IBM Operational Decision Manager vs Pega Platform comparison

IBM and Pega are both solutions in the Business Rules Management category. IBM is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5, while Pega is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Pega users who would recommend it.

IBM Operational Decision Ma...

Read 15 IBM Operational Decision Manager reviews

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573 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Pega Platform

Read 81 Pega Platform reviews

440 Views
363 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM Operational Decision Ma...

Pega Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Pega Platform and IBM Operational Decision Manager are leading contenders in decision management solutions. Pega Platform holds a competitive edge in pricing and customer support, while IBM supports its higher pricing with advanced features that deliver significant value.

Features: Pega Platform offers automation tools that efficiently streamline complex processes and configure custom solutions tailored to user needs. IBM Operational Decision Manager stands out with detailed rule management capabilities, seamless integration across systems, and specialized capabilities for complex requirements.

Room for Improvement: Pega Platform could improve its learning curve to facilitate easier user adaptation and address complexity in initial training and navigation. IBM Operational Decision Manager users suggest enhancements in documentation and system performance, along with simplifying its user interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Pega Platform features straightforward deployment with responsive customer service praised for clarity. IBM's deployment process is more complex and requires specialized support but provides comprehensive service valued by experienced users.

Pricing and ROI: Pega Platform is cost-effective with a favorable ROI attributed to its strategic pricing model and efficient deployment. IBM Operational Decision Manager, although higher in initial cost, is perceived as delivering high ROI through its advanced functionalities that align value with pricing over time.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Operational Decision Manager vs. Pega Platform Report (Updated: November 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Operational Decision Manager vs. Pega Platform

November 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Operational Decision Ma...

Ranking in Business Rules Management

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Pega Platform

Ranking in Business Rules Management

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (3rd), Process Automation (2nd), Rapid Application Development Software (6th), Low-Code Development Platforms (7th)

Featured Reviews

Bhasker ReddyPIdintla

Technical Delivery Head at Tech Mahindra Limited

May 26, 2022

The solution provides an efficient, comprehensive way to manage polices for all the applications.

We use ODM to set complex business rules. For instance, we deploy this solution for most of our banking customers because there are frequent changes in the policies and business rules. These are complex to manage for enterprise applications. ODM provides an efficient, comprehensive way to manage…

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Balaji Choda

Architect at American Express

Oct 24, 2024

Cost-effective wwith good automation and enhanced UI flexibility

Initially, the Pega Platform was used as a BPM tool. Now, it is not limited to BPM. We can use it for CPM, GRM, and various other functions. We also utilize robotic automation, including desktop automation and process automation The Pega Platform helps in integrating a lot of manual data and…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its ability to use decision tables to codify the rules and manage them better."

"It's easy to build, easy to adopt for the business. Business can change those rules. I think IBM has done a good job in re-architecting the product with Decision Center as its centralized view, where the business can make changes to the rules dynamically."

"The effects of allowing business users to update business rules instead of IT are business users have a closer relationship with what rules they need and are able to make those rules a lot quicker in the tools that ODM provides than if an IT person had to do it, and do it in code, requiring compiling code and deploying it."

"ODM's most valuable features are that it's easy to define and divide business rules, and it can handle very large numbers of transactions per second."

"There are absolutely benefits to managing business rules with IBM ODM instead of hard coding them into our applications. Business can change things on the fly and they don't have to deal with us in IT to do so."

"The most valuable feature is the deployment part because it is very easy to deploy. Even a businessperson or someone from a non-technical background can easily deploy it and the rules will work."

"So far, the usability is great. It's also easy to set up."

"The solution has reduced the backlog for IT."

More IBM Operational Decision Manager pros

"Pega BPM has a full suite for any enterprise. It is a process orchestration platform. It has detailed features for case management and workflows."

"Pega BPM offers a lot of out-of-the-box functionalities."

"Pricing is a little on the high side."

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the various workflows."

"Scalable and stable BPM software with a powerful case management feature. It also has good workflow."

"Case Management is the most valuable feature of PegaRULES, which is not found in other BPM tools."

"The case management functionality of this solution has been most valuable."

"The technical support from Pega is very low, rating a one or two out of ten."

More Pega Platform pros

Cons

"The only thing we have trouble with is integrating IBM ODM with the cloud. The product is on-prem, and we need to migrate the rules to the cloud. It's a hectic process."

"There is some promise of how decisions could take advantage of machine learning and artificial intelligence. That has been slow to develop. It is still not clear where the market will take it, but that is something that I am looking forward to down the road."

"Extracting specific rules could be better. We've had to do a lot of custom work on that. The testing, we've played a little bit with it, but we have our own testing methods. If it could be as simple as we have for our custom work, that would be great."

"I think there should be a facility for business to really create rules from scratch. The only part for IT should be to make sure the platform is stable, the technology platform, but everything else, the business should be able to create those rules."

"An area for improvement is that the documentation for ODM is huge and not very clear."

"Get to the cloud."

"The errors I get from time to time are not easy to debug or easy to understand. They are very vague because if a XOM file is missing or there is a deserialization problem, on the client's side I only get a 500 Internal Server Error. To learn where the problem is, I have to go on the Rule Execution Server and test it myself. The deserialization issue is very vague. The error messages should be more straightforward and easy to understand."

"If merging could be just like SVN, that would help. It should be a lot simpler. That's the only thing I don't like about ODM, merging from our local computer up to the Decision Server. I feel like it could be a lot easier."

More IBM Operational Decision Manager cons

"If it could also be integrated with robotics, it could help with a lot of things, even if we don't have APIs, we could still talk to other applications. If it could invoke a bot, for example."

"Pega's technical support could be better."

"The UI part needs improvement."

"The usability of the solution for developers is sometimes difficult to work with because instead of fixing the existing bugs in the previous version, there is always a rush to push out a new version leaving the bugs in the old versions unresolved."

"The solution could be more scalable."

"This is a quite expensive product."

"Customers expect more out-of-box solutions to be readily available"

"User interface needs improvement."

More Pega Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an expensive solution."

"We have a client who had a three-month ROI on this tool, just in additional sales, from sort of the next best action of what product that they should offer to their clients. ROI can be very quick with this product."

"It will definitely improve the cash flow of our clients, thereby it will improve the cash flow to us."

"ODM's pricing could be more competitive as there are open-source business rules engines that are becoming standard."

"We made a lifetime purchase. We purchased it by number of PVUs for our stage and product environments."

"It was not a large cost. It was a one-time cost."

"Licensing is expensive. You need to wisely select between per user and per case."

"The costing model for Pega BPM is different. One is a license that you can pay yearly. Another licensing model for Pega BPM is based on the number of cases you create in production in a year. Costing based on use cases is also available for Pega BPM. I don't have information on its exact pricing or costs, though."

"They need to come up with licensing options. Right now they do have a cloud-based option, but the cloud prices I've seen are much more expensive compared to competing products."

"Users have to pay a yearly license cost for Pega BPM, which is expensive."

"The price could be lower."

"I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten."

"The licensing model for Pega BPM needs to be improved."

"They have both on-premise and cloud licensing. If you are a small to medium company, go for the cloud option because that eliminates a lot of the setting up of your DevTest and performance environments, multiple environments, because you can buy that from Pega with the cloud option. So your setup time really goes down. If you're a large company, then you're better off putting it within your company. You have other skill resources within your company to create environments."

More Pega Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

13%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Operational Decision Manager?

It is a scalable solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Operational Decision Manager?

I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Operational Decision Manager?

The solution's licensing cost needs improvement.

See all answers

Is Pega BPM easy to work with and can beginners utilize this software?

You do need some preparation to be able to use all functions of Pega BPM. However, all users of this platform are in luck as it comes with good documentation and you can learn pretty much everythin...

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Have you encountered any issues while using Pega BPM and were you assisted by the company?

My company has been using this tool for years and the only issue we have had, if you can call it that, was while setting it up. When we were setting it up initially, we had some drawbacks and could...

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When you consider the features and benefits of Pega BPM, would you say this product is fairly priced?

Pega BPM can be considered overpriced for some; it all depends on the size of your company and the requirements of your customers. Sure, there are products out there that do the things that Pega B...

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Comparisons

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Compared 17% of the time

Appian vs Pega Platform

Compared 7% of the time

IBM BPM vs Pega Platform

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Operational Decision Manager

November 2024

Download IBM Operational Decision Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Pega Platform

November 2024

Download Pega Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM Operational Decision Management, ILOG JRules, IBM ODM

Pega BPM, Pegasystems, SmartBPM, PegaRULES

Learn More

IBM

Video not available

Pega

Overview

IBM Operational Decision Manager is a comprehensive decision automation platform that helps you discover, capture, analyze, automate and govern rules-based business decisions. Anyone can work with it―from IT to business-line leaders. In seconds, it can authorize a loan, decide on a promotion or detect a cross-sell opportunity with high precision and customization. With IBM Operational Decision Manager, your applications will continuously remain up to date and well aligned with the changing business objectives of your organization. It is available in editions for both cloud and private cloud environments.

Pega Platform facilitates business process management, case management, and workflow automation for industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare. It supports digital transformation and customer service enhancements with its low-code capabilities and seamless integrations.

Pega Platform enables users to create efficient systems for case management, financial operations, and digital transformations. It provides tools for client onboarding, quoting, claims processing, customer experience improvements, and content management. Pega's low-code approach allows for the automation of complex processes, making it suitable for enterprises looking for adaptability and rapid deployment. While it offers strong real-time analytics and decision automation, users acknowledge challenges in user interface, integration, and performance aspects. High costs and a learning curve need attention, and enhancements in AI features and cloud services are desired.

What are the key features of Pega Platform?

Easy Implementation: Quick setup for fast project kick-off.
Seamless Process Adaptation: Adapts processes efficiently as business needs evolve.
Fast Prototyping: Enables rapid model creation and testing.
Unified Architecture: Streamlines operations across the platform.
Low-Code Environment: Facilitates swift application development.
Scalability: Supports growth and high-demand scenarios.
Real-Time Analytics: Provides immediate insights into operations.
Decision Automation: Automates standard decision-making processes.
Reusable Components: Encourages efficiency in development through component reuse.

What benefits do organizations find with Pega Platform?

Rapid Deployment: Quick launch of new processes saves time and resources.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces costs through automation and streamlined workflows.
Customer-Centric Solutions: Enhances customer experiences through integrated systems.
Improved Productivity: Automation frees up employee resources for other tasks.
Reliable Performance: Consistent platform performance ensures business continuity.

In banking, Pega Platform automates loan processing, accelerates customer onboarding, and manages compliance. Insurance companies benefit from streamlined claims processing and policy management. Healthcare sectors use the platform for patient engagement and care coordination, enabling organizations to adapt quickly to changing industry requirements.

Sample Customers

Odyssey Transportation & Logistics Corporation, Swiss Customs, Athletes' Performance, L_elo, Versicherungskammer Bayern

The State of Maine, ANZ, Coca-Cola, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), ME, New South Wales, OptumRx, Texas Department of Transportation, UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement

Buyer's Guide

IBM Operational Decision Manager vs. Pega Platform

November 2024

Free Report: IBM Operational Decision Manager vs. Pega Platform

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