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AppWorx Workload Automation vs OpCon comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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

AppWorx Workload Automation
Ranking in Workload Automation
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpCon
Ranking in Workload Automation
7th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of AppWorx Workload Automation is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpCon is 2.0%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Workload Automation
 

Q&A Highlights

RM
Aug 26, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Manali Zagade - PeerSpot reviewer
Has an easy setup phase but needs to resolve its login-related issues in its GUI
My company is satisfied with the functionalities offered by AppWorx Workload Automation. My company and my manager decided to switch from AppWorx Workload Automation to another product, so it is a decision coming from upper management, and I have been assigned the task of creating an analysis report of the tools available in the market. My company did not do any process automations with the tool. My company is just monitoring whatever existing jobs are there in our environment. If we are getting any requirements from our company's IT team, we create those jobs in the tool. The product does support our industry's standard compliances. My company does not currently have any requirements for using AI. We just want to migrate our existing infrastructure into a new tool. The tool's scope is very limited for our company. I would definitely recommend the product to others since it is a stable solution. The issue that I faced in my company with the product is one of the major drawbacks of the product that AppWorx needs to look into because if you are not able to log in, then it could escalate as a big issue in the organization. GUI-wise, there are no such issues with the product, and the configuration is visible. Considering that the product needs to work on the graphical representation area, I rate the tool a seven out of ten.
Jose Rivera Hernandez - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps automate all kinds of jobs and it's worth the price because it saves a lot of time and money
One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has failed, and they restart it on their end, so now, we have the job restarting twice. There were times when we came into the office in the morning, and we had two files because the job ran twice. I do not know if the system can prevent a job from running the second time. If a job has run successfully, or it is running, it should not run again.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have a lot of nightly jobs that need to be run. Therefore, we perform a lot of calculations and processes during nighttime hours."
"AppWorx Workload Automation's simplicity and powerful functionality are its most valuable features for us."
"It is an object-based approach to task and process design in conjunction with conditional logic and event-based scheduling actions, which enables a build once/use often design methodology to be employed."
"The interface is good."
"Scheduling is a good feature."
"The most valuable features of AppWorx Workload Automation are simplicity and reliability. Additionally, they recently transformed the UI which is better."
"The automated solution is the most valuable piece. Otherwise, we would have to be doing everything manually on every server."
"It is really a robust product."
"Previously, we would receive a file from a vendor, then we would have to go through and make changes to individual accounts in our core system. There are probably between 10 to 20 accounts any given week. It probably took around five minutes for it to run through the report and make all the changes, and that was if there was nothing complicated with all very straightforward changes. Now, that is done in 30 seconds."
"Last year, we added a second environment and the OpCon Deploy product. This has allowed us to build a testing environment. This has been a great addition for us as we can work through our workflows without disrupting our production environment."
"We particularly like the fact that it's graphical because it is Windows-based. Before, we were text-based on the mainframe. You can also produce flow charts. Because it's point-and-click, its ease of use is very nice."
"The most valuable feature of OpCon is its scheduling capability, particularly for automating file transfers with vendors."
"The whole product is valuable to us because of the integrations that it has with the MCP and the Windows environments. You have to have the agent on each one of them that you want to monitor. The integrations that we have created are along the lines of extracting files and sending them through SFTP to another vendor. Those are the things that were taking a lot of time away from my staff."
"Among the numerous valuable features, one standout capability is the implementation of self-service buttons."
"I find OpCon's ability to monitor files and folders, and its integration with other software to be the most valuable."
"Auto-scheduling is the most valuable feature. We have the ability to schedule [batch jobs on our Unisys mainframes] seven days in advance, so we know exactly how we're running every night."
 

Cons

"We are looking for additional features that would allow us to call APIs and integrate the product with other tools more effectively."
"It has been a deprecated product, because it is so old. There has been a couple of new solutions that are a little more advanced."
"The current setup process can be a bit much for users."
"If there is a time out that happens at the tool's end, then we, as users of the product, are not able to login to the GUI."
"AppWorx Workload Automation does not support mainframe environments, which limits its use for larger and older organizations like ours that still rely on mainframes."
"The internal security model can be complex when configuring multiple user groups."
"It is difficult to integrate with the Active Directory (AD)."
"The scalability could improve."
"The calendar interface and the frequency interface is a very powerful, yet complex, section of OpCon in which all our staff have made mistakes. They have implemented what they believed was logically correct and then afterward discovered that their logic was flawed because OpCon did it a different way. That part, which is incredibly useful, is also incredibly dangerous. The interface or the ability to directly do more functions within the frequency definitely has room for expansion. As good as it is, it can be a lot better."
"The process of getting automations done and the process of testing them is a little complicated."
"Of course they have a RESTful API within OpCon, but they have that new web services agent that we installed because we have some SOAP APIs and we had to interact with SMA to get things running. Our developers did do some tweaks, but we have now been able to get some test jobs running, and understand how the workflow goes back and forth."
"Some additional logging-information reporting would also help. They have all the information there but you still have to search around and look back. It's not right there for you, where you click and can get the reporting. You have to know the system and do some additional searches. So reporting is another area that they can build on by simplifying it."
"Usage is a little complex. It's not like you can bring somebody in and they can just use it. They have to be trained... As far as complexity goes, it's right up there."
"Stability is an area for improvement. There are FTP agents that run on the MCP and they are there so that we can transfer a file from the MCP to the Windows environment or vice versa. Sometimes, and nobody has been able to figure out why, it just goes down, and all of my jobs that need it are hanging or failing... It would be very helpful if they could figure out what in the world is happening with that FTP client that's on the MCP."
"The UI refresh rate is really bad and needs improvement."
"More functionality within self-service would be greatly appreciated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are satisfied with the pricing."
"The price for annual licenses is a bit expensive so pricing is rated a two out of ten."
"Licensing options are fairly straightforward."
"The cost model is based on the number of orchestrated systems used."
"Our annual maintenance costs are $45,000. The initial cost is separate."
"This solution is slightly more expensive than our previous solution. Right now, we are paying about $40,000 a year. However, we think it's well worth the cost to keep things automated, reducing our staff."
"While the overall cost is reasonable, I'm interested in exploring options for making the managed automation solution, specifically the mass solution, more cost-effective."
"Compared to AutoSys and ISE, OpCon was a lot cheaper to put in. AutoSys is hundreds of thousands of dollars to just install it because they don't have an interface into our system. You have to teach them what your system does."
"I believe our cost is about $150,000 annually."
"It used to be per machine, so we had X number of devices licensed. Now it's not. If we had a lot of machines, the new license might've decreased the cost. Unfortunately, we didn't see the same gains."
"The cost is based on the number of jobs. You pay for what you use. For us, the support cost is between €20,000 and €30,000 per year. It's too expensive."
"SMA is big on free training. They do monthly training down at their headquarter office. As long as you own the product, the only thing you pay for is your employees' travel expenses. The training is free. They are willing to train people and give them the knowledge. That way, you are equipped to do what you need to do."
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Answers from the Community

RM
Aug 26, 2021
Aug 26, 2021
@PhilippeLLORET, All worked out fine in the end. We had demos for all three products, and it was decided that Automic Workload Manager was the best option for our needs. The vendor is now able to provide some support for the Automic Workload Automation product.
2 out of 6 answers
AJ
Jul 20, 2020
I am sorry because cannot help you. We have no experience with Appworx Application Manager.
Rony_Sklar - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 20, 2020
@NickWilcox you recently reviewed OpCon - would you be willing to share your experiences with @Rick Murray to help him with his decision? @reviewer1166826 maybe you can give some insight into the pros and cons of AppWorx?
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
40%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Healthcare Company
5%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AppWorx Workload Automation?
The most valuable features of AppWorx Workload Automation are simplicity and reliability. Additionally, they recently transformed the UI which is better.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AppWorx Workload Automation?
The licensing is fair and reasonable for what the product offers. We will soon need to redo our licensing due to changes in our department.
What needs improvement with AppWorx Workload Automation?
AppWorx Workload Automation does not support mainframe environments, which limits its use for larger and older organizations like ours that still rely on mainframes.
What do you like most about OpCon?
My favorite feature is the dashboard feature, which shows jobs that are running, and completed, any failures, and provides dashboard reporting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpCon?
I am the one who signs the contract. In the beginning, when I started working here, it seemed very expensive, but after I learned everything that it does, I found it worth the price. I would recomm...
What needs improvement with OpCon?
One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has fa...
 

Also Known As

CA Automic Applications Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sandvik, Hanwha Life
LOHR, Carnival Cruise Lines, Herbalife, Digital Federal Credit Union, Synergent, Frandsen Bank & Trust
Find out what your peers are saying about AppWorx Workload Automation vs. OpCon and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.