Lots of different use cases, such as front office customer experience, repetitive tasks, multi-login screens, document processing, and screen notification.
VP of Transformation & Innovation at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Productivity increased far more than thirty percent with this solution
Pros and Cons
- "Productivity increased far more than thirty percent."
- "The discovery suite that they just acquired could be included."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We have been solving a lot of our productivity issues in different areas. And of course, in the core business. Productivity increased far more than thirty percent.
What is most valuable?
I can not think of just one the whole solution is very good. Maybe because it is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The discovery suite that they just acquired could be included. The more I think, maybe it's going to be targeted to be integrated with the process discovery piece, after the acquisition of FortressIQ.
Buyer's Guide
BotFarm
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about BotFarm. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using BotFarm for the past five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
BotFarm is very stable from our experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The has been proven to be effective and we are building bots every day now.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup it was simple and deployed in less than two months.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment in less than six months from the time we started using it.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend BotFarm an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Digital Strategy Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Reliable and user-friendly with the capability to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has been very user-friendly."
- "The dashboard needs improvement. For Bot Farm, the visualization is not that good compared to the main Automation Anywhere dashboard."
What is our primary use case?
We use the Bot Farm solution for two use cases. One is for procurement and the other is for finance. Both use cases required the liquid license availability of the task bot. Therefore, at month-end or the middle of the month, the processing needs to be on a faster pace as we had SLA activity involved with the processing of the invoices and the financial auditing purpose.
Basically, we use floating licenses which are automatically applied when there was a high peak on the load, and the floating licenses resulted in the shorter processing cycle of the activity.
What is most valuable?
The scalability is the solution's most valuable aspect. The reason Bot Farm is used is to have only one license availability whenever you have a spike in the transactions. That is a core feature. That is something which we are using to the maximum. It's working well due to the fact that the solution use case is quite structured. The only ask was to have additional bot licenses be present to incorporate it. That way, we don't have to get stuck with the license cost as it's generally on a yearly basis. Right now, it's just on the basis of the usage that we are paying.
The solution has been very user-friendly.
The initial setup is very straightforward.
The interface is seamless.
The solution is very stable and quite reliable.
What needs improvement?
For the intelligent bots, it is still not quite structured, as far as I can see. I checked for IQ Bot. These licenses are having certain issues. We stopped around the pricing part. It's not just the price, however. It was also not fitting the capability. Based on the on-prem model, if they can include an intelligent bot there, it will be helpful with all the security and the pricing parts involved.
The dashboard needs improvement. For Bot Farm, the visualization is not that good compared to the main Automation Anywhere dashboard.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution at least over the last 12 or so months. We are continuing to use it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. It's very reliable. When you're adding the additional licenses the basic structure is there. It's just the licensing that gets involved. It's more on the configuration side. Otherwise, it is quite seamless with the interface. The preliminary interface is Automation Anywhere, so there are no issues there.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale very well.
We have two teams using the solution currently.
We are using this solution specifically in the India region, with the two departments of finance and procurement. We don't have that much load as everything gets outsourced here in India. We are still looking for opportunities where a load of taking Bot Farm license mechanisms can be used. Therefore, I can't speak to if we will increase usage or not.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been very good. Many a time, there was an issue with the configuration part, or the licenses were not automatically deployed for the execution of the tasks. We had to connect with them, and we always found them to be helpful and responsive. I would say we are satisfied so far.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have three RPA solutions that we are using. We also use UiPath and Blue Prism.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly complex or difficult. We were pretty comfortable with it already. We are already using Automation Anywhere for the past four years and therefore, it was not a challenge for us.
With approvals, customization, et cetera, the deployment took us about 15 or so days.
We have a team of five that is able to handle the deployment and maintenance. We have a two-year maintenance contract lined up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay based on usage, which is quite good for us. We like this licensing model. From the maintenance perspective, we have a contract signed for two years and it has reduced our pay per basis cost.
Real cost savings come with long-term relationships with the company. For four years we have been there. Therefore, the pricing is substantially lower for us.
What other advice do I have?
We are just a customer.
Bot Farm is a cloud solution. We already have A2019, and Bot Farm is one of the products of Automation Anywhere. It's a cloud version we are using and due to it being on the cloud, it is always continuously updated to the latest version.
Bot Farm is for firms that have reached a certain level of maturity. You don't require Bot Farm if you are having applications that are not consuming your licenses. It becomes very useful when you have a use case that has spiked the variation in the load. Regardless, you need to do the math correctly to get the ROI associated with the licensing costs, the value, and the use case intended.
I'd rate the solution at 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.
Buyer's Guide
BotFarm
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about BotFarm. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Lead Project Engineer at Peristent Systems
User-friendly, with helpful cognitive controls, but the machine learning capability needs to be enhanced
Pros and Cons
- "The best aspect is the UI, as it is very user-friendly."
- "The machine learning needs to be improved so that they perform better in terms of predictive analysis and sentiment analysis."
What is most valuable?
The best aspect is the UI, as it is very user-friendly. A business user can employ the tool as efficiently as a full developer.
The intelligent and cognitive controls that they offer are helpful.
What needs improvement?
The machine learning needs to be improved so that they perform better in terms of predictive analysis and sentiment analysis.
The documentation needs to be improved because it does not shed much light on how the product can be used. In general, the support can be improved.
The stability can be improved.
Having the ability to control the system from the cloud would be helpful, rather than setting up the environment locally.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with BotFarm for between four and six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is something that they need to work on.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is certainly a scalable tool. It is spread throughout the organization and our user count is perhaps in the hundreds. The roles of our users are varied. For example, it is used by the service processing team, and it is also used by the client where the product is implemented. There are also administrators who manage the overall control.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate the technical support a six out of ten, as there is improvement needed.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In terms of RPA, I have experience with both Automation Anywhere and UiPath.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. I did not look at the cloud-based implementation, but the MSI installer for the on-premises deployment is a quick one. If the firewall and other things are set up correctly then the deployment will take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to have a proof of concept first. It is important because it may be that some of the features required by the client are not included in BotFarm. As this is a very user-friendly product, it can scale into the organization once the PoC is complete.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
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
group head it at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Useful screen scraping, third-party integration, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features I have found to be the screen scraping and the integration with third-party solutions."
- "The user experience could be made a little better with this solution. I find it difficult to find qualified people to be able to use the solution."
What is our primary use case?
- We use the solution for automating a noise cancellation process.
- In our business, we have a certain requirement to gather information from multiple applications in our customer services team, before we can troubleshoot an issue the support engineer has to handle 14 different applications to get the required information. This means the engineer spends approximately 25 minutes getting the required information even before they can start troubleshooting the issue. In the customer support space, we use this solution for automating the gathering of information from 15 disparate applications.
- In the customer service space, we have three bots and in the finance space, we have one bot.
- We have a few use cases where we use the bots to essentially increasing efficiency and reducing manual work in different areas.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features I have found to be the screen scraping and the integration with third-party solutions.
What needs improvement?
The user experience could be made a little better with this solution. I find it difficult to find qualified people to be able to use the solution.
In the future, I would like to see machine learning built in to support marketing use cases.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Based on my experience, the solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have approximately 47 users using the solution in my organization. Currently, have this solution deployed in one country and in two departments. Next year we plan to increase have the solution operation in three countries and across 14 departments.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used Blue Prism and UiPath.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license of this solution is on an annual basis. The price is fair. However, what we did initially was a POC, but now we are looking at moving from a POC to expanding it out further. I would appreciate some kind of discount.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated Blue Prism and UiPath recently.
What other advice do I have?
Those wanting to implement this solution make sure you have a team that can support you. Getting individuals with the qualified skillsets required has proven to be difficult.
I rate BotFarm a seven 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.
Sr. Director at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Has good screen capture and tight integration with Outlook features
Pros and Cons
- "From a solution standpoint, screen capture and tight integration with Outlook are valuable features."
- "I would definitely be wanting to see OCR features for improving the solution."
What is our primary use case?
We used the solution primarily for reconciliations. As a service, it requires matching the debit and credit information for the fund, so it's basically a combination of a custom-built application, integrating with Outlook and with Excel. It functions on the Windows 10 platform.
What is most valuable?
From a solution standpoint, screen capture and tight integration with Outlook are valuable features. We tried the same TOC with Blue Prism but it was more complicated.
What needs improvement?
From a simplified perspective, in terms of improvement, we use the bot for the maker position, not for the checker. It's about how well the bot can be utilized. For now, it's not utilized 24/7 because only business clients use it. I would definitely be wanting to see OCR features for improving the solution.
A human brain can easily distinguish between red and blue by looking at the screen. If there's an easy way for the bot to differentiate between the colors without being sequential that would be great.
More integrations with third-party applications would be a great additional feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using BotFarm for the past 18 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is definitely scalable. The bot is not utilized. We need more business sponsorship to make sure that we can have more projects with bots. We have close to 50 bots in production. And you can just scale it up to what is required. We have between 25-30 projects in the pipeline that we can carry out using Automation Anywhere.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've been in touch with Automation Anywhere technical support. They've been handy. And they're pretty good when it comes to helping us. I'm satisfied.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used another solution but it was not a fully automated process solution. It required a lot of manual intervention.
How was the initial setup?
I am aware of the initial setup process - we set it up ourselves. It's pretty straightforward. I don't think there's any complexity in the architecture from a UI point of view, sometimes there are slight differences but the setup is straightforward.
We carried out the deployment by ourselves. We also had the robotics process monitoring team setup nearby. The assistance we required related more to the documenting and business process flows.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other tools like WorkFusion.
What other advice do I have?
From a technical standpoint, you need to be careful with the UI application. There might be issues with it in cases where object recognition is going to be tougher. I would definitely look at what the UI interface needs in order to be automated from a UI perspective. Be careful with what you choose.
I would rate this product a nine out of 10.
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.
Vice president at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Process automation software used to anticipate how many bot runners are needed to solve a case
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of BotFarm is the fact that we can use escalations when we need more computer power to fulfill all embargo that we receive in one day."
- "Normally we need to monitor the solution using an AWS console and the control room. We would like to have a standardized dashboard to see all the information in one place."
What is our primary use case?
We have several bots in Colombia. We can't anticipate how many bot runners we need to use to solve one use case. This is what BotFarm is used for.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of BotFarm is the fact that we can use escalations when we need more computer power to fulfill all embargo that we receive in one day.
What needs improvement?
Normally we need to monitor the solution using an AWS console and the control room. We would like to have a standardized dashboard to see all the information in one place.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a ten 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?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
AGM- IT ( IT Projects Delivery & Innovation) at TFS
An expensive solution, providing an easy setup with little maintenance, but lacks AI-driven capabilities for full automation
Pros and Cons
- "The system is stable and very little maintenance is required, assuming the bots process is perfectly designed."
- "I have called customer service three times and the experience has not been good. They do not offer 24/7 support, which forces us to wait till the next working day to solve a problem."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is to use the bot peer-to-peer (P2P) billing.
We deal with a few customers where we automate billed services for accounts received with invoice, debit and credit notes.
What needs improvement?
An additional feature that is missing from BotFarm is the ability for complete, AI-driven automation.
Automation can be divided into two types, namely, full automation (does not require human intervention) and semi-automation (requires human intervention). However, most companies are not able to give all their data from their ERP system to perform full automation. There is a missing feature in the software which allows for this solution to be solved.
Additionally, by using AI, I would like the bot to pull reports automatically from the ERP system, but at the moment I have to log into the system to retrieve reports.
Another area that needs improvement is with regards to machine-bound licenses. When installing the solution on a clients laptop or desktop and creating a license, that license is bound to that computer. I cannot use the users ID or password on any other machine.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for about 8 months and we have developed around six process automations.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The system is stable and very little maintenance is required, assuming the bots process is perfectly designed.
For example, if the interface of the ERP system changes, maintenance would be required to adjust the bot settings to point to moved buttons/features.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have called customer service three times and the experience has not been good. They do not offer 24/7 support, which forces us to wait till the next working day to solve a problem.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple. However, creating a bot requires development experience.
The deployment does not take much time, assuming you already have a complete process that has been defined and approved.
What about the implementation team?
The solution was implemented in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is too expensive and not worth the price.
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.
Senior Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
User-friendly with a web-based interface that is platform independent
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to drag and drop various components and the customizability are good features."
- "I would like to be able to access BotForm using a mobile app."
What is our primary use case?
We have some processes in HR and finance that we are automating. Examples of this are finding bills and then creating bonus reports for employees. Another example is invoice processing.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the user-friendliness.
The ability to drag and drop various components and the customizability are good features.
The web interface that was introduced in the recent version helps because you are not dependent on any particular system. You can just open it on the website and work on the application.
What needs improvement?
I would like to be able to access BotForm using a mobile app.
I think that customization can be further improved.
IQ Bot, used by BotFarm, needs to be improved with respect to being able to read handwritten documents using the OCR. An example of this is reading signatures.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using BotFarm for the past year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
BotFarm is relatively stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is easy to scale. We have four people who are using it on an occasional basis. It is usually run weekly or bi-weekly. This usage will increase as we include more processes.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not been in touch with technical support since the installation.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another RPA solution prior to this one.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was of medium complexity. I would say it took us some time to get started because we had to first satisfy the hardware requires such as RAM. It took at least a week to install and deploy because our system was not compliant with the requirements, and necessitated upgrading it first.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation ourselves, although we sought some help from Automation Anywhere. We had some consultation over the phone.
There are a couple of developers here who were working on it during the installation, but one person is sufficient to maintain it. Either a developer or an engineer can take care of the maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Our licensing costs are approximately $3,000 USD annually. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated UiPath, but ultimately chose to use Automation Anywhere and BotFarm.
What other advice do I have?
This is a product that I recommend and we will be moving to the cloud version in the future.
My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is to first check your prerequisites in terms of hardware and system requirements that are needed for the installation. This is important.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
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
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Updated: December 2024
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