and RPA can then make a comparison of these retail companies. We can then give the information to the finance department, for example, to change the price of the product or something like that. This is a really nice and great opportunity for customers.

The biggest benefit is cooperation with the robots. Approvals are great for us and for our clients. It is very nice for this.

We have mostly integrated SAP applications, and then there are also some specific automations for the customers. They usually have some internal applications that they are using. The integration components that we use vary depending on the target application. Sometimes, we are not able to get the data from the application via API, so we can use the UI automation. It is nice for automating the scraping technology for applications.

The main benefit for which we usually start using this solution for a project is to save overtime for employees so that employees are much happier because they do not want to do overtime. However, after that, when we start automating big processes, they are even able to reduce the number of employees. That is an aspect of automation, but overall, companies can save a lot of money because automation tools can help you save working capacity.

I like the new GenAI and Automation Co-Pilot, which is something like attended automation. It looks very nice now. GenAI is the most valuable to me at this time.

Reporting could be better because there is a little bit of overkill in getting information about the utilization of the bot license. This could be a little bit improved.

We sometimes have a problem with the connection between the control room and the database, but it is not very often.

We have been using Automation Anywhere since 2017.

For a small process, it could be a ten out of ten, and for a really complex process, it could be a six out of ten. That is because there are a lot of different ifs or decisions in the process. If a process is very complex and there are a lot of decisions, that could be a little bit bad for the stability of the bot.

Its scalability is great. You can reuse a lot of processes or roll them into different locations if the process is the same. For scalability, it is very nice. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

Knowledge-wise, they are great, but sometimes, the timing and the communication with the support can be a little bit crazy. Their knowledge is great, but the timing and scheduling of the calls are not so great.

Positive

We have worked with UiPath and Blue Prism. For us, Automation Anywhere is the winner. We chose it because we see the most opportunities for this tool. It is much more modern than Blue Prism. From my point of view, Automation Anywhere has a bigger price value than UiPath.

It is easy to learn how to automate processes with Automation Anywhere. It is not as easy as UiPath, but it is still easy to learn. UiPath is a bit easier to use because it has the UI and you mostly use the boxes. Automation Anywhere is more technical. It is a little bit more difficult than UiPath, but I understand why. In a few weeks, a nontechnical person should be able to automate a short or easy process.

We have the cloud as well as on-prem deployments. We now have something like a robot as a service. It is a hybrid with the cloud and on-premises setups.

It is quite easy to install it and connect it to the databases. The deployment is very easy.

The deployment duration usually depends on the client. It can take two or three days to set it up properly.

It could be a one-man job, but you need help from other departments to open the connection between the database and the control room and everything like that. The installation itself is a one-man job.

In terms of maintenance, a little bit of maintenance is required. The maintenance is mostly related to the bots or processes. It is not much related to the platform. Sometimes, you need to do upgrades and sort out some issues with the connections. Maintenance of the bot is a bit of a different story. If there is a change in the target system, we have to change the bots. It depends on the changes in the companies.

The maintenance effort depends on the version because sometimes, it is very easy to upgrade and everything is good, but sometimes, you update the platform and you need to change lots of bots. On average, it is easy to upgrade it. We can upgrade it with just one button.

Overall, we have nine people working with Automation Anywhere. Our clients are mostly enterprises.

It can save money and resources. You can save everything. There is a huge return on investment with its license.

I do not have the metrics for the ROI because it depends on the utilization of automation in a company. It could be a 100% ROI in one year. It could also be 1%.

It is somewhere in the middle. The price and value of Automation Anywhere are better than UiPath. The pricing is good globally. It could be a little bit cheaper, but it is good.

I would recommend Automation Anywhere because there is a price-to-value benefit. There are a lot of opportunities to save money in companies or enterprises. It is a very helpful technology, and it can help you to be a better competitor in the market.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten.

We use Automation Anywhere for all R2R processes, including reconciliations, journal entries, and fixed assets. Our systems are set up in a way that requires a lot of manual processes. We redesigned the processes so that we could move to some rule-based ways of working. Then, wherever we could make it rule-based, we implemented RPA.

The benefit of using Automation Anywhere is the efficiency of operations and speed. Humans cannot work 24/7 on a task, but a machine can work continuously on it. The solution saved us a lot of time on various processes. We needed fewer people to work on those processes, which resulted in cost savings. For every one bot, we were able to save the effort of one and a half STE.

There should be a way to avoid recoding everything whenever there's an upgrade to the latest version. A lot of finance applications do not support Automation Anywhere. Many ERPs and finance tools do not talk to Automation Anywhere directly. If there are any updates or changes on the UI, you have to recode everything, which used to be a big concern area.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for seven to eight years.

We faced challenges while implementing the solution because we were probably among the first to do it in the R2R space. However, we were able to work through and overcome those challenges.

We have seen a return on investment with Automation Anywhere.

The solution's pricing is pretty decent. We get good rates since we work with platinum partners.

We have a development team, and our business users do not do the coding. I think it depends on how simplified your design is. We try to make things quite dynamic. If there is a matrix behind the automation that defines the rules, then the business users will handle that matrix.

However, the technical team will handle the coding of how that will translate into an RPA automation. We focus on the design to ensure that it doesn't get stuck.

AI is definitely the future, but it depends on how well you can integrate it with your processes. From a financial perspective, it is still evolving. I don't think anybody has cracked the code for end-to-end automation using artificial intelligence. However, we are using AI in bits and pieces and intend to expand on that.

I don't think we have integrations because Automation Anywhere works more on the UI. Essentially, you'll create a bot ID, which is a mirror of a human user ID. Any access that that human has is replicated to that bot. You don't necessarily need to integrate Automation Anywhere with your systems. It just sits in your VDI, and then it works like any human user would work.

Upgrading the solution was a challenge because it required a whole project and some coding.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Our clients' use cases for Automation Anywhere are primarily finance and accounting, including accounts receivable, payable, reconciliation, and invoice processing. They also use it for supply chain and HR processes, IT, and contact center functions, among others.

Four or five years back, clients were looking to gain more accuracy and efficiency. Later on, they became more informed and educated about RPA technologies, and in the past couple of years, they have wanted one-stop solutions. They do not want multiple technologies or to deal with multiple vendors. They want a vendor or an OEM that can provide multiple technologies. That means not only RPA but something to handle integration document processing. They also want analytics and contact center solutions. 

It started with a technology through which a customer would gain efficiency and accuracy. Later on, the paradigm shifted and they wanted to deal with vendors who could provide all sorts of solutions to them.

The number-one feature is that Automation Anywhere can interact or integrate with all sorts of business applications.

The next most important feature is the cloud. That has been a game-changer. Currently, everyone wants to experiment more and more with cloud offerings. They don't want to spend money on setting up their internal hardware infrastructure. Automation Anywhere is the only tool that provides a pure cloud to customers. That is one of the key features. In the past couple of years, 70 to 80 percent of the deals I have closed have been for the cloud.

It's also very easy to use for non-technical business users.

Automation co-pilot integrates pretty seamlessly with day-to-day applications. The Automation Anywhere folks have added some advancements to that technology. I'm currently working on a couple of deals and we are using it as a solid unique selling proposition against other tools. For large organizations such as contact centers, automation co-pilot is going to fly for sure. It has already helped organizations increase productivity in the range of 30 to 40 percent, as a bare minimum.

Automation co-pilot has definitely helped to free up staff to work on other projects. That's one of the focus areas: Let computers do what they are supposed to do and what they are good at doing so that employees, associates, and analysts can focus on the things that they are good at doing.

In addition, the integration of RPA bots, APIs, business applications and documents in Automation Anywhere is seamless; it's very smooth.

They are already working on this: The boom of generative AI, the next-gen technologies, including advanced AI and ML technologies, are in the roadmap. I would like to see more and more AI integration and a bit more analytics. That would be great.

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for about six years. I am a reseller of the solution now, but prior to that, I was with Automation Anywhere.

The stability is a 10 out of 10.

It is definitely a very good technology. Automation Anywhere is a fantastic tool. But you need to have the right skill sets or the right partners to scale the journey. It's like having a Rolls Royce or a Mercedes. If you know how to drive it, of course, it is very easy to use it, but having an expert partner is crucial.

In terms of providing automation at scale, back in 2018 or 2019, the top five or top 10 customers of Automation Anywhere had more than 3,000 to 4,000 bots running in production. I don't think any other OEM had that sort of success story. Scaling up the journey with Automation Anywhere is pretty robust and a tested and proven technology.

Our customers deploy it in multiple locations and multiple departments. There are all sorts of models. I would rate its scalability at nine out of 10.

Their technical support is good.

Positive

I have worked on UiPath, Blue Prism, and a couple of projects on Power Automate as well. The number-one advantage of Automation Anywhere is ease of use. Number two is the success stories. Number three is that it is a mature overall ecosystem.

Deploying it is very straightforward, although I am not too involved in the nitty-gritty of implementation. My job is to prospect customers and work with them until the deal has closed. After that, I let my delivery team handle it.

We have a maximum of two people involved in deploying it. There is not much maintenance involved.

For technical employees, it takes about six weeks, and not more than that, to be trained to use Automation Anywhere. For a person without a tech background, it takes a couple of months, max. The learning curve is pretty steep for Automation Anywhere.

I have dealt with all sorts of customers, from small and medium-scale enterprises to large conglomerates. Across all of them, one commonality is that after the first year, they have all doubled their license count. 

They get a return on their investment very quickly, probably within six months the majority of customers get their ROI. After that, it is just a mushrooming effect. 

It is not only about cost savings. This technology impacts the top line as well as the bottom line of a company's P&L and balance sheets. Once they also realize its value, they come up with more asks and we scale up the journey.

Initially, they charged a premium, but now the rest of the vendors have increased their overall pricing and Automation Anywhere is not that high at this time. It's pretty viable.

I work in APAC, India and Asia Pacific countries, and customers here are very price-conscious. Every time I get a chance to work with Automation Anywhere, I tell them that I want a starter pack at a relatively low cost so that the customer can get started. But for customers based in Europe, The Middle East, or North America, Automation Anywhere is pretty competitive.

A couple of hours ago, I had a meeting with the group CEO of a multi-national corporation and he asked why he should use RPA when he can do automation using APIs and Python. That can definitely be done. If a customer has only a couple of processes to automate, I'll be the first person to tell them they don't have to invest in RPA. They can use scripting technology or API integration. But when we talk about scale, API automation with Python or any other type of scripting automation will not be the right choice. The reason is that it consumes a lot of time and is not that agile. That approach also becomes "person-dependent", meaning you have to keep the guy who developed that script around. If he is gone, your automation journey goes for a toss. When a customer wants to scale, they need a mature, solid, RPA platform such as Automation Anywhere.

I am striving to provide individuals with more time to focus on value-add tasks due to widespread headcount reductions. For instance, in finance and accounting activities, we use Automation Anywhere to replace individuals in maintenance tasks or those that were previously unknown to be time-consuming. This is where we witness the greatest utilization of bots. 

Moreover, we employ bots to handle fines associated with individuals driving company cars. With hundreds of fines occurring each month, it used to be a nearly full-time responsibility for one person to receive the fine, identify the driver at the time of the incident, and ensure the fine was directed to the appropriate person for payment. Such activities lacked significant value and consumed a considerable amount of time for someone, but now the bot handles these tasks on our behalf. I believe that finance is the primary area where we extensively utilize Automation Anywhere.

When we began deploying the bots, we established Key Performance Indicators to assess the return on investment. For instance, if a bot could save one-third of an individual's time, we would evaluate the amount of time saved and dedicate it to value-add tasks. However, evaluating the exact monetary savings facilitated by the bots is challenging because the funds are not directly spent on low-value activities. Instead, they can be utilized differently. 

It is important to note that the bots never completely replaced human workers. No job was entirely taken over by a bot. Rather, it was an assessment of how effectively we spent money with the assistance of bots, as they enabled individuals to perform tasks more efficiently. Although I don't recall the exact details since it was in the past, we would reassign the equivalent of full-time employees to these value-added tasks instead of low-value ones. At the time of my departure from the RPA topic, we had 150 bots in production, and we had a clear understanding of how many full-time employees would be dedicated to higher-value tasks as a result.

The ability of Automation Anywhere to provide automation at scale is commendable. We have indeed achieved tangible business benefits. That is certain. I am no longer aware of the metric used to evaluate this, except for the fact that we have eliminated various mundane activities from the workday of numerous individuals.

Automation Anywhere has helped our organization increase its automation consumption.

From what I recall of the type of issue we had to deal with when we started implementing Automation Anywhere, it was the integration with the identity and access management system that the company might use. This is because Automation Anywhere has a vault where we store all the information related to the bot, including the password it will use to connect to the system. The feature, which might be interesting for companies that don't already have an identity management system, was a bit tricky because I would have preferred the system to directly rely on our corporate identity and access management system to manage the bot's credentials. This way, we wouldn't have to store this information in the bot as well. It's something to consider in terms of integrating with an existing IT landscape.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for almost six years.

We did not encounter any stability issues with Automation Anywhere during the time I worked with the solution.

Automation Anywhere is scalable.

The technical support was helpful and responsive.

Positive

We had previously been using UiPath, and in late 2017, we acquired an organization that was already using Automation Anywhere, which belonged to a much larger organization. Consequently, we began to explore that tool and benefited from our colleagues' positive experiences with Automation Anywhere.

They were able to provide suggestions on the setup and deployment of the solution. As a result, we ultimately decided to discontinue the use of UiPath and transitioned to Automation Anywhere. Without the acquisition, we might not have implemented Automation Anywhere and instead would have continued with UiPath or explored other alternatives. Due to the acquisition, we were able to recognize that Automation Anywhere was one of the market leaders and swiftly create a proof of concept.

The initial setup was straightforward. Although I was involved in the deployment project, the actual installation was carried out by those responsible for implementing the Windows servers.

We needed to acquire the hardware because we had an internal cloud at that time, so we still have it. I would say that we managed to allocate the servers. It didn't take long. We provided training for the people who would deploy and customize the product with the assistance of Automation Anywhere in France. The global deployment infrastructure was ready to be used within a few weeks.

The implementation was completed in-house with the help of the Automation Anywhere team.

We obtained benefits from the original price prior to the acquisition and had to engage in negotiations due to the expansion of the usage scope. We were required to purchase licenses and bot runners, which determined the permissible run times for the bots. We successfully achieved a fair price worldwide. 

I rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten. 

We primarily utilize an attended bot, meaning they are not created by users. We have made efforts to retain control over IT in bot creation to prevent it from becoming a new avenue for shadow IT. When we started in 2018, the final department had a dedicated team responsible for bot development. However, they eventually hired contractors who developed C-Sharp programs that interacted with SAP through APIs. The bot would simply launch these programs, which is not the ideal method for automation, as we believe the bot should directly interact with the application instead of relying on a separate program to communicate with SAP through an API. I believe the team responsible for this no longer exists. Presently, we have a process in place to identify relevant use cases, and we are collaborating with a subcontractor who creates the bots for us based on specifications provided by the business.

We utilize Automation Anywhere with an attended bot. This implies that after receiving the specifications from the business and creating the purchase, we establish an agreement on the bot's scheduling for execution. However, the user never directly interacts with the bot; they only observe the results of its actions. Therefore, there is no need to provide training for users to utilize Automation Anywhere. We maintain IT control over it, while the development itself is outsourced. Consequently, the issue of the learning curve is not applicable to our situation.

We didn't use a lot of APIs with Automation Anywhere. Instead, we simulated the user's actions on the application's user interface. I can't recall any instances where we relied on APIs to initiate actions in the systems we were connecting to. However, I am aware that APIs can be utilized. There was a point when we wanted to employ APIs to retrieve the password or the bot from our identity and access the financial system just before the bot was about to commence its task. Additionally, we intended to trigger an API to reset the password once the bot had completed its job to ensure that there were no potential security threats associated with the user IDs used for the bots.

For those who prefer using API integration instead of a comprehensive process automation solution, I would like to emphasize that it's not exactly the same approach. Integrated APIs require developing a program for them to interact with. In my opinion, RPA offers a more straightforward approach as it simply replicates user actions within an application. We already have a ready-to-use bot. However, I wouldn't recommend using bots for everything, especially when we encounter use cases that resemble interfaces. 

Essentially, it involves manipulating the user interface of an application to extract data and then sending that data to another application on a daily basis. This approach doesn't seem logical. I'm not sure about the usage of APIs in the context of actual IT program development, where we need to retrieve data from various source systems that provide APIs. In such cases, we genuinely desire bots that faithfully mimic the actions of real users within an application. Our intention was never to replace any kind of deployment with bots, which is why we wanted Information and Communication Technology to be involved in the decision-making process. We wanted to ensure that the distinction was made between tasks that should be handled by bots and those that should be treated as interfaces or programs, aligning with our understanding of process automation.

We have a team of three people in Spain who are in charge of the daily operation of the Automation Anywhere platform. However, deploying our new bot is a quick process. There is a test environment where the bot is validated, after which it is transferred to the production control room and the bot's schedule is updated.

The team responsible for the data operations of the platform, taking everything into account, including the intrusion of the new bot into the production environment. They also handle the platform's maintenance. I believe we have three individuals dedicated to these tasks.

Our primary use of this product as a solution is developing bots to automate tasks and processing. For example, we have financial bots and we have IT bots. We have been involved in developing and monitoring the bots for about one and a half years, mostly for finance and IT. A majority of the tasks were done by other teams.

We have automated mainframe applications and integrated the tool with web-based applications and SAP. We have automated many SAP processes, including posting the entries and POs to SAP.

We are currently planning to migrate those bots into the current version (11.3.2) to make the bots more stable.

We are using the on-premise deployment model. We have multiple processes getting automated through this tool.

The major benefit for using Automation Anywhere is that it has provided a lot of FA (Finance Automation) benefits. That is a major plus point for using an RPA (Robotic Process Automation) tool. Any automation tool, for that matter, has its benefits. But because Automation Anywhere is easier to implement and learn, it is possible to move the bots to production faster. Speeding up that process helps in simplifying our workflow and productivity, and allows our people to do the most useful work we can do.

The basic Taskbot itself is the most valuable part of the product for what I do. The use of IQ Bot is still in a development stage. We are looking forward to August 2019 when we should be migrating to a newer version. That seems very promising. For now, we use Taskbot and Metabot with a variety of applications.

The ease of use is good. We had someone join the company who had no understanding of RPA. He was trained on it, getting his hands dirty, then he was able to develop and start automating processes quickly within a month. 

Resources are available online. A person can get certified and start automating right away.

The Bot Store is good. Although, we have not used the Bot Store much, there are some useful bots already built in it. We can just use them in our processes if feasible.

There are several things that would improve the product. I would like to see them include a group chatbot and make the IQ Bot more stable. Just those things would be great. Adding those kinds of features improves what we can do with the product. Using a client control room concept to ensure that everything is based on the web login, would also be great. Obviously we know that the development of new features will take some time.

We are expecting those kinds of features in the future. We expect more AI integration in our technology.

Automation Anywhere could use to be more stabilized. The product is becoming more stabilized with newer versions, but there are various things that still need to be stabilized. In the current version that we are using, we have a Control Room where the client will sometimes get disconnected. This will result in downtime. Therefore, we need some stabilization from the tool perspective. We don't have any other option than to raise a ticket to Automation Anywhere or get in touch with their support to get the issue resolved. So, we are having downtime. This can be improved.

We are not completely okay with the IQ Bot. We previously used version 5. The newest version does have more accurate results.

Technical skills are required to use the product. With these tools, technical programming is still required with the guidance of technical people. Business people can go ahead and try building a few smaller processes, then when they gain technical knowledge, they can use this tool to their full advantage.

Most of our processes are attended automation. It would be great if more processes were unattended automation, so we could release more FTEs.

We are currently using third-party Taskbots. We would like Taskbots directly integrated into the tool.

We have been using Automation Anywhere since version 9. Over that time the stability has improved a lot. We are expecting it to be even better in coming versions and this is why we are looking forward to our migration to 11.3.2 in August of 2019.

In program versions 10.3 and 10.7, what we were developing was okay. The stability was fine. In version 11.2, we had basic client login issues and database issues as well. When we have a better foundation as far as the stability, we are hopeful of getting better updates.

As far as being able to scale our usage of the product, until now, we have been doing well in diversifying. In the future, we expect to be able to get more from the tool. Our ultimate goal is to use the tool to automate most of our internal processing and reap the benefits of RPA.

Multiple users are currently using the product.

The technical support has been really good. Honestly, it is very good. We have been getting good support from the correct technical people quickly. One thing we would like to experience is that instead of waiting for a new version of the tool to resolve issues, that we could get immediate patch upgrades to cater to our requirements. That would be great. We are getting patches sometimes, but they do not perform as well as we might hope.

We have taken courses from Automation Anywhere University: version 11 and IQ Bot. We also attended training at the Automation Anywhere office for IQ Bot. The Automation Anywhere University courses are quite good. You can easily learn and get certified, which has some value in the market.

We were looking to Automation Anywhere as a solution in a relatively new concept. We believe it was our best choice and, currently, we are hopeful that the stability and the enhancements done to the tool will pay off. We are looking forward to using 11.3.

So far, the initial setup of versions has been straightforward and we expect it to be even smoother in the future.

Bot creation process: 

1. We identify the process.
2. That process will be well-documented along with the operations people, who will develop the BRDs. 
3. After the BRD creation, we'll come to know whether the process is feasible to automate.
4. Concurrently, a solution design document will be developed.
5. Developers will create the bot. 
6. Once the Bot is developed, UAT will be given to the operations people telling them whether the bot is performing as per their requirements.
7. Once finalized, we'll get a UAT sign off and the code will be moved to production where the bot will go live.

Scaling bots to production depends on the process and how complicated it is. For a simple process, it will take two to three weeks. If the process is a bit complex, it may take close to one to two months. It also depends on how your internal compliance is organized in the company. We have a compliance check done at every phases of automation, so it will take us more time to get the process live even for a simpler process since we have to get compliance sign off during every phase.

We did not use an external resource for the implementation, but I was there when the initial setup was in progress.

As I am currently part of a team of developers and people who perform functions, we are not directly involved in the deliberation of assets or ROIs. However, it is apparent that there is a return on investment, and we are noticing it.

We have many benefits reaped from the automation work we have done. So, I don't have the exact information about the cost and what our return on investment is, but it is benefiting the organization in a much bigger way by channeling efforts away from wasting manual time on processing.

As our team size increases, we may get some more licenses for the tool.

We checked on Blue Prism and UiPath. UiPath was still developing. 

We opted for Automation Anywhere. The pricing was okay for us. Also, It was easier to learn the tool and implement within the team. It is easier to learn, implement, and get things done with Automation Anywhere compared to other tools on market right now. 

Before automating, understand the process:

• How big is the process?
• Is it of use to the organization?
• How repetitive or complex is the process?

This is important because automating tasks requires resources.

On a scale of one to ten with one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate Automation Anywhere a seven. So far it has been good, but obviously there are opportunities to be so much better.

We expect more from Automation Anywhere based on the new technologies that we know exist concerning AI and also unstructured learning. There's a lot of room for improvement, so that's why I would not rate it higher. Other than that, for data structure, it has been good — apart from a few stability issues.

Ease of integration is good. We have automated a process in the current version. Automation Anywhere will tell us if it won't support this version anymore at this particular time, so we'll have to migrate that code to the currently released new version. At that time, we may face some challenges after moving the code. We may have to do some tweaks to the code. We can't directly run it as is, so we'll have to do some minor tweaks so that it is stabilized more, then it'll be better.

As far as recommending the software, that depends on what use case and what work requirements an organization has. For structured data and for simpler processes, it is fine. For unstructured data — which should be addressed by IQ Bot and additional features — I may not recommend it yet. But for dealing with automation of straightforward processes, Automation Anywhere is good.

RPA solutions are continuously improvement due to competition. Sometimes, it is worth waiting for the next version which is more stabilized to be released.