We use Automation Anywhere for process automation.
AGM- IT ( IT Projects Delivery & Innovation) at TFS
Performs efficiently and helps reduce workload, but is complex to learn
Pros and Cons
- "Automation Anywhere performs efficiently."
- "The GUI needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Automation Anywhere has enabled us to eliminate manual, time-consuming tasks, and increase accuracy within our organization by automating them.
We witnessed the benefits of Automation Anywhere within six months of its deployment.
Automation Anywhere helped reduce the workload of our P2P billings by around 60 percent.
Automation Anywhere helped our organization increase its automation consumption by 25 percent on our billing automation once we resolved all the background issues.
What is most valuable?
Automation Anywhere performs efficiently.
What needs improvement?
Automation Anywhere is difficult to use and could be made more user-friendly. The GUI needs to be improved.
Using Automation Anywhere can be extremely difficult for individuals who lack technical skills.
The learning curve for Automation Anywhere is challenging. We should not need to rely on a vendor to handle the solution. The end-user should be able to use the solution independently.
The automation at scale has room for improvement.
There are many features missing from Automation Anywhere, including cloud collaboration tools provided by Google and Microsoft, that I would like to see integrated into the solution.
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November 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Automation Anywhere for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Automation Anywhere is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability involves both the customer and the vendor, requiring significant effort to increase due to its lack of user-friendliness.
How are customer service and support?
We experience difficulties in getting our issues resolved when dealing with technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Microsoft Power Automate, which was not a great application at the time. However, it has now become easier to use, more cost-effective, and more scalable compared to Automation Anywhere. As a result, we are considering switching back to it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex. The vendor was unfamiliar with the process, and there was no guidance from Automation Anywhere regarding the requirements. According to Automation Anywhere, we were supposed to simply follow the onscreen instructions and click "next," which should have taken a maximum of one hour. However, due to an error and misunderstanding, it took us around three days instead.
The deployment started at the control room, then the client, and finally the developer.
One person, who was an Automation Anywhere specialist with infrastructure knowledge, was used for the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
We used a vendor for the implementation.
What was our ROI?
To realize a return on investment, we must utilize Automation Anywhere for several years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Automation Anywhere is significantly expensive. The cost is at the highest end of the spectrum.
In addition to the licensing cost, let's say, $1,000, we also have to pay the OEM vendor fee, which can be around $150. Furthermore, we are responsible for the payment of managed services, and occasionally there are additional charges for maintenance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We considered several options, including Blue Prism, before choosing Automation Anywhere.
What other advice do I have?
I give Automation Anywhere a six out of ten.
When I joined my organization, we were using Automation Anywhere. Consequently, I am currently using it. However, all the features are also accessible through Microsoft Power Automate, which offers a free upgrade.
We attempted to train non-technical staff members for one month to utilize Automation Anywhere; however, learning proved to be quite challenging. As a result, we ultimately abandoned the endeavor and opted to hire a technical professional.
Automation Anywhere requires technical personnel who can write code to utilize the solution, making it challenging to integrate RPA bots, APIs, business applications, and documents. We are compelled to hire a vendor to write the code, which is not a practical approach.
I would recommend Microsoft Power Automate over Automation Anywhere because Automation Anywhere is excessively complex and challenging to use.
We have three users across three teams who utilize Automation Anywhere in our organization.
Automation Anywhere is self-maintained unless there is an error.
I advise exploring other options before settling for Automation Anywhere.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technology Test Lead at Infosys Technologies Ltd
The intelligent OCR helps with accurate form field and text field data extraction from unstructured documents
Pros and Cons
- "Bot Insights is neatly integrated into the platform, which enables us to develop rapidly and train the learning instances using pre-defined domains over the purchase orders, forms, and invoices that need to be processed."
- "While exporting a package, an option to de-select all the depending/referenced files should be available. Currently, it only allows for selecting all the files. Also, the views should be re-sizable as they are currently a fixed width. This would enable to view long file names easily eliminating any chances of exporting the wrong file."
What is our primary use case?
We get many banking and finance use cases e.g. reconciliation, accounts payable, etc. from banking clients which involves the extraction of unstructured data from various scanned and true PDF documents. Post this, the data needs to be validated and triaged before feeding it into SAP and Java-based applications.
The Automation Anywhere platform has always stood out from the rest of the solutions available on the market given we have IQ Bots and Bot Insights neatly integrated into the platform which enables us to develop rapidly and train the learning instances using pre-defined domains over the purchase orders, forms, invoices that need to be processed. Post extraction of the form and data fields from the documents we post them into SAP and Java-based applications. Automation Anywhere's ease of automation with these types of applications helps to deliver consistent and reliable automation in record time.
We are currently using AAE 11.3.5.1 Client with Control Room, IQBots, MetaBots, Bot Insights, and AA2019 capabilities.
How has it helped my organization?
Automation Anywhere has and continues to help us deliver multiple complex and very complex use cases in record time. With AA2019, this ease of development and rapid time to market has improved by a great margin as virtually no setups and configurations are required. Converting prospects into leads into opportunities has never been easier. AA2019 enables us to build POCs quickly without waiting for IT guys to install AAE client as no setups are needed to build BOTs. This enables us to give demos to clients at lighting speeds and gain client confidence in the capabilities and kind of automation we can execute as an Automation CoE.
What is most valuable?
1. IQ Bot: IQ Bot makes it a breeze to classify banking documents, purchase orders, and invoices. Also, intelligent OCR helps with accurate form field and text field data extraction from unstructured documents. The easy cloud training of the already existing domains and integration with task bots is the icing on the cake.
2. MetaBots - Metabots makes capturing and re-calibrating screen controls in (offline mode as well) really easy. This enables us to make changes to the UI Assets easy.
3. AA2019 helps us to rapidly try out POCs without going through the install cycle and setting up the control room. This is a very important and critical step given we can build automation rapidly and show to prospective clients helping foster confidence amongst the business enabling growth.
What needs improvement?
Points to Improve:
1. Control Room -> While exporting a package, an option to de-select all the depending/referenced files should be available. Currently, it only allows for selecting all the files. Also, the views should be re-sizable as they are currently fixed width. This would enable to view long file names easily eliminating any chances of exporting the wrong file.
Points to Add in next release(s):
1. Availability of actions for Date and time functions in task bots, meta bots logics editor like Date Addition, calendar functions, etc.
2. Addition of Assertions activities, that can help with conditional compilations
3. Option to copy multiple variables at the same time (as selected by the developer)
4. Option to close all the task bots files in the editor at a go
5. Option to check-out multiple files inside a folder structure in a go
6. List and array should be made dynamic, as in there must not be a requirement to specify at least 1 element in the list, etc.
7. Deletion of multiple variables in one go (as selected by a developer)
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Automation Anywhere for over three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has been becoming better with every release. We have been reporting bugs and supporting the developer teams to make Automation Anywhere more stable and better. With AAE version 11.x.x.x most of the feedbacks are incorporated and solutions are stable and performant.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability with Automation Anywhere has been great. BOT farms have helped rapidly and dynamically spawn up or down the BOT runners.
How are customer service and technical support?
We always get a prompt response from customer service and technical support. I really find the priority technical support the depth at which they go to help us find a solution to issues is simply amazing. I have not experienced this with any other solution vendor. A big thumbs up to you guys.
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup was a breeze and fairly straightforward with all the great support from Automation Anywhere customer service and various technical teams.
What about the implementation team?
We have used vendor teams and in-house teams to implement various solutions. Vendor team people have good knowledge of the various components of Automation Anywhere and know how to design effective, performant solutions in record time.
What was our ROI?
Post implementing AA, ROI numbers have grown exponentially. Given the scalability and dynamics that Automation Anywhere platform supports.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
1. Setup cost is minimal as AAE Control Room is hosted in the cloud. Also, with AAE no dedicated setups need to be run and installed
2. Licensing cost is relatively less compared to other solutions on the market
3. Pricing stands out well compared to other solutions
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated UiPath and Blue Prism.
What other advice do I have?
Automation Anywhere has been a significant step in our digital transformation. AA2019 addresses a lot of gaps that we previously had. This makes Automation Anywhere stands out in the market making it an obvious choice.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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.
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Associate Consultant at Ernst & Young
SAP GUI commands in the latest update is helpful as a lot of processes have SAP involved
Pros and Cons
- "It has definitely helped automating a lot of processes, but it is very difficult to build resilient bots. It is very difficult to find skilled developers in the market, who actually build resilient bots with appropriate error handling. Maintaining the bots is another challenge as the applications keep changing."
- "Queues are great but need improvement. They are helpful because most of the automations are transaction-based."
What is our primary use case?
Primarily we use it for automating back-office operations processes. Some of the most frequent use cases are:
1. Invoice processing and proofing.
2. Reconciliation
3. Automating Timesheets
4. SOW invoice creation.
5. Creation of Credit memos
6. Pulling data from SAP and generating a report.
We use VDIs to deploy. Client & runner environment is mostly Win 10. Most of the bots are scheduled.
Some organizations still use the manual click on the run button method instead of scheduling or running from CR.
How has it helped my organization?
It has definitely helped automating a lot of processes, but it is very difficult to build resilient bots. It is very difficult to find skilled developers in the market, who actually build resilient bots with appropriate error handling. Maintaining the bots is another challenge as the applications keep changing.
It is even more difficult to support a bot than build from scratch. No matter how much you document, things do turn haywire if someone new has to make changes to an existing bot.
Documenting the AA Solution SDD, PDD is another pain point. It is very common to miss out on a lot of things.
I feel that in places it is better to create a system to automate rather than use RPA.
What is most valuable?
Most of the features are valuable.
1. SAP GUI commands in the latest update is helpful as a lot of processes have SAP involved. 2. APIs are helpful too, but they certainly need more improvement. APIs help in building resiliency.
3. Queues are great but need improvement. They are helpful because most of the automations are transaction-based.
4. Good old object cloning is always helpful as it is versatile.
5. Metabots help in working with many of the legacy applications. But needs improvement there as well.
6. Credential Vaults are helpful, but needs improvement there too.
What needs improvement?
1. Excel commands should include more features.
2. Need more variable types for eg. date, amount, number, etc
3. Better API support and more APIs.
4. Queues should be enabled to directly connect to DBs.
5. Managing so many variables is a pain. Some kind of variable initialization mechanism like how Blue Prism has it will be helpful.
6. Input-output variables should be defined for taskbots as well.
7.There are a lot of glitches in AA not fixed since Ver 10. Reach me to know more about them.
8. The commands should help evaluate the current state of variables(like how in Blue prism)
10. Metabots should have command to stop the task. Basically should have all commands of a task bot.
11. No one uses "WorkFlows".
12. The user roles and the Credential Vaults administration, sharing and the whole thing in action is very confusing.
13. Automatic technical logging option should be given by default in all commands like how we have in BP.
For how long have I used the solution?
4
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
When it comes to RPA, for every step things should be in the right way at the right time. It is very difficult. So I would rate it as a 5 out of 10 on scalability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable, though, in an organizational setup where teams work in silos, I have never seen any organization truly using the scalability to its full potential.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is okay. At times it takes a lot of email exchanges involved before actually setting up a call and getting help.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
AA is all I am using. Blue Prism is used but I prefer AA. Though Blue Prism is better in certain aspects mentioned earlier.
How was the initial setup?
It is the same as how enterprise applications should have in terms of complexity.
What about the implementation team?
We develop RPA solutions for clients.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Costs are ok. IQ Bot is too expensive. Bot Vision should come for free as one can easily use a number of other visualization options for free. There is no point in paying too much for too little.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Blue Prism along with AA
What other advice do I have?
We need some support of documentation methodologies so that the knowledge is easily transferrable through the documents.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is an AA partner. I am a developer
Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I don't have much technical knowledge, but I learned the solution in a month using the vendor's training courses
Pros and Cons
- "From the customer's perspective, the biggest benefits are automation of the security and monitoring systems."
- "The IQ Bots have a lot of room for improvement in terms of accuracy level. We need to improvise a lot. I'm facing another big challenge with one of the use cases. We raised a ticket and did multiple follow-ups with support, but the accuracy still isn't up to the mark."
What is our primary use case?
The use cases I use Automation Anywhere for are for healthcare and revenue.
How has it helped my organization?
From the customer's perspective, the biggest benefits are automation of the security and monitoring systems. Our automation consumption has increased considerably since we began using Automation Anywhere. Initially, we were using two or three bots. Now, we have almost 25. In terms of revenue, we can save around $10 million through automation. We still have room to expand, and we're looking to implement more bots, especially IQ bots, but we have some concerns about the accuracy level.
What is most valuable?
Automation Anywhere is easy to learn for business users without technical knowledge. For example, I don't have much technical knowledge, but I learned how to use the solution from Automation Anywhere University. It's a user-friendly solution everyone can understand and implement in their business with the help of Automation Anywhere University. The university is more than enough to develop a small bot. It's a comfortable platform. Even the new employees who don't know about automation can gain experience. It only took me about one month to learn the solution.
What needs improvement?
The IQ Bots have a lot of room for improvement in terms of accuracy level. We need to improvise a lot. I'm facing another big challenge with one of the use cases. We raised a ticket and did multiple follow-ups with support, but the accuracy still isn't up to the mark.
We've been exploring FortressIQ and tools that use AI/ML in the past three or four months. We're looking at ways to implement those tools in new areas, but there is a gap because Automation Anywhere University doesn't have much information about them yet.
We have web recording applications, so we need something like AI to be involved where we can give a verbal command, and the bot can learn to do an automated process. That's the kind of technology or innovation required from the business perspective. If a business consultant can interact with a generative AI or some other advanced AI that can act as a developer, the development cost will come down drastically.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Automation Anywhere for more than six years.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Automation Anywhere support seven out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't deal with purchasing, but I know that Automation Anywhere is more cost-effective than Blue Prism. I won't say the cost is low, but I can say that it's cost-effective.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Automation Anywhere seven out of 10 overall.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Executive Director, Business Analytics & Optimization & RPA Head at a hospitality company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Provides a lot of ways to automate processes and integrates well with our applications
Pros and Cons
- "The whole suite of RPA modules that they have is very good. They have three environments in which you can do your automation. You have development, staging, and production environments. These are run by licenses as well, which is very good. There are a lot of ways of automating processes with this application."
- "Their license model needs to be improved. The biggest issue for me is that the license is tied to a person, and it is not something that I can pass if I want to use it for the first five hours and pass it on to you for the next five hours and so on. When we automate, the license is tied to me, and if you or somebody else needs to use that license, as a COE administrator, I need to transfer the license from person A to person B. This is something that I have always told them that should not be this way because you want to utilize your licenses effectively."
What is our primary use case?
I am working with an integrated resort. It is a hotel with a casino in Singapore. There are about 130 manual processes that we have automated touching the front office, call center, back of the house, finance, facilities, and casino areas as well. We have automated scheduling and workforce planning.
My business is divided into what we call gaming and non-gaming space. It is an integrated resort. We started out by automating use cases from the non-gaming area. In the third year, we started venturing out a little bit into the gaming area. We did not go into the heavy gaming areas such as on the casino floor. We went for support processes at the back of the house, which included scheduling and things like that. We are also doing reporting.
Most of what we have is for attended and unattended bots. We have just started to use Co-Pilot or what used to be known as AARI. It is something new for us, and we have only one process using that. It is a pilot project. It is something new that we started now in our fifth year.
How has it helped my organization?
Automation Anywhere has helped our organization increase its automation consumption. It has helped the business address some of the pain points. It has helped the business understand that there are other ways of doing things and getting out of the manual processing. We come from a heavily people-oriented industry. We are into hospitality where you need the human touch for our business. We are not a bank. We are not a financial institution. The mindset change that I have seen with my business stakeholders because of the automations that we are doing for them is a plus. It is a game changer. In our first year of doing this, we started out very small. I had a team of myself and one developer, and now, in our fifth year, we have over 130 bots touching over 40 business units. I now have a team of four people, so we have grown. We now have a culture or ecosystem where the business stakeholders know that if they are still doing something heavily manual and highly repetitive, and it is not adding any real value to the time of the team member, there is a team within the organization that they can approach. This team will help with whatever pain point they have or take that task out of their day-to-day work so that they can concentrate on higher-value activities. This whole mindset or this whole culture or ecosystem is now there in the company. Automation Anywhere has helped elevate the consciousness of the organization by realizing that there is an automation world out there, and we can bring solutions to the table for their problems and use cases.
When it comes to integration, we have been lucky so far. We use many applications. The processes that we have automated touch 30 to 40 applications that we have in-house. It is seamless. It is fine, but some of the third-party applications that we are trying to integrate with are not necessarily very automation-friendly. The objects of those third-party applications are always changing, and therefore, we constantly have to rescript, but that is not necessarily Automation Anywhere's problem. That is just the nature of the other third-party applications that may not necessarily want you to be automating or layering on top of their systems and get behind their applications. I have been lucky so far. We have not had to go back to a business and say that we cannot automate their process because Automation Anywhere cannot integrate with a particular application. I have not had that experience as of now.
The learning curve of Automation Anywhere for my own team was pretty good. If you are a full-on developer, it is one of the easier tools to learn in the market. It is pretty good as long as this is something that you are using regularly. If you are a dedicated person doing the development and working with the tool, it is very easy to use. As far as my developers are concerned, it is very easy. We are able to turn around projects or use cases in three to four weeks. For even complex ones, there is a fairly good turnaround time in terms of delivering to our stakeholders. We do not train nontechnical people on its use. Businesses only receive automation from us, so they are not trained on it. If they are going to be trained on it, it is only on how to run their bots, and that is a part of our production development checklist or lifecycle that we give them. It just takes a day or two because we only teach them how to run their bots. It is delivered to them. We do all the installation on their machines. We set up their machines, and then we teach them how to run the bots.
When we first engaged with them, we thought that we could easily go into what we refer to as a citizen developer type of framework, but that did not go too well. We rely heavily on the CoE team, which is my team, to do automation. We have a build and support model for our business users. Business users are only taught how to run their bots. We do not teach our business users how to build a bot. We tried that and did some training with some key business stakeholders. It was a three-day training, but it did not prove to be too successful. After the training, they go back to their business units, and if it is not the core or what they do on a day-to-day basis, it is very hard to sustain, so the main building and the heavy lifting came back to the CoE team. Our team delivers to business units. From that perspective, I would rate Automation Anywhere a three out of five. Business users cannot just go ahead and build their own bots without really learning and understanding the tool.
What is most valuable?
The whole suite of RPA modules that they have is very good. They have three environments in which you can do your automation. You have development, staging, and production environments. These are run by licenses as well, which is very good. There are a lot of ways of automating processes with this application. I am not a developer. I run the RPA CoE team. I have a team that does the actual development, so I cannot speak of features per se, but the whole RPA module that they have is one of the best in class.
It is easy to use. When you need to make changes to your automation, it is quite quick. You do not need to go through the whole script. You can do it in modules or subtasks.
What needs improvement?
There are several things. They can improve their billing. I have had issues with their billing.
Their license model needs to be improved. The biggest issue for me is that the license is tied to a person, and it is not something that I can pass if I want to use it for the first five hours and pass it on to you for the next five hours and so on. When we automate, the license is tied to me, and if you or somebody else needs to use that license, as a COE administrator, I need to transfer the license from person A to person B. This is something that I have always told them that should not be this way because you want to utilize your licenses effectively. You want to ensure that your utilization of licenses is maximized throughout the organization because you are paying on a per-license basis. If it is tied to a person or to an AD account, how can you pass on that license to others to use if they are from other departments? If there is one big thing that they could change in terms of the subscription model for a license, it would be that it should be concurrent and not tied to a user.
In terms of the product, they can improve the upgrades. They are in A360, which is the cloud version. They went from version 11 to A360, and there are new updates and features all the time. Sometimes, these upgrades break other things that were working previously. We have found out that there are some bugs that are going on with the updates. Because they are on the cloud now, they do every quarter some kind of upgrade or patch.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Automation Anywhere for the past five years. We started out in 2018. I was scouting around the market for an RPA vendor. I am based in Singapore, and after doing a study of top vendors at that time, I decided to go with Automation Anywhere. We are now in our fifth year of engagement with them.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Automation Anywhere is very good at providing automation at scale. We have about 130 bots. They absolutely have the ability to scale for me. Their platform is geared towards that. It is all license-driven, and it is quite easy to scale using this tool. The infrastructure is dependent on us as a company, and making sure that our environment is ready for all the builds that we need to do, the development that we need to do, and the rollouts that we need to do, so there is a handshake between the company and the tool. It is not very complicated once you get the rhythm and once you get your governance going. It is quite good.
How are customer service and support?
I contacted their technical support when some of the functionality broke because of an upgrade or the functionality did not seem correct. In some of those cases, as a client, we were the ones who told them about an issue or a bug in a particular feature. We appreciate that they came back and said that it is correct, they are aware of it, and it is going to be fixed in the next release. We have had a couple of those kinds of instances.
I would rate their support a seven out of ten because we had issues with them in terms of response and in terms of trying to get to the root cause of a problem. We had just migrated to A360. We were on version 11, and we had to switch over because it was going to be end-of-life or end-of-support. They were pushing all their clients to move to A360. In the beginning, my team had to tell their team that these are some of the issues that their A360 tool has and these are some of the bugs. They were a bit slow to react and get to a resolution or root cause.
Also, in the beginning, we were communicating with so many people. There was no continuity in terms of the person handling the ticket. They might have been changing shifts, but when you leave clients to repeat themselves to a new set of people they are talking to overseas, it gets a little bit annoying. I did highlight this point to their management team, and ever since I did that, their support team started handling the account a little bit better, but that is the reason why I am giving them a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were not using any other solution previously. It was our first foray into robotic space. We have been with Automation Anywhere ever since.
How was the initial setup?
Our setup is hybrid. Our control rooms are on the cloud. We are on A360, so our control rooms are on the cloud, but our bots runners are on-premises.
I was involved in its deployment. When we did this at the initial stage in 2018, it was pretty straightforward. They provided great support. We started out by doing eight processes as a pilot.
Their team provided the developers because I had no developers on my end at that time. Their team did it remotely. They were probably doing it from India. They gave us the requirements. They educated us on what was needed and how we needed to set it up so that they could connect to whatever systems they needed for the eight processes or use cases that I had chosen. They did deliver all those processes within two weeks, so it was pretty straightforward.
Their professional services team was top-grade. They knew what they were talking about, and the people that they gave me in Singapore at that time were very good.
In terms of maintenance, it does not require any maintenance from my end. They do a quarterly patch of it. They announce that they are doing a patch, and it gets done. There is no maintenance on my end for the tool. What I need to maintain are the bots that we have built for the business. That is where the maintenance is, but that is more on our end. That is mostly because the bots break because of the change in third-party applications.
What about the implementation team?
They had about two or three developers doing the work remotely. There was a salesperson who was based in Singapore, and then they had sent two people from India to come over to Singapore to handle the account in terms of education. We had a program manager as well as a solution architect.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Five years ago, we looked at UiPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, and WorkFusion. We did the scoping in terms of SWOT analysis, and we found Automation Anywhere to be a better partner to work with and a more stable one in 2018.
What other advice do I have?
To those evaluating Automation Anywhere, I would say that make sure they give you somebody who really knows the tool and they explain the RDLC and the delivery method to you clearly in terms of what you need to set up within your company before you engage. You need to ask the questions because it sounds simple, but it is not that simple, so you need to ask what are the things that you need to have in place in your own organization so that it is a successful rollout.
I was sold on the idea that it is an easy tool to use. Anybody can do it. They do not need to be full-stack developers. Our regular team members can pick it up, but as I got into it, I realized that is not true. Not everybody can do this. You need to have a developer mindset. You need to know how to code. It is not something that anyone can do. That was one thing that I had to learn the hard way. I realized that this model is not going to work for my company, so you need to ask questions. Understand the tool, and make them do a deeper demo in terms of how to build a bot or a complicated process. Do not go with a simple and easy process. If it is of medium complexity, find out how a regular person would do that. Ask them, for instance, what would you need to get this going. Understand the tool and spend more time with the tool before committing.
To someone who wants to use an API integration instead of a robotic process automation (RPA) solution, I would say that if you are doing it through API calls, it is a better way to go. It is more stable because you are doing it from the backend. You are getting connections there rather than using RPA from a front-end perspective.
Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Sr. Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
An easy-to-learn solution that can be used for for web scraping, PDF automation, Excel automation, and API automation
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of Automation Anywhere are Excel, periods, database, and email action."
- "Automation Anywhere should improve its OCR capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
We use Automation Anywhere for web scraping, PDF automation, Excel automation, and API automation.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Automation Anywhere are Excel, periods, database, and email action.
What needs improvement?
Automation Anywhere should improve its OCR capabilities.
I would like to see more communication between other technologies. We can directly implement some coding scripts. We already have Python, JavaScript, and VBA, but having some programming languages like Java and dot Net would be great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Automation Anywhere for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Automation Anywhere is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Automation Anywhere is a scalable solution.
Our company has different teams, and more than 500 users are using Automation Anywhere in our organization. More than 20 administrators use the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support team gives you different solutions. Some solutions work, but others seem irrelevant. It would help our organization if they gave accurate solutions instead of tentative solutions. They have to improve the speed of their response time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is easy and not very complex.
What about the implementation team?
We develop the bot, test it on our local environment, and then take it to UAT and production. For simple usage, the solution's deployment may take around 30 days. We implement the solution through an in-house team.
We need only one resource for the solution's deployment. When everything looks good after the testing and peer review, we deploy the bot into production.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Automation Anywhere is easy to learn. I'm also looking at UiPath, but I'm not finding time to explore that RPA tool. Automation Anywhere is a hybrid tool, which we can see in the code view as well as in the flow chart view. On the other hand, UiPath has only flowchart diagrams. UiPath is ruling the RPA industry, but Automation Anywhere is next to UiPath. It would be great if Automation Anywhere had all the capabilities that are present in UiPath.
What other advice do I have?
People who don't have technical experience can learn to use Automation Anywhere quickly because it's easily understandable. They can easily build bots by going through the documentation and videos in Automation Anywhere University. Normally, business users will run the bots and know the functionality, but if they want to learn Automation Anywhere, they can easily learn it in a couple of days.
Currently, we have more than 10 bots in production and more than 20 bots under testing.
If anyone wants to use Automation Anywhere, I won't say it is a 100% perfect automation tool because it depends on the developer and logic. Users may sometimes face hiccups in running end-to-end automation. There are chances of the bot getting hampered while working on some websites.
Automation Anywhere fails to load some objects for some old technologies or websites. It would be helpful if the solution could read every technology and clone every object on the website, even for legacy technologies.
Overall, I rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Software Analyst at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
New users can grasp the basics within a few hours
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the user-friendly interface."
- "Automation Anywhere's frequent updates are unnecessary and disruptive."
What is our primary use case?
We used Automation Anywhere to automate three SAP projects.
We implemented Automation Anywhere to update company code levels with a new general ledger and profit and loss accounts. This update was based on conditions involving multiple P codes and SAP instances.
How has it helped my organization?
Previously, updating the general ledgers across multiple SAP instances was a manual process, but it has since been automated.
Automation Anywhere is easy to learn, with a dedicated certification that takes one month to complete. However, to gain sufficient practical experience, users typically require at least six months to work on automation projects.
Automation Anywhere has helped save costs by, for example, doing the job of two full-time employees.
We have integrated SAP desktop automation, Web applications, and ServiceNow with Automation Anywhere.
We use ServiceNow APIs to manage tickets, not the application itself. All actions, including updating ticket details, processing, and adding comments, are performed through the APIs. If processing is successful, we update the ticket comments via the API. For any issues, we attach logs and update the comments with the error message before closing the ticket, all through the ServiceNow API.
Automation Anywhere has helped save costs and time and has reduced the number of human errors.
The Automation Anywhere interface is user-friendly, allowing even new users to grasp the basics within a few hours. While I haven't used Blue Prism, its interface appears more complex. Other automation tools also present a steeper learning curve than Automation Anywhere.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the user-friendly interface. When updated packages are available, we receive demos and can practice the automation in the portal.
What needs improvement?
Automation Anywhere's frequent updates are unnecessary and disruptive. Updates are often pushed for no apparent reason, even for perfectly functional packages. This excessive update frequency is undesirable and should be reduced.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Automation Anywhere for two and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Automation Anywhere eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability of Automation Anywhere seven out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is straightforward. We move code from private to public in a zip file and provide it to the developers. It takes approximately ten minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have heard that Automation Anywhere is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Automation Anywhere eight out of ten.
Our client is an enterprise business.
Two leads and three support people are required to maintain Automation Anywhere. Once we develop the bot, we hand it to the support team.
We have approximately 2,000 users of Automation Anywhere.
Automation Anywhere helps automate routine tasks, freeing employees to focus on other areas, and can even automate processes with underdeveloped back-end systems.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Oct 7, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSolution Architect at CMG Mortgage, Inc.
Video Review
Saves time and money and reduces human error
Pros and Cons
- "We've saved a lot of time. How much time we save depends on the process. It's likely at least 50%. Sometimes, it's up to 70%."
- "With the automation copilot, if I have any internal tool or application and I want to pass on variables, I don't have it. Maybe the team can work on it to make it more efficient to make it work better across all automations."
What is our primary use case?
As our business is a mortgage company that provides loans to borrowers, we use Automation Anywhere to automate business processes to help the end users process loans faster.
How has it helped my organization?
The application's response time is slow when using your desktop and trying to process an application. However, when you apply automation, it can work overnight. You don't need to sit at a desk and watch what's happening. It's all automated.
Prior to implementation, everything was manual. You couldn't inject other software, like APIs. However, with AA, you can bring in any number of tools that connect right into Automation Anywhere. This makes everything move faster. You save a lot of time and cost involved in processing the applications.
What is most valuable?
The recent update that included code analysis was very helpful. Previously, we had to go line by line. Now, inside the tool, it shows you which lines are hard-coded.
We've saved a lot of time. How much time we save depends on the process. It's likely at least 50%. Sometimes, it's up to 70%.
We've saved on costs by about 30%.
It's reduced human error. Using Automation Anywhere, we can eliminate a lot of human error by adding exceptions and identifying what's going on quite easily.
For users who don't have technical skills, it's not that complicated. It defines what every command does. It may take a few months to understand the process; however, going through the documentation and using the community versions and forums will make it easier to learn. You can find answers to any aspect you want to understand.
We did a POC with the automation copilot. It met some of our expectations. For some of the use cases, it will help in the future.
The copilot's ability to integrate with our day-to-day is fine. It helps employees working with it. It helps them to make things faster. You just have to provide some information, and the background bots will run. It might help increase productivity in the future if we implement it at the enterprise level. Outside of the POC, it looks like it might help with productivity.
The solution integrates well with other applications and third-party tools.
There are great tools inside Automation Anywhere.
What needs improvement?
With the automation copilot, if I have any internal tool or application and I want to pass on variables, I don't have it. Maybe the team can work on it to make it more efficient to make it work better across all automations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four or more years. I started with version 10.x.
How are customer service and support?
In the past two to three months, the support has gotten far better. Previously, we didn't have a live agent or live support, and now we do. It's great to have. They can respond immediately, and you can continue with what you are doing. You don't have to wait for support at all.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the initial deployment. It took a couple of months.
It's relatively easy to upgrade. It depends on the organization. You need to add more variables and define the standards. However, it's not too complex.
There is some maintenance needed. When you upgrade versions, devices may be disconnected. Sometimes you need to go and check if the device deployment is happening or not, or a deployment may fail. We have about two people handling the maintenance of the solution. You simply need to ensure the bots are deploying on the right schedules and check errors or disconnects. In some cases, you may need to redeploy the bot. The time spent maintaining bots maybe three to four hours per day per person.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also explored Microsoft's Power Automate. However, it wasn't as mature or up to an enterprise level at the time. Automation Anywhere had good standards and excellent support, in terms of architecture, design, and user interface, we chose Automation Anywhere. It also has good community support. Previously, we used to raise a ticket. Now, it's amazing - when you ask a question, people respond to it live.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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