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BIC Platform vs IBM Blueworks Live comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

BIC Platform
Ranking in Business Process Design
19th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (27th)
IBM Blueworks Live
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of BIC Platform is 1.6%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.5%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

FS
Software client for modelling and web portal are both directly accessible through one interface
There are just some things in the new product that are not really functional issues but improvements that BIC will have to make. For example, there are some small features that I feel are missing as of now. From an administrative perspective, you might not have the ability to trigger specific actions on a set of workflows. For example, let's say the interface is showing you a list of currently active workflows. Sometime you may find yourself in a situation where you need to select many workflows at a time. An easy example would be that — for whatever reason — you have 1000 or 2000 active workflows and you need somehow to delete them or just to stop them. It is preferable to be able to do this in one click to apply the change to all of them. So I think this is something that is missing which could probably be easily implemented. Right now it just seems omitted. I don't know if the omission was possibly due to a performance issue or if it was chosen by design. But from an end-user perspective — especially as an administrator — this capability to make bulk changes might be a handy solution when dealing with a large volume of workflows that you have to apply a simple command to in a similar way. From my point of view at the moment, all the most important features I am in need of are available. All the tools necessary for daily business for process modeling are there. There certainly is room for improvement. Many other features might be important depending on the specific use case. For instance, there are many notification features that already exist within the tools. These could notify people with different roles based on the specific workflow that is being triggered, which is pretty nice and efficient. I think the tool is quite stable right now, which is positive, and I don't believe it does require further additional things — especially if these are small things and to get them in would be rushing the development. If that may somehow affect the stability and usability, I would rather wait. Something that would also be improved in the workflow is just a cosmetic change. But it could also be a functional change. As an end-user, I do expect to be able to make selections of a set of workflows and apply some specific action to the group. If you have a list, then you should be able to select all the list items or part of the list and apply changes to that selection. This might be just something very easy I believe, to fix from their side.
AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease
IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is low-cost and very user friendly. A variety of models are available depending on the needs of the customer."
"While this is a new product it has a mature feel from being built by a company with many years in the business."
"The product is easy to use."
"The central dictionary is a valuable feature."
"It has a built-in capability to capture process owners and managers against processes along with other process governance roles."
"The stability is pretty good. It is highly available, which is key. You don't lose your work and can autosave."
"The business process discovery is excellent. The diagram or blueprinting functionality of the solution are very good. It's quite easy. You can link the sub-processes and get a big overview of the whole process then."
"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."
"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."
"The reporting that we can generate from IBM Blueworks Live has been interesting. We found the KPIs, risks, process modeling, format, and colors, to be very good. We use the EY template and it is interesting to generate reporting in this format."
"We are you using the product as a process mapping tool and as part of a larger process improvement project. We use it with IBM BPM and IBM ODM. We get an automated workflow solution for our customers, an improved workflow automation."
"The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic."
 

Cons

"The product needs improvement regarding the confidentiality of the domain information for the key administrator."
"As the product is very new, some minor features are still missing, but everything is there to handle day-to-day process modeling."
"There's an issue with the current manual that they're working on."
"The solution could improve its connectivity to other systems."
"The user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."
"There should be an option to import from and export to Microsoft Visio. Being able to move files back and forth between Blueworks Live and Visio would be good."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"I can't insert any images. For example, within the process map, if I want to put it in the box or rectangle, or circle. If I have to use one image or icon, that's not possible."
"The font size is really, really small and it's really not useful to print out process models because you cannot read what's written in different boxes. This makes it necessary for people to have access to the tool. We view licenses to see how the printing or output is. It's not very good."
"In the solution Signavio, they have a customer journey mapping feature that should be added to IBM Blueworks Live. It's valuable to map or document the customer journey to identify the pains and opportunities in this process."
"The APIs are great, except the normal business user doesn't know how to create APIs. So it's hard because IBM comes to us as the business users and tell us to create reporting with APIs, except we don't know that, so we have to turn around and flip it to our IT people."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Scalability-wise, it is an expensive product."
"Pricing will differ between enterprises based on needs such as customization, but the company uses a standardized algorithm for determining this."
"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."
"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"The solution is not very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
10%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BIC Platform ?
The central dictionary is a valuable feature.
What needs improvement with BIC Platform ?
The solution could improve its connectivity to other systems. For instance, I need new connections to KPIs. KPIs are linked to processes, I can't access the dictionary of processes to make KPIs.
What is your primary use case for BIC Platform ?
We use the solution for drawing the processes.
What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use it very effectively.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

BIC Cloud BPM, BIC Platform
IBM Lombardi Blueprint
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Daimler AG Siemens AG RWE Bundesministerium des Innern Uniklinikum Köln Vattenfall Ziemann Dermapharm AG Postbank LBBW EDEKA
Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
Find out what your peers are saying about BIC Platform vs. IBM Blueworks Live and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.