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IBM BPM vs Oracle BPEL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM BPM
Ranking in Process Automation
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
109
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (8th), Application Infrastructure (8th)
Oracle BPEL
Ranking in Process Automation
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
4
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 Oracle BPEL is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Almalki - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good case management and its integration with process design but there's a learning curve
If you're already an IBM shop with the necessary skills and personnel, then I would recommend using it. However, it requires a yearly investment. So, if you're prepared for that, then go for it. New users will need at least six months to get comfortable with IBM BPM, at least initially. So, there's a learning curve. Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. Two main reasons: the skillset required to manage it and its integration complexity.
NA
Saves time; user-friendly environment
Our biggest issue with Oracle BPEL is that it is a monolith. Because it's a monolith, everybody tries to consume its services in a shared infrastructure. Because of this, some companies are trying to migrate to a microservice architecture. We use API gateways to get around these issues. If you want an orchestrator with BPEL and you have an API gateway with a layer of services, you can combine both technologies and try to get the best of both worlds. In the next release, I would like to see REST improved and new technologies for microservices. I'd like to see more containers for separating containers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Responsive Portal + Process Federation Server. This set of solutions offers a unified worklist to our customers."
"There are a lot of things that you get out-of-the-box: Timers and so on, which took a lot of effort and code before."
"They have some quick-win programs that are designed to come in, they'll bring a developer in and they'll work with your developer to get you started. That's what we did and that worked really great. We got an understanding of the product, we got an understanding of how to deploy the product. And when we were done with that engagement, we were off and running."
"Setting it up is fairly easy. If somebody has knowledge of the system, he or she will be able to do it fairly quickly."
"The most valuable feature for the organization is the Document Store."
"The solution is stable."
"By automating several tasks, we have already reduced a lot of work for the business."
"The platform's most valuable features are its process automation capabilities and its ability to provide a comprehensive view of business operations."
"The most valuable feature is the support for human tasks."
"What I find the most valuable about Oracle BPEL is that it saves me time."
"The solution is very seamless and fast."
"The product has everything we need."
 

Cons

"The tool's workflow function is very strong."
"They could provide case studies to investigate and understand the functionality of business processes before development."
"There are a few areas, like triggering mechanisms, externally exposed variables, and changing its values."
"Process Server is no more available than new products out there, but in general IBM has a high cost and complex setup."
"It might not be suitable for entry level clients because it comes with a huge number of modules for processing that at times might not be necessary for upcoming clients."
"Finding errors and bugs on the system is not easy. We can't seem to use the events or logs to find them, so it makes it difficult to debug the system. They really need to work on their debugging features to make is much, much easier. It would improve the solution considerably and should be something they add in a future release."
"All our clients are changing to microservice and cloud service. However, BPM does not have a solution for microservice and cloud service."
"The people working on the front desk are having some problem with managing the documentation. For instance, they get a picture, and if the picture comes rotated 90 degrees, together with a picture that is not rotated, they have some problems dealing with that, technically. There are some minor aspects that on the usability side that are still lacking. That has to do with FileNet, too, I'm talking about the suite together."
"In the next release, I would like to see REST improved and new technologies for microservices. I'd like to see more containers for separating containers."
"Some user-defined functions for transformation must be added to the next release of the solution."
"The solution's integration with SAP should be seamless because some formats are not accepted in SAP but are accepted in Oracle BPEL."
"They need to have support for new protocols like GraphQL and possibly some out-of-the-box adapters for SAP and other big systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a yearly licensing model. It is not expensive. There are no addition costs to the standard license."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"It gives us a good return on investment."
"We chose to purchase IBM BPM because it was bundled with the actual RPA program/solution that we decided to purchase. We decided to use Automation Anywhere tool (RPA), and it is was bundled with IBM BPM."
"I give the pricing an eight out of ten."
"IBM BPM cannot be considered a cheaply priced product. IBM BPM is a really expensive product compared to other companies. One needs to opt for the perpetual licensing model offered by IBM."
"The pricing is quite high, I would rate it two out of five."
"The solution might be expensive, but I can't give you a precise number. In the market here, I've seen two main products for BPM: IBM BPM and Camunda. Camunda is very popular and open-source, so there's no direct comparison."
"The product is moderately priced."
"The solution's pricing is moderate and not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
 

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 needs improvement with Oracle BPEL?
The solution's integration with SAP should be seamless because some formats are not accepted in SAP but are accepted in Oracle BPEL. There are some interface challenges where some formats are not a...
What is your primary use case for Oracle BPEL?
We use the product for business process execution. To integrate two end systems, we use Oracle BPEL for orchestration. We define the logic step by step in BPEL through orchestration. This process u...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
BPEL Process Manager
 

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
Nacional Monte de Piedad IAP, Bimbo S.A. de C.V., Intelligent Pathways, DVZ Datenverarbeitungszentrum Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH, Arqiva
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM BPM vs. Oracle BPEL and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.