IBM Workload Automation vs Rocket Zena comparison

IBM and Rocket Software are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.7, while Rocket Software is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 8.4% mindshare in WA, compared to Rocket Software’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Rocket Software users who would recommend it.

IBM Workload Automation

Read 32 IBM Workload Automation reviews

4,153 Views
2,801 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Rocket Zena

Read 8 Rocket Zena reviews

2,005 Views
1,155 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Workload Automation

Rocket Zena

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 30, 2024

We performed a comparison between IBM Workload Automation and Rocket Zena based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

Features: IBM Workload Automation offers the advantage of allowing users to suggest and create new features through client voting. It also stands out for its ability to trigger jobs across multiple nodes and its easy tracking of batch applications. Rocket Zena excels with its user-friendly interface and diagram feature, making navigation simple. It also offers simplicity in Linux configuration, cross-platform job scheduling, and FTP file transfer capabilities.

IBM Workload Automation could benefit from improvements in performance, navigation, job dependencies, daily schedule updates, stability, reporting visibility, and API integration. Rocket Zena could enhance visibility into connections, agent monitoring, component limitations, UI loading time, intuitive UI design, installation process, task stacking, documentation, platform availability, communication between servers and agents, and notification feature.

Service and Support: IBM Workload Automation is praised for its technical support, which is highly recommended by customers. However, there may be difficulties in determining the origin of certain problems. Rocket Zena's customer service and support receive positive feedback, with their technical support being knowledgeable and responsive.

Ease of Deployment: IBM Workload Automation's initial setup can be difficult for individuals who are not familiar with IBM tools or application development. Rocket Zena's setup differs depending on the user, with some finding it simpler for beginners but others finding it complicated and necessitating comprehension of various elements.

Pricing: The setup cost for IBM Workload Automation is determined by the customer's contract and can vary depending on the number of agents installed. Rocket Zena is seen as cost-effective and affordable, making it a suitable choice for small companies. The decision to switch from Control-M to Rocket Zena was driven by its lower cost.

ROI: IBM Workload Automation's ROI is uncertain due to the lack of user feedback and real-time data. Rocket Zena has proven to be advantageous for the department by saving time, enhancing accuracy, and delivering a positive return on investment.

Comparison Results: Rocket Zena is the preferred option when compared to IBM Workload Automation. Users appreciate Rocket Zena's simplicity, efficiency, and user-friendly interface. They find it intuitive and easy to use, especially in comparison to other similar products. The diagram feature, cross-platform job scheduling, and web-based client are highly valued by users.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Workload Automation vs. Rocket Zena Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Workload Automation vs. Rocket Zena

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Workload Automation

Ranking in Workload Automation

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Rocket Zena

Ranking in Workload Automation

13th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of IBM Workload Automation is 8.4%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rocket Zena is 3.3%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

Ilhami Arikan

Cloud Services Automation Technologies Manager at Garanti Teknoloji

With an easy setup phase in place, agent-based installation can be done in minutes

Sometimes we have issues with the solution's stability. So, stability can be improved. Reporting and visibility of the solution need improvement. These days, we need more visibility. We need to access the logs and databases easily. You need to keep track of the running number of logs, like which ones are executed, completed, etc. So if there would be a good reporting dashboard, then it would be good. There's room for improvement in the solution since it is a challenging thing when we want to use the solution's technology with our new technologies. For example, if we need to use TWS on our OpenShift platform, the solution's API is not capable enough. So the product itself needs to be aligned with new technologies.

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JuanGonzalez6

IT Solutions Manager at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

A continuously evolving, stable solution, with responsive support

The visual whiteboard for design and execution included with the solution is very crucial to those who are new to Rocket Zena, especially so that the learning curve is minimized and they can focus on accomplishing the task. We process our system's payroll through Rocket Zena. The fact that it's a multi-process, multi-layered application, means that we can rely on the solution for kicking off processes, notifying user vendors of the steps, completions, error logging, and historic events from the previous run times. Rocket Zena's ability to automate jobs on the mainframe as a distribution workload automation solution is good. The solution continuously improves over time. We're eager to start the latest upgrade this coming year that'll put us on the cloud. Hopefully, this will improve the product even more. We can run things natively without the scheduler if needed. The solution working properly and up to date without the need for a mainframe scheduler is crucial. We use the solution to manage a few complex operational workflows end-to-end across multiple technology stacks. Rocket Zena does a great job of simplifying our cross-platform processes through automation. The solution helps speed operations up and keeps them automated allowing us to focus on other priorities. The solution helps increase our completion rates by working overnight to meet our SLAs. Rocket Zena completes 30 percent of our workload outside of our standard work hours. Rocket Zena's cross-platform job scheduling helped us save around 40 percent of programming time by automating repetitive tasks. We use the solution to transfer our current files and keep up with our infrastructure on a few automated jobs, such as refreshing our database which happens overnight. The solution helped free up around 15 percent of our engineer's time to focus on more value-added work.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have supported this product in literally 100s of different environments and its unmatched in its ability to scale to any size."

"This solution has a request feature where users can request the added features they need to have developed. Based on client voting for those features, these are developed and released."

"The DWC, when configured correctly, is a great GUI tool to provide Self-Service Scheduling capabilities to the user community."

"It offers features like MDM and a Windows workstation, although there are some technical dependencies. It is more user-friendly and also includes failover and failback capabilities. While both systems offer high availability, Control-M's high availability is superior to AWS's."

"The most important feature is the creation of folders. It's a really great feature because you can organize the process with naming conventions."

"Jobs can be triggered in multiple nodes."

"Technical support from IBM is very good."

"Provides a robust, full spectrum enterprise-wide WLA platform."

More IBM Workload Automation pros

"Its FTP feature is very good, as is scheduling any process or task with the Zena client. I have found it to be very helpful. If a task fails, it gives you a prompt."

"We haven't had any problems since we installed it. It runs as expected, we haven't had any critical problems. It helps keeps the business running 24/7."

"From a Linux configuration point of view, Rocket Zena is straightforward. It's fairly easy to set up the server and agents once you know how to do it."

"You can click Ctrl-G and bring a diagram view. You're able to view in a diagram format. The view that it provides is easy, and you can move to the left, up, or down. You can double-click on a certain process. It'll drill into that process and all of its underlying components. You can double-click on an arrow or a component, and it'll bring up a screen that'll have all the variables that are assigned to that particular piece, as well as the values at run time. So, the diagram feature of it, at least for me, is pretty valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the FTP file transfer."

"I like the whole product, but specifically, I like the license part. It's very easy to acquire a license for this product."

"In the latest upgrade, Zena added a web-based client. The more I use it, the more I like it. It's an excellent interface. They do a good job of steadily improving the solution to make it more useful."

"I have found the scheduling feature the most valuable. I can map dependencies by using ASG-Zena. It gives a nice, quick visualization as to where things are."

Cons

"The schedule refreshes daily and that's a challenge for us."

"To improve IBM Workload Automation, I suggest enhancing automation features further, as more automation would be beneficial. The product is good enough for my current customers, but improving technical support and pricing would be welcome. We often need quicker responses and better solutions than we can manage manually. These improvements would make the product even better."

"The solution should offer more free technical sessions to customers so that they can gain more experience or learn more about how to use it."

"It is missing some features and can improve in areas where the competition is somewhat better like linking job dependencies."

"There should be more custom documentation, specifically around Java APIs. There should also be more training. In terms of features, we are currently using only 50% of its features. We don't use all features that are available, but there is always room for improvement in all of the tools."

"Slow down on the releases a bit. I fully understand that IWA functionality is increasing at an amazing rate, but trying to keep up with the upgrades is rough."

"Scalability-wise, it can be a little bit challenging."

"This solution does have bugs and could be improved in this regard. However, these bugs are resolved relatively quickly."

More IBM Workload Automation cons

"The scheduling mapping is a little disjointed. There is no wizard-type approach. There are a lot of different things that you have to do in completely different areas. They could probably add the functionality for creating all components of a mapping or an OPA schedule. The component creation could be done collectively rather than through individual components."

"Another one that is probably a little bit bigger for me is that when there is an issue or there's an error, it writes on a different screen. I have to find the actual process name and go to a different screen to view the alert that got generated. On that screen, everyone's processes, not just the processes of the folks in my department, are thrown. It takes me a while to find the actual error so that I could go in there and look at the alert. It could be because of the way it was set up, but at least for me, it isn't too intuitive."

"The documentation has room for improvement."

"In the next release, I would like the user experience to be improved. The user interface should be more appealing to gen-z."

"The UI is not intuitive, and it would be nice if there was a web interface."

"In the web interface, it stacks the tasks across the top, and they accumulate until you close or clean those out. That seems a little cumbersome. You must right-click and close all tabs constantly to keep the console clean and manage your views."

"One area where it could be improved is communication between the different servers. Sometimes there are processes that have already been completed but we get a status notification that they're still active."

"Rocket Zena is a mainframe-based job scheduler. I would like it to be more open so that we can use it on a distributed platform."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is affordable."

"Pricing depends on the number of agents that you install."

"It is about one-third of the cost of a controller."

"The solution is a little bit expensive."

"To my knowledge, IWA is the only WLA product that will provide "parallel tracking" capability to assist in upgrading from one platform to IWA."

"We transitioned from a server license to per job license, and that saved us a lot money."

"The contract is with the customer with whom we are working, so IBM is not directly involved in this."

"The pricing and the licensing are good. It is affordable and can be used to improve and optimize productivity."

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816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

32%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

29%

Insurance Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Workload Automation?

The initial setup is easy.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Workload Automation?

IBM needs to move away from its native terminology and adopt a more cloud-centric approach. For example, IBM still refers to machines as 'workstations,' whereas other systems, like Control-M, use m...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Workload Automation?

We use the solution for network automation.

See all answers

What do you like most about Rocket Zena?

In the latest upgrade, Zena added a web-based client. The more I use it, the more I like it. It's an excellent interface. They do a good job of steadily improving the solution to make it more usefu...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rocket Zena?

The pricing and the licensing are good. It is affordable and can be used to improve and optimize productivity.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rocket Zena?

In the web interface, it stacks the tasks across the top, and they accumulate until you close or clean those out. That seems a little cumbersome. You must right-click and close all tabs constantly ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Control-M vs IBM Workload Automation

Compared 35% of the time

HCL Workload Automation vs IBM Workload Automation

Compared 16% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs IBM Workload Automation

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs IBM Workload Automation

Compared 7% of the time

CA 7 Workload Automation Intelligence vs IBM Workload Automation

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Workload Automation Competitors

Control-M vs Rocket Zena

Compared 70% of the time

Rocket Zeke vs Rocket Zena

Compared 17% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Rocket Zena

Compared 4% of the time

More Rocket Zena Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Workload Automation

November 2024

Download IBM Workload Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

Rocket Zena

November 2024

Download Rocket Zena product report

Also Known As

IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler, IBM TWS

ASG-Zena

Learn More

IBM

Video not available

Rocket Software

Overview

IBM Workload Automation helps companies manage operations, portfolio management, resource collection, and dependency scheduling. It facilitates transitions from legacy apps to web services, executing batch processing for tens of thousands of jobs daily with hundreds of users.

Teams rely on IBM Workload Automation to optimize backend workloads, maintain service levels, and offer support in remote environments. Its interface and job scheduler are appreciated for their value and effectiveness. Users benefit from batch automation, multiple node job triggering, stability, and batch app tracking. It provides a holistic view to resolve technical issues and leverage AI for updates. Its user-friendly interface simplifies workload management. Performance, monitoring, request features for adding functionalities, and workload management are key advantages.

What are the most important features?

Interface and Job Scheduler: Highly valued for managing processes efficiently.
Batch Automation: Facilitates the automation of batch processing tasks.
Multiple Node Job Triggering: Enables triggering jobs across multiple nodes.
Stability: Ensures a reliable and consistent performance.
Batch App Tracking: Allows tracking and monitoring of batch applications.
Holistic View: Helps in resolving technical issues and leveraging AI.

What are the benefits or ROI items to look for in reviews?

Performance: Enhanced system performance and monitoring capabilities.
Workload Management: Effective management of various workload types.
Request Feature: Ability to add new functionalities as needed.

IBM Workload Automation is implemented across several industries for diverse tasks. Companies executing high-volume batch processing, managing complex job dependencies, and transitioning from legacy systems find it valuable. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing utilize it to maintain operational efficiency, enhance system performance, and automate critical processes.

Rocket Zena automates and schedules tasks across mainframe, Linux, and Windows environments, reducing human errors and managing dependencies.

Rocket Zena serves as a powerful tool for scheduling and automating tasks across multiple platforms. Its capabilities extend to managing batch jobs, ETLs, SFTP transfers, database backups, organizing workflows, running scripts, managing payroll tasks, and customizing schedules to avoid manual interventions. Users benefit from a user-friendly interface and efficient containerized deployment with clear process visualization through diagram and whiteboard features. The platform supports file transfers, automates workflows, saves time, and reduces errors, with straightforward licensing and commendable technical support.

What are the most important features?

User-Friendly Interface: Easy to navigate for efficient task management.
Cross-Platform Job Scheduling: Simplifies task automation across different environments.
Containerized Deployment: Ensures efficient resource use and deployment.
Diagram and Whiteboard Features: Visualizes processes clearly for better understanding.
FTP File Transfers: Facilitates seamless file transfer between systems.
Workflow Automation: Saves time and minimizes errors with automated workflows.
Straightforward Licensing: Offers clear and simple licensing options.
Commendable Technical Support: Provides reliable customer support and assistance.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Reduced Human Errors: Automation lowers the chance of mistakes in repetitive tasks.
Time Savings: Efficient scheduling and automation allow for quicker task completion.
Improved Process Management: Enhanced organization and visualization of workflows.
Dependable Support: Access to reliable technical assistance when needed.

Rocket Zena sees implementations in industries requiring robust task scheduling and automation such as finance for managing payroll and database backups, healthcare for handling ETL operations and workflow organization, and IT for running scripts and managing batch jobs. Adaptation to industry-specific needs showcases its versatility, although users seek improvements in scheduling mapping, UI navigation, and desire cloud availability.

Sample Customers

Standard Life Group, Banca Popolare di Milano, A*STAR, ArcelorMittal Gent

Fraternidad Muprespa

Buyer's Guide

IBM Workload Automation vs. Rocket Zena

October 2024

Free Report: IBM Workload Automation vs. Rocket Zena

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