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Appian vs SAP HCM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (5th), Process Automation (4th), Rapid Application Development Software (5th), Low-Code Development Platforms (4th), Process Mining (6th)
SAP HCM
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Benefits Administration (3rd), Talent Management (3rd), Cloud HCM (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Appian and SAP HCM aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Appian is designed for Business Process Management (BPM) and holds a mindshare of 6.2%, down 6.3% compared to last year.
SAP HCM, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud HCM, holds 15.0% mindshare, down 16.5% since last year.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Cloud HCM
 

Q&A Highlights

MK
Apr 17, 2023
 

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.
Renelia Villanueva - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient payroll processing with comprehensive attendance management
I am currently heading the payroll benefits and HRIS team here in Manila. We are using SAP HCM on-premises, and we implemented SuccessFactors focusing on Employee Central and GMPM SAP HCM has helped a lot due to the always changing government regulations pertaining to taxation, social security…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Appian also has very flexible local integration."
"The low code functionality and being able to get applications faster to customers or to the market are valuable."
"The valuable features include process automation, Appian Portal, and Appian RPA."
"The Application Designer is very user friendly. There are also lot of plug-ins that you can use and, for the most part, they are free."
"Form building capabilities and well thought out process modelling are key points to this product."
"The most valuable feature is business automation."
"Appian's most valuable feature is that we can create end-to-end process workflows with minimum turnaround."
"Recently, we added Appian Process Mining, Appian Portals, and now Appian RPA."
"The payroll and time management features are useful."
"The integration provided by SAP between different modules is very good."
"The tool's most valuable features for our HR operations include easy reporting capabilities, which allow us to generate reports for management meetings and auditing purposes. Additionally, it supports appointment preparation and processing benefits."
"The tool's best feature is SAP SuccessFactors."
"SAP HCM is a powerful program that can greatly benefit organizations with its comprehensive features and integrations."
"SAP HCM has a good performance."
"The most valuable feature, in my view, is the level of exceptions or error messages that come back when something goes wrong."
"It's very suitable for large, multi-geography companies but also very suitable for medium companies with multi-geography operations."
 

Cons

"What could be improved is more on the front end perspective, like the user interface and the mobile application aspect."
"Sometimes, clients expect us to implement ERP using Appian, which is very complicated. In such cases, I don't believe that Appian is a good tool for that."
"I wouldn't say their response time is long, but it could be quicker."
"The biggest areas of improvement would be in facilitating team development, DevOps, and integration with typical tools used in enterprise development (Jenkins, Subversion, etc.)"
"Form creation and SAIL proprietary language still basically require programming. The claim a BA type can do everything is hogwash."
"The solution could use some more tutorials to help brand new users figure out how to use the product effectively."
"It has it's own built-in UI components and doesn't provide much flexibility to customize or extend those components."
"The performance is pretty good, but the distortions need to be optimized in order for it to work well."
"The product's license is very expensive."
"SAP HCM could improve by having more resources and making it more user-friendly. It is complex."
"The customer support from SAP is reasonable, yet I would rate it five out of ten."
"There needs to be a renovation of the interface and functionalities of the talent management modules."
"The solution is rather expensive."
"The setup comes with a set of challenges as well."
"What can be improved in SAP HCM depends on the industry it serves. The system's navigation could be simplified for users. The flow and integration between parts, like core HR, payroll, and recruiting, must be communicated properly. Users should focus on how doing things correctly from the start will improve things in the long run rather than feeling overwhelmed by tasks."
"It would be very helpful for our company if a new version was released with the ability to contain all of the things that we have newly introduced in our company."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Appian is very flexible in their pricing. In general, Appian's pricing is much, much lower when compared to competition like Pega or other products. Appian also has a flexible licensing model across geographies. Pega usually goes with a single licensing cost—which is a US-based cost—for all global customers, and it's costly. Whereas Appian has a different regional licensing cost model and it can be cheaper, depending on geography. So Appian's licensing is very flexible, and cheaper when compared to other competition."
"The cost depends on the number of users, although I recommend taking an unlimited license."
"Licensing of Appian is less expensive when compared to other BPMs in the market."
"It's good value for the price."
"We will have to have a dialogue or negotiate a price for future use. To start with, it is a reasonable price. As we go ahead, we will have to make sure the costs are inline with our expectations as we grow our user base and workloads."
"I'm sure it is cost-effective, but right now, we're just toying around with it. So, I don't have any hard numbers."
"The cost is a bit higher than other low-code competitors, OutSystems and Mendix. The price needs to be more competitive."
"The price of this solution is a little high here in Mongolia."
"The product is expensive."
"The terms on which you buy licenses might change due to the way they license in a particular product."
"HCM is cheaper than SuccessFactors."
"Licensing is pretty complex. SAP does not have a straight forward way of licensing, and it differs from client to client."
"For implementation, SAP offers little support unless you buy SAP Safeguarding from SAP Consulting."
"The pricing is really high."
"We purchase the product's yearly license."
"Licensing fees are paid yearly."
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Answers from the Community

MK
Apr 17, 2023
Apr 17, 2023
Hi Michael, My top reasons to consider SAP SuccessFactors would be: 1. Robustness of the Core Employee Central. 2. GDPR Compliance and Audit tracking capability for transactions given the healthcare industry regulations. 3. Scalability of the solution, especially if your organization is spread over multiple geographical locations. 4. Vast support ecosystem and string tech capabilities. 5. La...
See 2 answers
Ashwin Bhadouria - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 27, 2023
Hi, is HCM the only requirement with the organization, or are other solutions also required? As far as HCM is concerned, SAP is comprehensive and can be tailored as per requirements. Thanks - Ashwin
Vasu Narasimha - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 17, 2023
Hi Michael, My top reasons to consider SAP SuccessFactors would be: 1. Robustness of the Core Employee Central. 2. GDPR Compliance and Audit tracking capability for transactions given the healthcare industry regulations. 3. Scalability of the solution, especially if your organization is spread over multiple geographical locations. 4. Vast support ecosystem and string tech capabilities. 5. Lastly, leverage SAP S/4HANA.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
30%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
5%
 

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...
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
SAP HCM is the one of the best ERP for an organization with a small to large scale business. It has the most efficient payroll functionality. Regards : SAP HR classes in pune
What do you like most about SAP HCM?
HCM is a very important module that each organization should want to use. It will help any organization to calculate and control the cost of their human resources.
What is better, SAP HCM or SAP SuccessFactors?
When it comes to user experience, SuccessFactors is unquestionably superior, as it provides end users with a new experience and an advanced user interface. Additionally, the entire concept of SF is...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
SAP Human Capital Management
 

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
City of Cape Town, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd., TransAlta Corporation, Keolis, PT XL Axiata Tbk, National Football League (NFL), Plan International, Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company, China Talent Group (CTG TMO), Umicore S.A., Butterfield Bank, Skrill Group Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, Apache, Pega and others in Business Process Management (BPM). Updated: February 2025.
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