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IBM BPM vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM BPM
Ranking in Process Automation
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
109
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (8th), Application Infrastructure (8th)
IBM Cloud Pak for Automation
Ranking in Process Automation
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of IBM BPM is 11.1%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is 0.4%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Almalki - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 8, 2024
Offers good case management and its integration with process design but there's a learning curve
We mainly use it for human-centric operational processes (less than 20) The case management and its integration with process design are the only pros comparable to Komunda. There is room for improvement in terms of integrations. It is one of the biggest drawbacks. My organization has been using…
KH
Sep 7, 2022
Allows us to leverage container-based resiliency and availability modeling, but we're having challenges in finding vendors who have experience in developing on the cloud
It is scalable. We know that we want to be able to create shared services, and it certainly has that capacity with the containers. With how we set up the instances and how we set up the object storage, it is a very scalable platform. We just need to learn the tools and the techniques, and we need those subject matter experts. When you're dealing with newer technology, it is harder to find them. That's why we've had to go back to IBM. We use it as common document storage. We're using FileNet, and we're storing content for up to a million and a half users, but not all of those will be users. We haven't extended it to all the users yet. Internally we use it, but we haven't gone outside of our own. We haven't used it yet to interface with clients. We're working on that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is easy to take a requirement, put it in the code, and deploy it."
"IBM BPM's most valuable features are its speed in implementing and providing any changes."
"With the Process Center, I can go to one place and view what all the environments are doing."
"It is transparent to business users because it is mostly picture based modelling."
"IBM BPM is equipped with all the functionalities which are needed for building BPM enterprise-level applications."
"I like the APIs and the BPM coach is a good tool. But if I had to pick one, it would be the API."
"It has reduced a lot of manual errors and processes."
"One thing that I love about them is that they make it easier to integrate with other systems, especially with the use of smaller files."
"I believe two significant features of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation are the focus on SLA management and the capability to handle parallel instances effectively. Parallel instances, for instance, are valuable when dealing with a large number of users, enabling tasks to be performed concurrently for efficient system operation. The SLA aspect is crucial for tracking and ensuring timely completion of tasks. Additionally, the cloud compatibility of IBM BAW allows for seamless migration from on-premises to the cloud. This version also includes a business rule management system for storing and managing business rules effectively."
"What this product allows us to do is to move from on-prem instances where we are running independent instances of FileNet, Datacap, and ODM. It allows us to leverage container-based resiliency and availability modeling so that we have some visibility across the CP4BA ecosystem. We're now migrating all of our data to be in the Cloud Object Storage, and we can now use some of the features of Azure in terms of how we store and retrieve content for our members and our providers."
 

Cons

"From the testing perspective and minor enhancements perspective, customization is something that is a little tedious as compared to new tools. In addition, various open-source tools that are available are not working with IBM BPM."
"The solution can improve integration with SAP, CRM, and Salesforce, which is not capital-intensive."
"The setup was quite complex because the solution was cutting-edge at that time and IBM invested considerably in the implementation, likely at a loss to themselves."
"The options for customization could be improved. More customization using your own code would be beneficial."
"We have had to use Mule as an alternative integration tool because it is more flexible than IBM BPM."
"It is a really powerful tool, but its entry price is so high, which makes it a very exclusive club for who gets to use it. The thing that seemed to be the most intolerable was that you could put lots and lots of users on it, and it worked fine, but if you put lots and lots of developers on it, it sure seemed to have challenges. The biggest challenge was the development because of the Eclipse tool. It just seemed like irrespective of the development team that you put together, whether it had 10 or 50 people, you would end up having to reboot the development server throughout the day when you concurrently had lots of people hammering on the system. The development server just got sluggish. This was true for every project I was on. Once you got more than about five people working on the system at the same time, it would just get slower and slower during development work, and the only way to fix it was to reboot the server. It became just like a routine. Sometimes, we would reboot at lunch or dinner time, which is silly. After the cloud instances started rolling out, I never saw that again. That was probably the one big advantage of the cloud version. Instead of using an independent Eclipse-based process development tool, we moved to web-based process and design. The web-based tool definitely had greater performance than the Eclipse-based tool. I never got onto another project after that with 50 people, so I don't know how the performance is when you get a large team on it, but it definitely seems that the cloud design tool was a massive improvement."
"Consider an admin console during deployment. I would like to migrate single instances, not the whole bunch at once."
"Process Server is no more available than new products out there, but in general IBM has a high cost and complex setup."
"I believe there is room for improvement in the user interface, particularly in the Process Portal that customers use to view and manage their tasks. The UI of the Process Portal needs enhancement. Additionally, in the next release, I would like to see improved compatibility with Angular, allowing for direct integration with front-end systems. It would be beneficial to have built-in GUI features based on Angular within the system, rather than developing separate applications externally. This, in turn, would provide a more seamless and enhanced front-end experience."
"One of the challenges we're having is finding vendors who have experience in developing on the cloud. We can find developers on the old platform, but it is leading-edge technology. So, we are having some challenges, and IBM is assisting us to find vendor partners. To be able to leverage all the capabilities of the new platform, we have to upgrade our existing ecosystem of FileNet applications. Upgrading to the new platform while trying to modernize is always challenging because it is like you have a moving target."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cloud and license of the subscription model for IBM BPM can be complex. There are a lot of alternatives to choose from."
"It should provide more flexibility to connect with external systems, and there should be in-built services that can be used to integrate with other systems quickly."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"I already compared some solutions related to business process management, and I saw that the cost of IBM BPM is more expensive compared with that of Camunda, for example."
"It may be cheaper for organizations to pay for the Viewer licenses that are immediately up and running in the cloud, rather than paying for someone to administer publishing to an intranet."
"IBM BPM is expensive, so most large companies opt for IBM based on their licensing options."
"I give the pricing an eight out of ten."
"It gives us a good return on investment."
"Its cost is almost the same or comparable to what we pay with FileNet, but I'm not sure what we pay a year. A good part of CP4BA is the CPU-based licensing model. When we're dealing with 50,000 dentists, for example, if we were to use Salesforce, we would be hit with the licensing of 50,000 dentists, whereas when we build out in CP4BA, it is just based on our CPU usage, not on individual licenses."
"IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is relatively expensive, especially considering it is designed for long-living processes, not for normal automation needs. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pricing at around 9. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees, but IBM has multiple pricing models that make it expensive in its own way. Different plans are available, but overall, the experience suggests it is a costly solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Government
16%
Retailer
9%
Insurance Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 Cloud Pak for Automation?
I believe two significant features of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation are the focus on SLA management and the capability to handle parallel instances effectively. Parallel instances, for instance, ar...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Automation?
IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is relatively expensive, especially considering it is designed for long-living processes, not for normal automation needs. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pr...
What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Automation?
I believe there is room for improvement in the user interface, particularly in the Process Portal that customers use to view and manage their tasks. The UI of the Process Portal needs enhancement. ...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
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Find out what your peers are saying about IBM BPM vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Automation and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.