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Appian vs IBM Business Automation Workflow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
Clients saw significant ROI and profit increases, reducing process times by 85%, achieving break-even within a year.
Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Business Automation Workflow boosts ROI through license savings, productivity enhancements, cost reductions, and high user satisfaction.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian's technical support is responsive and helpful, though some users desire quicker response times and better prioritization.
Sentiment score
5.7
IBM Business Automation Workflow's support varies, with reliable technical assistance but inconsistent response times and challenges in on-premises environments.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian is scalable and flexible, supporting integration, distributed environments, and cloud deployment, but faces challenges with large data volumes.
Sentiment score
7.8
IBM Business Automation Workflow is scalable, reliable for enterprise operations, and supports both on-premises and cloud deployments effectively.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Appian is highly stable with 99.99% uptime, minimal issues, and strong user satisfaction regarding performance and ease of use.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Business Automation Workflow is considered stable with proper setup, despite initial challenges and occasional bugs reported by users.
 

Room For Improvement

Appian requires improved tutorials, flexible UI design, better Microsoft integration, enhanced automation, and seamless mobile UX for new users.
IBM Business Automation Workflow needs improvements in UI, analytics, setup, support, and integration for a streamlined user experience.
 

Setup Cost

Appian's pricing ranges from $90 to $2000+ monthly, often cheaper than Pega, but complex and expensive for on-premises setups.
IBM Business Automation Workflow is seen as costly but provides flexible licensing and significant value, justifying the investment.
 

Valuable Features

Appian excels in rapid, low-code development, seamless integration, extensive automation, superior interface, and excellent technical support, enhancing productivity and scalability.
IBM Business Automation Workflow enhances efficiency and agility with seamless AI integration for improved process management and user-friendly configurability.
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (4th), Rapid Application Development Software (5th), Low-Code Development Platforms (4th), Process Mining (5th)
IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Appian is 6.5%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 2.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Srimanta Pandit - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, improves operational efficiency, and reduces the time taken to complete processes
The solution’s turnaround time for development is better compared to other tools. The solution enables fast development. The traceability of the processor is good. There is much more governance and regulations on the processers. The tool reduces the time of the processes by 30% to 40%. The solution’s low-code aspect has greatly impacted the development and deployment speed. One of the major reasons we are using the product is that we can reuse the modules. The developers can reuse all the modules. It enables us to make subsequent developments in less time. The prebuilt modules can be deployed within two to three weeks. The tool is very flexible. Compared to other platforms, the Appian product team was agile in quickly customizing things for us.
Bhasker ReddyPIdintla - PeerSpot reviewer
Creates workflows and removes the delays encountered with approvals
The tool streamlines operations, especially from an operational perspective, by facilitating decision-making and ensuring timely approvals. This helps prevent delays in the approval process, where business process management adds significant value for us. What I find most valuable is how it creates process instances and handles issues. There's no delay in addressing process issues and getting approvals on time. It provides a product-agnostic approach to business process management, allowing us to create workflows quickly. Case management helps us create, handle, and resolve cases step by step, providing an end-to-end solution. It's especially useful when using cloud-based business automation, often including built-in case management features. The main benefit is creating workflows. For example, with IBM BAW, we can handle end-to-end processes, from taking requests to assigning tasks for approvals. It can also integrate with third-party APIs and business rules to make decisions, providing flexibility in our operations. AI is integrated into the IBM BAW in two main ways. First, we can use RPA for tasks requiring human intervention. Second, we can leverage IBM's Watson AI to accelerate business processes with automation. I can predict how soon requests will be approved and decide based on certain criteria. For example, let's consider our recent implementation in the customer care center. When customers call in, they often have common queries. We've incorporated AI features to address these queries by leveraging data from our customer database. We use tools like OpenAI. Additionally, we've automated most processes for business process automation to minimize the need for human intervention. However, we hold requests for certain scenarios until a resource takes action. But for common tasks that can be automated quickly, we've integrated AI and machine learning features to expedite approvals.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
30%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
37%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which do you prefer - Appian or Camunda Platform?
Appian is fast when building simple to medium solutions. This solution offers simple drag-and-drop functionality with easy plug-and-play options. The initial setup was seamless and very easy to imp...
Is Appian a suitable solution for beginners who have no additional preparation?
Appian is actually pretty big on educating its users, including with courses that reward you with certifications. There is a whole section on their company’s website where you can check out the edu...
Is it easy to set up Appian or did you have to resort to professional help?
We had some issues when we were setting up Appian. It was quite surprising, since this is a low-code tool which, in its essence, means it is meant for business users and inexperienced beginners. So...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?
The most valuable feature of IBM Business Automation Workflow is cost management.
 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
Business Automation Workflow
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee
Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.