I am working for a telecommunication company and we use BotFarm.
RPA Developer at Telefónica
Easy to use, good interface, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "BotFarm is an easy solution to use and the interface is better than older versions."
- "BotFarm newer version has been difficult to install, we have been in contact with the support on this matter."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
BotFarm is an easy solution to use and the interface is better than older versions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using BotFarm for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
BotFarm is stable.
Buyer's Guide
BotFarm
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BotFarm. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The stability of BotFarm is good. We have approximately 10 people using this solution in my organization.
We plan to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have used the support from BotFarm. Using their website we open a ticket and we then receive support.
I would rate the support from BotFarm an eight out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
BotFarm newer version has been difficult to install, we have been in contact with the support on this matter.
What about the implementation team?
We needed help from the vendor for the implementation.
The support and maintenance of BotFarm do not require a lot of people.
What other advice do I have?
I rate BotFarm 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.
Associate Systems Analyst at NSEiT Limited
Reliable and easy to use with good dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "The dashboards are quite good, especially on the latest versions."
- "The OCR tool, the optical character recognition tool, could be more efficient."
What is our primary use case?
There are numerous use cases for the solution for various departments, including weight inspection, or trade ops, or compliance. It's often used for document processing. For example, we receive annual reports from lots of companies that are listed on the stock exchange. To check those reports, there has to be some specific tables and keywords that should be in the annual report of a company. For manually processing thousands of documents, it is not feasible. This solution makes it possible and it happens fast.
How has it helped my organization?
We have implemented solutions where we can extract the text using OCR tools and match all the relevant data that we need to find to prepare a report and forward it to that company. This makes the process a lot faster, and it can be deployed on multiple machines. That way, rather than having a lot of people who work on the same tool, I can just divide the operation on multiple machines and it will be done in less time. Therefore, it offers efficient processing.
What is most valuable?
The Excel processing is very useful to us. The tool that I'm using has all be Excel functions, however, in the current version that is Automation 360, there are a lot of options. They have Excel basic packages where you can open and just do crude operations, like create, update, delete, or, in a higher package, there are lots of functions that offer filters, macros, clips, whatever you want to run. The version that I'm using, 11.3, has a limited Excel functionality. It still works, however, the new version that they have deployed, A2019, and the latest one, Automation 360, have a lot of functions.
They have proper logging mechanism and also we can check whatever we are doing and they enable and disable list debugging feature.
It is very easy, simple. You're working on a notepad, and you don't need to know programming to work on this.
The dashboards are quite good, especially on the latest versions.
The solution can scale.
Technical support is quite helpful.
For the most part, the initial setup is straightforward.
We've found the solution to be stable.
What needs improvement?
The version that I'm using, the Excel command, is a bit limited.
The OCR tool, the optical character recognition tool, could be more efficient. It should be monitored thoroughly due to the fact that the OCR tool we have we have to manually check even if there are only a few characters missing, the processing might go wrong. In general we wish that the OCR of that product would be more efficient.
You do have to make sure your system will be compatible with the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution since September 2019. I've used it for more than a year at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is reliable. It has been working pretty well for us for the past few years. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have attempted to scale and we've found it is possible. Some of the operations require a certain level of scalability, and it has been pretty reliable for that.
While we are a company of around 10,000 employees, I'd say roughly a thousand people have been using this product. Our users are scattered through multiple departments, and every department needs processes to be automated. Therefore, there are lots of users.
We do plan to increase usage.
With every financial year, there are lots of processes coming in. Every department says that we have less manpower and the processes are quite repetitive. Likely there are lots of processes every year, around 23 processes scattered through departments. As the word spreads that some users are able to automate a lot of the processes effectively, others come to us and say they need their own efficiencies. Therefore, we're constantly expanding.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been good so far. They have a separate portal for assistance. We have raised a few tickets, and based on the priority, they respond to us. They also ask us the expected time, by what time we need them to call, and they have follow-ups every now and then. It is pretty good. We are satisfied with their level of support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup's relative ease of setup depends on various versions. In the version that I used, 11.3, the setup was pretty easy. You have to download and install two machines. One is the client developer. However, the new version that they have, is for a cloud-based deployment. You don't need to install a developer. You just need to log into the control room on any webpage and you have to work from there. For deployment, they have a specific installation, and it's my understanding that there are lots of user rights issues. They have made it easy for installation, however, it can grow in complexity depending on your needs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing is something that management handles. I don't have any visibility on the costs or the licensing arrangements.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have evaluated UiPath and it was really good. However, the approach was very different from Automation Anywhere. In Automation Anywhere, you just had a command-line view where each line you add new commands. In UiPath there was a flow-chart view. That was more creative, however, that was two years ago. Now, Automation Anywhere has those features, and it is also a web-based platform, so you don't have the burden to install the developer on your system and you don't need an office PC to do that. You just need to have the right access and credentials and you can work from anywhere.
What other advice do I have?
We're partners.
I started off with version 11, and currently, I'm working on 11.3.3. There's a new solution, RPA A2019. That's the new version. I have that certification, however, I have no projects for now on that.
I'd recommend the solution. Automation Anywhere is a very good solution if you're looking to expand all your work areas. There are lots of businesses out there that say that they don't require this, however, once the solution is implemented using RPA, businesses themselves have a lot of time and resources to expand their research areas. The growth increases exponentially.
I'd rate the solution at a nine 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
Buyer's Guide
BotFarm
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BotFarm. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Manager Technical Solutions Architect at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Its scalability and portability are the most valuable, and it has helped us with process integrity and reduction of human errors and manual effort
Pros and Cons
- "BotFarm has been working perfectly fine with our business model. Its scalability is the most valuable feature. We can easily scale out bots on a need basis. Portability is another valuable feature. We work with different payment systems like Visa and MasterCard and have bots for them. Because of BotFarm, we are able to reuse these bots."
- "The only challenge that we have faced with BotFarm is that there is no continuous deployment. The whole world is moving to the DevOps model, but BotFarm is still not on the DevOps model. It should have integration with the DevOps model. The migration of the bots or bots pipeline is currently purely manual."
What is our primary use case?
We have basically automated business operations and IT operation processes that require human intervention. These processes are also very repetitive and have chances of error. We have developed bots for such tasks, and as per our needs, we are scaling them up by using BotFarm. We have a hybrid deployment comprising Azure cloud and on-premises deployments.
How has it helped my organization?
The purpose of automation is to reduce the manual effort and number of manual users. BotFarm has helped us to reduce the headcount because there were lots of operational headcounts for manual tasks.
It has also improved operational efficiency. Earlier, we were not getting a consistent response for different users. Now, we have standardized responses, and our customers are getting better, error-free, and on-time responses. So, we have achieved process integrity, and we have reduced human errors and manual human effort. These are the three main benefits.
What is most valuable?
BotFarm has been working perfectly fine with our business model. Its scalability is the most valuable feature. We can easily scale out bots on a need basis.
Portability is another valuable feature. We work with different payment systems like Visa and MasterCard and have bots for them. Because of BotFarm, we are able to reuse these bots.
What needs improvement?
The only challenge that we have faced with BotFarm is that there is no continuous deployment. The whole world is moving to the DevOps model, but BotFarm is still not on the DevOps model. It should have integration with the DevOps model. The migration of the bots or bots pipeline is currently purely manual.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for almost three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Based on our usage, it is pretty stable. There are minor hiccups, but they are not because of the product. They are because of the hybrid integration that we have. We are planning to move to version 8, which is a pure cloud model.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Its scalability is very good. We currently have 120 live bots.
How are customer service and technical support?
We are in partnership with Automation Anywhere, and they are providing us good support. We haven't faced any challenges with them. They are able to help us when we face any technical challenges or need support for upgrades.
How was the initial setup?
It was straightforward. It has the same kind of implementation that any other software has. It wasn't complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Automation Anywhere is more reasonable than Blue Prism and UiPath in terms of cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. We chose Automation Anywhere because of the features and the cost. It was more reasonable than Blue Prism and UiPath.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to do a thorough discovery and walkthrough of processes and then decide based on what suits their requirements. Sometimes people think that they can go to a pure cloud model, hybrid model, or on-premises model, but they should first identify the requirements and processes. They should go for what is required for their organization's needs. They shouldn't go for BotFarm just because it is good. It should also meet their needs.
I would rate BotFarm an eight out of ten. It is a good and evolving technology, and it can be very helpful for different business operations. I have good words for Automation Anywhere and BotFarm.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Easy to run scripts and the latest version has good improvements
Pros and Cons
- "They recently released the newest version that has a good program flow, quality, and blueprints that are all good improvements to the automation. They also have good integration with SAP."
- "The new version is not very stable. Sometimes I can't use the recording sound."
What is most valuable?
They recently released the newest version that has a good program flow, quality, and blueprints that are all good improvements to the automation. They also have good integration with SAP.
It's also easy to run scripts from the EBS.
What needs improvement?
The new version is not very stable. Sometimes I can't use the recording sound.
They should improve the community. It should have a download version instead of every time needing to deploy through the SAS system something new. It's time-consuming.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using BotFarm for the past year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The software is overall stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's easy to scale. We provide this solution to SMBs. They have around 500 employees but 50 in the office.
We recommend that it gets used daily.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have contacted their support. We have a relationship with them in China. Their support is okay. I am satisfied with them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I prefer Automation Anywhere to UiPath.
How was the initial setup?
It's easy to set up. To get it installed and ready to work takes less than one hour.
What other advice do I have?
It is a good solution. I would recommend it.
I would rate it an eight out of ten. To make it a ten it should be more user-friendly. The community version should also be more stable. It should allow the user to directly download and install without the need to deploy through the SAS system.
They should also have more video material and guidelines.
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. Solution Support Consultant CMA-CGM Serving Notice Period at CMA CGM
Offers good automation and good processes
Pros and Cons
- "The solution has very good processes. It's very easy to deploy and has good reviews on it. It offers good automation and the solution has very good developers working on it."
- "The solution doesn't have support like they used to. They need support. We have personnel of our own, but sometimes we need assistance beyond our own team."
What is most valuable?
The solution has very good processes. It's very easy to deploy and has good reviews on it. It offers good automation and the solution has very good developers working on it.
What needs improvement?
The scalability of the solution needs to be improved.
There's a general lack of technical support. This should be improved. It used to be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I'm quite familiar with the product from a logic standpoint.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is an area of improvement. We can increase the main features for our project but when we reached out to our personnel and asked whether Bot can be expanded, we were told "You cannot scale this Bot."
How are customer service and technical support?
The solution doesn't have support like they used to. They need support. We have personnel of our own, but sometimes we need assistance beyond our own team.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It is not complex at all. Deployment of the solution took some time.
I remember starting with it and the coding, designing, and implementing had to be handled before we could deploy.
What other advice do I have?
We use the cloud deployment model. Currently, we're just doing the migration process. After that, we'll merge with Logic Farm too.
The trouble we ran into was that we downloaded the Bot and we were using a manual batch of the downloader. We ran into trouble with customer support as well.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Simple automation, easy installation, and very stable
Pros and Cons
- "One of the most valuable features is the solution's simple automation regarding object cloning and strings variables."
- "The solution automation is incapable of interacting with our Pega software application development. It is based on the nested table concept and it is unable to read these tables. Several projects have been put on hold because of that."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use of the solution is for automation.
What is most valuable?
One of the most valuable features is the solution's simple automation regarding object cloning and strings variables.
What needs improvement?
The solution automation is incapable of interacting with our Pega software application development. It is based on the nested table concept and it is unable to read these tables. Several projects have been put on hold because of that.
In the next release, the solution could be more interactive with other CRM applications, such as Pega or Salesforce functions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for approximately four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. We have not encountered any issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use Pega solutions.
How was the initial setup?
The installation of the solution was very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution prices are expensive. It would be more beneficial for customers to lower the pricing.
What other advice do I have?
I rate BotFarm an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Manageable and scalable with good drag-and-drop functionality
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very manageable."
- "The deployment could be simplified."
What is our primary use case?
The product can technically be applied in any vertical - whether that's supply chain management, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, licenses, et cetera. We have used it for most of these verticals and various processes.
How has it helped my organization?
It's all about their user manual, and the turnaround time. It allows us to focus on better quality work which ultimately helps the overall big picture.
What is most valuable?
Their overall design is fantastic. Their development interface is very easy to navigate. It has a graphical user interface with a drag-and-drop feature, which makes it very easy for the developers who are building the parts.
The solution is very manageable.
The product has good scalability capabilities.
What needs improvement?
The deployment could be simplified. There are a lot of user settings and stuff that you need to do when you need to prepare a report.
Automation Anywhere does have IQ Bot, which is a pretty good product. It needs to make sure it's competing with it in terms of feature offerings, et cetera.
We've seen some scalability issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been dealing with the solution for one and a half years at this point. It's hasn't been very long just yet.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, however, we have definitely seen some issues with deploying the bot between the Dell server and the broader servers. Due to resolution issues, I find it takes time to get it up on Chrome, in the browser. You need to sometimes wake up the bot. These kinds of issues have definitely dropped off a bit. It's a little bit of a gray area at the moment, as it's hard to say when they will come up.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is definitely scalable. It's easy to scale up and manage the process if you need to.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support has been excellent. I would rate them at a nine out of ten. They are very knowledgeable and responsive. We're quite satisfied with eh level of support provided.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
As consultants, we also work with Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere. We work with a variety of different products, depending on the client.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation isn't straightforward. It's a bit complex in terms of deployment as there are a lot of settings you need to handle.
Typically, a deployment takes about a week. It depends on how a company wants to deploy, so there are a lot of standards and templates that you could follow. That said, any standard deployment that you follow definitely takes a week at a minimum. It could potentially take longer.
In terms of maintenance, you only really need one person. Again, it depends on the client, and how they want to set it up, however, I would say not more than one full-time person would be needed in the case of five ports being deployed.
What about the implementation team?
We are consultants. We can assist clients in the implementation process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For my part, I don't handle the pricing. I can't speak to how expensive or affordable it is. It's not a part of my day-to-day to worry about licensing.
What other advice do I have?
We're partners.
I am into consulting and my company is in consulting.
Overall, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've largely been satisfied with their level of support and the capabilities, although the deployment could be easier. They have a lot of good features in place.
As is typical for many of the RPA technologies, it's important to have a good design in place and that could resolve the development and the deployment.
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
Senior Principal Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Good backend system structure but the governance system is missing and the pricing could be improved
Pros and Cons
- "The entire backend system structure is something that I found really valuable."
- "I would like to have access to self-service support."
What is our primary use case?
At this time, we have used BotFarm but our implementation is not in a state that can be consumed and used by anyone. To this point, we have not found the value that we expected from this solution.
We have multiple client-server installations. The majority of our deployments are on-premises, although one of them is cloud-based.
Our primary use cases are across multiple industries including support functions for finance and IT.
How has it helped my organization?
I have been trying to use this solution, but I have not found it to be usable.
What is most valuable?
The entire backend system structure is something that I found really valuable.
What needs improvement?
I think that the governance framework is completely missing from this solution and something needs to be done about it. Other products are ahead of BotFarm in this regard.
Having the validation of the bots is something that can be improved.
Pricing for this solution can be better.
I would like to have access to self-service support.
For how long have I used the solution?
We are currently evaluating BotFarm. I have not used this solution to a great extent, but perhaps ten to fifteen times over the past twelve months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is stable if you rate this entire platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The robots seem to be scalable. We have been successful in scaling to the requirements that we have. We are planning to increase our usage.
How are customer service and technical support?
My team has not been in contact with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another solution prior to this one.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not simple, for sure. It is of medium complexity.
We are still struggling in certain areas because we have not been successful. Our deployment took approximately 20 to 40 days, I would say.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented this solution ourselves.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are currently evaluating many products, setting up a CoE for each one to evaluate their worth.
What other advice do I have?
I am hoping that once the entire concept of 2019 BotFarm is released, they will have a proper structure of monetization in place. We are hoping that the bots would be much more value-driven rather than just showcase capabilities.
My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to understand the scalability, number one. They need to know what they are looking for. Then, user requirements are important. We've tried the lifecycle of the bots for research and we've found that you need to align it and integrate it with the insights from the performance engine, which is behind the scenes and gives insights from the bots.
From the holistic standpoint of the product offering, there are a lot of things that need to be done. I don't think that the platform really enables you to do the structuring and handle business use cases in a seamless manner. Anybody should be able to pick this up and find insights. Right now, this is a micromanagement-based product.
I would rate this solution a six 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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BotFarm Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Product Categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)Popular Comparisons
UiPath
Automation Anywhere
Blue Prism Cloud
Laiye UiBot
Edgeverve AssistEdge Cloud RPA
Buyer's Guide
Download our free BotFarm Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- RPA that Bots can run without centralized control?
- When evaluating Robotic Process Automation, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- How should I calculate ROI for RPA? How should I measure RPA success?
- Where have you seen RPA benefits within the Insurance Industry?
- What are the total costs involved for attended and unattended robots?
- Which is the best RPA solution for integration with chatbots?
- Can RPA interface with any application?
- RPA vs BPM: do they complement each other?
- When using an RPA solution, what process was the easiest for robots to automate?
- What is the difference between RPA and intelligent automation (IA)?