The solution has cross-application features where it can be set up with SAP, email, or SharePoint.
Senior SAP Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Has cross-application features where it can be set up with SAP, email, or SharePoint
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has cross-application features where it can be setup with SAP, email, or SharePoint."
- "The solution could be more user-friendly. I would like the see the inclusion of a recording feature as in Microsoft, SAP, and other legacy systems. Users can play the recording and use it for future use cases. The recording can help with the automation and configuration. I would rate the tool’s interface a seven out of ten. It needs to improve."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The solution could be more user-friendly. I would like the see the inclusion of a recording feature as in Microsoft, SAP, and other legacy systems. Users can play the recording and use it for future use cases. The recording can help with the automation and configuration. I would rate the tool’s interface a seven out of ten. It needs to improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for around two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is quite stable.
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December 2024
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. We have around 100 users for it in our company and we intend to scale up the numbers.
How are customer service and support?
We have never contacted the tech support team since we have our own internal technical team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is enterprise software so we will try to maximize our usage during the available slots. We will get ROI with the high price since there will be some value added with automation. I think that after doing a cost-benefit analysis, we are on the positive side.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technology Manager at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Good execution speed and object reusability, but it is expensive and they need a recording feature for developers
Pros and Cons
- "The only good thing about Blue Prism is the execution speed."
- "For developers, they should have some kind of recording feature."
What is our primary use case?
I'm an IT consultant and I implement Blue Prism for my clients.
What is most valuable?
The only good thing about Blue Prism is the execution speed.
The interface is okay; it is like drawing a workflow map, which some people prefer.
What needs improvement?
For developers, they should have some kind of recording feature. Their competitors have this capability, so it is a big thing.
If you execute too fast then your code dies.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability can be improved by building something on top of it, code-wise. When you are running the software, it needs to attach to whatever window you are on, and then you need to build it separately. This is where you get stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable because they have an object library, which others do not have. In terms of reusability, it's great.
My clients are enterprise-level organizations.
How are customer service and technical support?
In terms of support, they have almost everything for Blue Prism. They have tutorials and other such materials.
I haven't raised any tickets with them, so I do not know about their real support model.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I use UiPath for the most part.
I have some experience with Pega RPA but it's garbage, so I don't use it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. You just need SQL and then you can install it.
Ultimately, this should be set up on the cloud using Azure or another provider. however, there are lots of companies that haven't brought their automation off-site, so they are on-premises deployments.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is a very expensive product and this is the reason that they're losing their market share.
What other advice do I have?
I know that Blue Prism is trying to improve because they have acquired some other vendors.
To summarize, I think that this product is good for business but it's terrible for developers.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Blue Prism. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
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Senior Business Analyst and Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
A valuable enterprise-level tool with the highest level of security, good scalability, and an option to code separately and write a script
Pros and Cons
- "The entire tool is valuable because it is an enterprise tool. It is on par with other tools like Automation Anywhere or UiPath with the OCR/ICR facilities, analytics, and the entire package for enterprise-level security. It has the highest level of security as compared to any other tool."
- "There are a lot of things coming up, such as Discovery Bot and Process Discovery. A lot of other aspects are also maturing. We have definitely started using it for our clients, and it is maturing as a solution, but it is all about how you integrate the enterprise with all the automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics. How they are integrated and talk to each other creates a very good business case with all three aspects. The next level should be about integrating it with other automation tools as well. It can have integration with other tools or automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics."
What is our primary use case?
Our use cases are account receivables and account payable. In insurance, our use cases are for vetting beneficiaries, upgrading client portfolios, and updating customer's policies.
What is most valuable?
The entire tool is valuable because it is an enterprise tool. It is on par with other tools like Automation Anywhere or UiPath with the OCR/ICR facilities, analytics, and the entire package for enterprise-level security. It has the highest level of security as compared to any other tool.
What needs improvement?
There are a lot of things coming up, such as Discovery Bot and Process Discovery. A lot of other aspects are also maturing. We have definitely started using it for our clients, and it is maturing as a solution, but it is all about how you integrate the enterprise with all the automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics. How they are integrated and talk to each other creates a very good business case with all three aspects. The next level should be about integrating it with other automation tools as well. It can have integration with other tools or automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics.
For how long have I used the solution?
I am in robotics for the last seven to eight years, and I have been using Blue Prism for about three to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, it is a good tool.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is definitely scalable. The whole market of RPA is definitely scalable, but it again depends on your feasibility and complexity when you study a particular environment and process. It also depends on whether you want to scale in the whole organization or different departments or you want to scale up into different areas. All RPA solutions are on par in terms of scalability. There is no difference between them.
How are customer service and technical support?
I don't have any direct experience with them. My solution architect used to handle that. I haven't seen many technical issues because if you are going to deploy the solution and if you've studied enough about the organization and the architecture, then something major is not going to come up. Anything minor, such as securities, passwords, or anything else, can be easily managed.
It is completely run by the solution architects, which is the support team from the RPA side. All technical issues definitely involve the IT team, which is your internal architecture support team and the application support team. You need the support team from the architecture and the IT perspective to manage the technical follow-ups.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also used UiPath and Automation Anywhere. All these three solutions stand out because they are at the enterprise level. As compared to UiPath and Automation Anywhere, to use Blue Prism, you need developers who have hardcore development experience. It requires quite a bit on the development side. In Blue Prism, you can also code separately and write a script, which adds more value to it.
Blue Prism came too late into the market with its analytics and process discovery features, whereas Automation Anywhere and UiPath were the first ones in the market. Blue Prism is catching up, and it is in the Gartner quadrant, Forrester, etc. It is not lagging far behind.
In Europe, Blue Prism has captured a lot of markets. In the US and Asia, you will see Automation Anywhere and UiPath in the front race. Microsoft, WorkFusion, and Pega are also catching up now.
How was the initial setup?
It is not that complex. It is about how you study an organization and how an organization's architecture runs through. If it is a big organization or an enterprise, then you have to have solution architects from the customer side and also from our side. Solution architects will go and study the customer's architecture. Based on that, we can select which tools are going to be used and how complex it is going to be. It is very much dependent on how the architecture of an organization is because you are going to place the automation tool into that particular organization. Therefore, the initial feasibility and study play a major role in defining the complexity of your design and the entire format or automation.
Initially, the deployment used to take quite long. Now, it is not client-based; it is web-based, and the installation process has been reduced. You just download, and there is no starting a client and all that kind of stuff. It is much easier now than it was before.
What about the implementation team?
In terms of the staff required for the deployment and maintenance of Blue Prism, it depends on what kind of process you're managing. It is not about the tools; it is about the processes. You need to know:
- How complex they are?
- What is the risk factor for these processes?
- How do they impact the entire automation in terms of cost? That is a very important aspect of support because it is in production, and it is going to have a straight impact on the client's revenue.
Generally, one person can easily support around five processes if they fall into the simple category. If the processes fall into the complex category, then you need at least two people managing five processes. By complex, I mean when you have applications that are lengthy and the number of steps of the process are more than 500 or so, and you have to monitor the bots very closely. When the bot or the process breaks, the support team needs to take over and act accordingly.
The roles and responsibilities and the kind of people needed for maintaining the solution vary based on whether you have agile project management or a lot of projects going on. Typically, you will need a solution architect. You would require an analyst only in the first two or three months or whatever is the period for taking care of the process you want to deploy. After that, you don't require the analysts because it only needs to be overseen from the business side, which will begin with SMEs and the production support team.
Any changes or optimization after 90 days, six months, or a year, due to multiple factors such as legislation changes or anything else, have to be done in the process that is robotized. At this stage, the SMEs and the support team play a very vital role. There should definitely be a very good support function because a lot of follow-ups happen in the process and the production in robotics. To manage them, there should be a very good ticketing system in place. The Agile methodology works perfectly fine, and it adds great value to run your process effectively and having an efficient process, but you definitely need the solution architect, application owner, project management team, and the COE team to manage the entire workflow, work items, or backlog items coming into the support function.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is a bit higher in cost as compared to Automation Anywhere and UiPath. The rate also differs from client to client. Margins are also important when it comes to costing and licensing. There are some additional costs involved besides the standard licensing costs. You have the development team cost, which includes the project manager, development team, analyst, and testers. You also need a team manager. You also have the tools cost, architecture cost, platform cost, and the licensing cost of each bot.
What other advice do I have?
You should suggest a tool only after you study the architecture of an enterprise. Every tool has its own features, upside, and downside. It is not about necessarily going for Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, or UiPath. For implementing a solution, you definitely need to look in the market to find out what suits you. You can then go for it.
Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, or UiPath are on par. There is not much difference in those tools at an enterprise level. The early development cost and the cost of the platform differ in these three tools. There are some clients who say that "We want only Blue Prism. We don't want to look at anything else." In such a scenario, you can definitely go for Blue Prism because it is on par with other competitors.
The biggest lesson that we have learned from using Blue Prism is that it is important to choose the right processes and the right complexity of the processes. You can't choose highly complex processes where you have around 800,000 steps or very volatile processes where the team is involved in the application layer or at the process level very frequently. These kinds of things could be avoided.
I would rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten because it is a very old tool. It has been around in the market for quite a while, and they have their own learnings. It is a complete package at an enterprise level, where you can have analytics and attended and unattended automation. You can run your scripts, and at an enterprise level, even security aspects are very strong as compared to what is generally required by a client. There is room for improvement. All the new features that are coming up are not being used by many clients, and a lot of learning has to happen.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Director, Km & Bpo Innovation at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
User-friendly interface, easy to use, and you can automate tasks without coding
Pros and Cons
- "The web-based designer is very user-friendly and easy to use."
- "I would like to see machine learning functionality integrated with the automation."
What is our primary use case?
We have a lot of use cases for automation, including testing our website.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that you can create automations without coding.
The web-based designer is very user-friendly and easy to use.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see machine learning functionality integrated with the automation.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Blue Prism for about three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
At this point, it is hard to say how scalable it is. We have more than 200 employees using it.
How are customer service and technical support?
This product is very easy to maintain, so we haven't had to contact technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to using Blue Prism, we gained experience using UiPath. We have now started using Automation Anywhere, as well. Each of these RPA products has different features and we choose the one that best meets the needs of the project.
For example, UiPath is very good at text file automation, whereas Automation Anywhere is better at web-based or cloud-based automation.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. I would say that it is really easy.
What about the implementation team?
We had assistance implementing Blue Prism from SAP.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Blue Prism is less expensive than some of the other RPA solutions. The licensing fees depend on the number of users that you have.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager, Information Technology Automation Delivery at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
A stable, scalable, and easy-to-deploy solution with good integrations and features
Pros and Cons
- "We've started to use some of the new features such as translation, cognitive, and we are finding them useful. We are also finding API integrations very useful."
- "We would like to have something, not particularly within the tool, that gives flexibility to the end-users to schedule the bots themselves. There should be some kind of control room flexibility so that they can go in. We don't have to always keep that centralized with us. We would also like to have inbuilt scheduling and resource pooling to distribute the bots on servers from within the platform. I should be able to distribute or orchestrate them internally so that if one bot takes a little longer than planned, it automatically shifts to another server. We would also like its price to be lower."
What is most valuable?
We've started to use some of the new features such as translation, cognitive, and we are finding them useful. We are also finding API integrations very useful.
What needs improvement?
We would like to have something, not particularly within the tool, that gives flexibility to the end-users to schedule the bots themselves. There should be some kind of control room flexibility so that they can go in. We don't have to always keep that centralized with us.
We would also like to have inbuilt scheduling and resource pooling to distribute the bots on servers from within the platform. I should be able to distribute or orchestrate them internally so that if one bot takes a little longer than planned, it automatically shifts to another server.
We would also like its price to be lower.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is absolutely scalable. We have close to 200 automations written in Blue Prism. We have five to six people who work on this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
They're good. We didn't find any issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This was our first platform for automation. We have used other tools such as K2, but Blue Prism is the only full-fledged RPA platform that we've used.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its price should be lower.
What other advice do I have?
I have heard that UiPath is catching up in a big way and offers a lot of flexibility. You can also evaluate UiPath.
I would rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Project Engineer at Peristent Systems
Takes good security measures and is user friendly
Pros and Cons
- "Blue Prism takes good security measures and is user friendly."
- "The domain in regards to cognitive abilities and the use of processing activity needs improvement. They have added this capability, but that's not really big in the public. It is more also available for gold partners. So they should improve the user activity for the public or even the regular customer."
What is most valuable?
Blue Prism takes good security measures and is user friendly.
What needs improvement?
The domain in regards to cognitive abilities and the use of processing activity needs improvement. They have added this capability, but that's not really big in the public. It is more also available for gold partners. So they should improve the user activity for the public or even the regular customer. It can add a good amount of scalability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Blue Prism since 2014.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 300 resources that are using Blue Prism at different levels.
It can be maintained by three people and it can be done by our IT team as well. It is not hard to maintain
How are customer service and technical support?
If you are a customer or a gold partner, you'll be aligned with a customer success manager who can escalate the case quickly and you'll receive a resolution in no time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
After I started using Blue Prism, I also started working with Automation Anywhere and Ui Path.
Blue Prism has its own market share. The large three or four organizations use Blue Prism's security and scalability features, which can be applied at an enterprise level. Some things need to be improved. These are things that are lacking in other tools as well, so it is a fair competition.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
If everything is set up well like the restrictions that are on the PCs are up to mark, it will take 20 to 25 minutes for the complete installation.
What other advice do I have?
My advice is that not all activities can be automated by using Blue Prism. There are certain levels of criteria that need to be calculated before choosing a particular RPA tool. There are things that need to be considered before choosing economically.
In the next release, I would like to see improvement in cognitive abilities, AI, and document processing.
I would rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Senior Planning and Control Analyst at a translation and localization position with 1,001-5,000 employees
Useful base features and helpful implementation support
Pros and Cons
- "I use the basic features that are very useful."
- "There are some new tools on the market that work better than Blue Prism. When Blue Prism receives information I have found other RPA solutions refresh the application better. At this moment it's not the best application."
What is our primary use case?
We were using Blue Prism mainly for simple RPA processing.
I work with advisors, and we have a lot of clients that have a lot of processes. We use the solution for the cost and management processes. When we need to organize some information we join the information into a report.
What is most valuable?
I use the basic features that are very useful.
What needs improvement?
There are some new tools on the market that work better than Blue Prism. When Blue Prism receives information I have found other RPA solutions refresh the application better. At this moment it's not the best application.
Blue Prism could improve the integration with the development of applications. For example, a type of automation where we can build applications and integrate them with the RPA. This is something that we would use a lot and is not available in Blue Prism.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Blue Prism for approximately two years.
How are customer service and support?
The support is great for Blue Prism when you are implementing the solution. However, since it is a new solution there is not a lot of information on the forums.
How was the initial setup?
The installation difficulty level depends on what processes are going to be being used.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others wanting to implement this solution is to make sure they evaluate their requirements and it is important to have good integration with their systems. I would recommend using templates for their data because if they do not it can create problems.
I rate Blue Prism 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.
Senior SAP Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Stable, quick to deploy, and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support has been responsive when we have needed their assistance."
- "The deployment of the bots should be much faster and more intuitive."
What is most valuable?
The initial setup is simple. The deployment is pretty fast.
The stability is good.
We've found the solution to be scalable.
Technical support has been responsive when we have needed their assistance.
What needs improvement?
It's been our concern that we will be able to move more towards sustainability within our own company. We do rely a lot on third-party vendors, and we're hoping we can have more internal talent to actually manage all our projects. That's our number one goal and concern. We are looking into providing training to our business users that is similar to something like PowerBI, where you can basically configure and use less coding. That's what we want to leverage.
The license cost is a bit high. Being a finance guy, that's number one for me.
Number two is that whatever bots that you put inside, they only can run a specific activity at a specific time. For example, let's say I want to do a bank reconciliation at 10:00 AM, and, at the same time, I want to do some kind of asset capitalization, I can't do both. I need to choose which I can run at 10:00 AM. With one, I may need to re-time it. I'd basically like the bot to work on multiple activities at once.
The deployment of the bots should be much faster and more intuitive.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. it performs well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are actually expanding into other centers of excellence, or what we call a COE.
Due to the fact that we are a COE, the group finance, the group tech, we have about a thousand plus users at this time, and that will grow.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is okay. They're quite responsive.
That said, in terms of support, we do have our own technical panel internal itself, and they are actually the first layer, or level one. Subsequently, for level two issues and onwards, the vendor comes to the picture.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the first RPA we've worked with. We did not use another solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward, and the deployment is quite fast.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is high. It should be lowered. They need to make it more affordable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are currently looking into ServiceNow that also has RPA capabilities.
What other advice do I have?
I'm actually not a technical person, I'm actually more of a finance person. I'm a business user.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
I'd advise potential new users that they need to take an actual use case, an actual business point, and do a pilot on it first to visualize how the solution could potentially work. If they find that it's satisfactory, then perhaps they could work on other rollouts. The key is to develop more on the user experience side of things.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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