We use IBM BPM for banking purposes and other banking service-related queries.
Software Trainee at Eidiko
Processes are simple to learn, install, and create
Pros and Cons
- "It has an elaborated way to explore the IBM BPM processes."
- "The integration could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
IBM BPM is easy when it comes to creating processes.
It has an elaborated way to explore the IBM BPM processes.
Anyone can easily learn how to use IBM BPM, within a period of a month or two.
What needs improvement?
The integration could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IBM BPM for six months.
We are using the latest version, which is V8.
It is based on the local server.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM BPM is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
IBM BPM is a scalable solution.
We have 100 users in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
We have not contacted technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have recently changed to Camunda BPM.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy to install. It only took 10 to 15 minutes to complete the installation.
The guides are available on social websites.
IBM BPM is one of the several BPM tools that we are working with. Currently, our technical team is working on 50 to 70.
What about the implementation team?
We were able to complete the installation ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
This is a tool that I would strongly recommend to others.
I would rate IBM BPM a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager - Systems and Services Delivery at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Straightforward to set up with the potential to scale but configuring was difficult
Pros and Cons
- "The installation was straightforward."
- "They should incorporate an API gateway functionality within it to simplify integrations."
What is our primary use case?
We're primarily using the solution for workflows, mostly. We are a telco-based company, however, most of our use cases are kind of in a workflow format. We're trying to workflow things across other systems.
What is most valuable?
The installation was straightforward.
What needs improvement?
For us, we had the challenge whereby the training was not done properly through a sales partner. The BPM has a partner to deliver, and with our local partner, the training was not properly done, so we were not very comfortable. We never got to a comfort level with the product. We ended up not using it that much. There were missing modules within it. For example, the document management part was missing and we failed to integrate it into our SharePoint. In the end, there was no uptake for the processes that we had put in through it.
The solution as a whole should be simplified due to the fact that it has so many paths. It's difficult for a customer, when you are onboarding this system, to understand all the parts that you have to put together.
What you buy depends on what you know about it. For example, if it's supposed to then have BlueX and a separate document management platform like FileNet, and a process server and a processing center, decision center, you kind of have to put these things together. And yet, you don't know them due to the fact that you are not an IBM expert. It's not like you can say, "Look, I want in a BPM solution." And then it just comes with everything together.
They should incorporate an API gateway functionality within it to simplify integrations. One of the key issues with IBM, BPM is the integration part. It is not very flexible with integration. For an automation platform, you really need easy integration. If I am going into SharePoint, if I'm going into ERP, those are some of the key things that you have to integrate into. We were doing point-to-point integrations. Within the system, the API gateway and the integration management should be part of the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've probably been using the solution for two years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability was likely okay. For us, we had issues, however, I don't think it's the platform, which caused the problem. It was likely the expertise in terms of the actual deployment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The company licensed at the PVU level and the scalability is a bit complex. You can't really tie it to the processes that you are putting in. You always have to monitor at a system or hardware level, the impact that you're putting on it - the more you customize and add things on it. It's a bit difficult to know when to scale up or down.
Originally, we wanted it to be used by at least 1,000 plus users, with the potential, depending on the process that you've put in, of more. We would've wanted to end up hosting process automation for processes to be used across 5,000 plus users, potentially. Unfortunately, we didn't get the adoption rate we were looking for.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support was okay. We didn't really have any issues with their level of assistance.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't previously use a different solution. It was mostly just acquired Shadow IT.
How was the initial setup?
While the installation of the solution itself was straightforward, the customization wasn't straightforward for us. It was too complex, and the training we received did not help us understand the solution. We needed to be experts and we weren't.
What about the implementation team?
We used a consultant to assist us with the process. We did not handle the entire process in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is a bit expensive for a main process automation platform. Maybe it's because of our background, however, we found it to be a bit pricey.
What other advice do I have?
We were just end-users and customers of IBM.
It's hard to rate the solution as we didn't really get to use it. I would likely rate it at a seven out of ten - if it was installed correctly.
If I learned anything from the experience, it's the importance of proper training. A company really should get proper IBM training to understand the product first, before committing to purchasing and implementing it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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November 2024
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Enterprise Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Works adequately for executing process workflows, but it is complex and difficult to maintain
Pros and Cons
- "This product does the job in terms of executing the workflow."
- "Our developers are complaining that it's too complex to maintain."
What is our primary use case?
More than anything, we use IBM BPM to orchestrate processes. We don't have a culture of BPM, so we don't do process modeling and monitoring for improvement. Nonetheless, we get a benefit from the BPM.
Our developers have created some application views. I'm not sure if BPM is meant for application views, but they have done that to model and automate processes.
I am an architect and although I haven't worked with it directly, I am trying to help. The problem seems to be that we don't have the skill set to support it.
What is most valuable?
This product does the job in terms of executing the workflow. It might be overkill for what we are doing, but we use it to automate some of the backend processes or system processes.
What needs improvement?
Our developers are complaining that it's too complex to maintain. They are struggling to remodel or maintain existing interfaces and integration.
I've been through the interfaces but the developers find it difficult to get into the code to maintain it, modify it, and customize it.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this product for more than 10 years.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have been looking at implementing Signavio. It looks promising in terms of what we want to do, but we are not sure if it's the right direction to go in.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a five out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Co-Founder & CTO at Archista
Easy to implement and use, and flexible in terms of workload distribution
Pros and Cons
- "This tool is very useful when it comes to enterprise-grade automation and governmental processes for the security aspects, performance, and reliability."
- "Importing and exporting between multiple environments is more difficult with other tools."
What is our primary use case?
We evaluated this product for governmental processes automation trials. Although they didn't actually commit to production, in evaluating this product against others based on Microsoft technology like AuraPortal, I can say that this is definitely better in terms of capability. This is especially true in citizen developers. It also has multi-platform support including Linux and Unix, which can't be achieved with the .NET stack.
Integrating with other products is easy for a variety of set APIs.
The use case was in education and we were able to complete a POC within one week without expert knowledge.
How has it helped my organization?
This tool is very useful when it comes to enterprise-grade automation and governmental processes for the security aspects, performance, and reliability.
Evaluating the tool isn't a hard job for the cloud trial. We were able to do our trials on the tool in a very short time and received feedback from different teams within the organization.
Using the standard notations in the diagrams makes it a lot easier when sharing processes across business teams.
Generally, we recommend this tool for any enterprise-grade project.
What is most valuable?
Web Designer is a valuable feature that is better than the desktop version. The desktop version requires integrations between the workstation and the main engine, whereas, with Web Designer, all of the constraints have been removed. The user experience enables citizen developers and business users to design and review simple business processes.
Importing and exporting between multiple environments is more difficult with other tools. This is a great feature for productivity.
IBM BPM is one of the leaders without question.
What needs improvement?
We would like to see this product cloud-native, as the market now is moving to both hybrid cloud and multi-cloud deployments. Being cloud-native helps in moving towards this strategy.
We would like to have more flexibility in distributing the workload across different data centers and different locations.
IBM BPM needs to be containerized and managed by K8s. IBM has a great chance in this, especially after the acquisition of RedHat. Making the BPM cloud-native will give great capabilities.
This is the improvement that should be made to all the current tools as Kubernetes is the defacto standard now.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using IBM BPM for a few months.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
BPM Consultant at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has powerful team management and process performance features
Pros and Cons
- "Some of the features that I like the most are team management and process performance. They are both very useful and very powerful with regard to the workflow."
- "Some of the features are not enough for my business. We need to build custom user management for the many end users affected by BPM."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
In my Organization, we have a lot of business cases to bring to the BPM Platform. We bring all most workflow like ATM Operation, Loan process for Business Banking and Retail banking.
What is most valuable?
Some of the features that I like the most are team management and process performance. They are both very useful and very powerful with regard to the workflow.
It's a stable solution and can easily be deployed.
What needs improvement?
Some of the features are not enough for my business. We need to build custom user management for the many end users affected by BPM.
For IBM BPM, we have half a million users with their own processes in IBM BPM. Currently, we have a lot of processes, and we have a lot of custom groups for the onsite user to look at and run on their groups. When we add a lot of users at the same time to a group, the process admin is not enough for this, and we need to use the custom interface to do it. So, there are some issues with scalability.
The cost is higher in comparison to that of Camunda, for example.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using IBM BPM for a year.
We are currently on-premises but hope to have a cloud version as well. We have a lot of processes that may need to be run on-premises and on the cloud. We hope to use Amazon AWS for the hybrid cloud services.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good at present.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have had some issues with scalability. Currently, we have a lot of processes, and we have a lot of custom groups for the onsite user to look at and run on their groups. When we add a lot of users at the same time to a group, the process admin is not enough for this, and we need to use the custom interface to do it.
We currently have about 5000 users and may increase to 6000 to 7000 users next year. The users are member staff and managers.
How are customer service and technical support?
The customer support has been fine with IBM.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used LinuxONE, but we have a lot of solutions related to IBM. We chose IBM BPM for the sake of consistency.
How was the initial setup?
We didn't have any big issues with the network deployment.
We needed two people for the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
We have in-house and also use some vendors for development. If the rate is level 1 to 10 I think I will rate for 6.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
We also pay for support.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing This solution We already create a business case to compare some Enterprise Solution. Have Page, Cammuda, IBM BPM
What other advice do I have?
If you follow good business processes, I think that IBM BPM on-premises is a good choice. It's a good solution, and I would rate it at eight on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Application Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The integration of this tool within other IBM tools makes it easier to implement and maintain later on
Pros and Cons
- "Automating the whole workflow process to give our data steward the ability to take actions rapidly, and making sure we have all the data synced within the different platforms that we are using."
- "We still have a couple of issues that we are working on right now with stability. Mostly on the configuration side of the tool, and it has been about a month that we have been working to stabilize the platform."
What is our primary use case?
We use BPM in order to process the entire data flow between our different applications to enable the data steward to take actions on some of the data quality issues.
It was implemented last year. We have been in production a couple of months now. We have a team of data stewards who look at different data to determine and enable our master data management within the bank.
We implemented a couple of different workflows targeted towards different actions. For example, we have an MDM, the master data management platform. We have different clients' profiles coming in from different sources. So, sometimes we will get duplicates, and sometimes we get suspect duplicates. We implemented those workflows to trigger different actions, so the data steward can fix the data or take a human action to move the process forward.
IBM BPM is integrated into the master data management platform, so the MDM advanced edition. They are coupled together right now.
How has it helped my organization?
It has brought huge benefits to our organization. In the past, we had some automated processes which were hard to implement along with all the business processes that went with it. We have been able to marry these two things, automating and taking actions on data issues quickly.
What is most valuable?
Automating the whole workflow process to give our data steward the ability to take actions rapidly, and making sure we have all the data synced within the different platforms that we are using.
What needs improvement?
We are still discovering the potential of the solution, so we are not at this stage yet. There is a lot still to discover and implement. Maybe in a couple of months or next year, we will be able to see what exactly our needs are. Maybe it will be some functionality that the current software does not offer, but we are not at this stage yet.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We still have a couple of issues that we are working on right now. Mostly on the configuration side of the tool, and it has been about a month that we have been working to stabilize the platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is not relevant for IBM BPM.
How is customer service and technical support?
We are in contact with IBM technical support and labs. We deal with external firms, who develop a couple of workflows that we use. We are trying right now to solve the stability issues.
How was the initial setup?
We have a team who worked initially on defining the solutions, getting the business needs, and getting all the technical documentation for it to be implemented. I personally managed the development team to develop these workflows and put them into production.
It was not hard to set up. It was more tweaking and optimization going forward, but the initial setup was not an issue.
With these workflows, there are people like the data steward who work on them, so it is not really initiating new workflows. There were workflows that already existed, but maybe in an old fashioned way.
This tool fits within the data strategy at the bank. It was part of our roadmap that we worked on for the last couple of years. It was at the right time. It was for the right context as you need a sponsorship from the business and from the Chief Data Officer, so all those things came together to move forward with BPM, MDM, and different platforms.
What about the implementation team?
It was a combination of an IBM partner and IBM support. We have an IBM partner, who works with us to develop and implement the tool. We work with IBM support too for the whole configuration and the infrastructure side of it.
What was our ROI?
It is an automated optimized way to ensure the quality of our data and staying synced to our old platform.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
At the bank, we have several tools from IBM, so it came up as part of a bundle/package.
What other advice do I have?
The interesting part is the integration of this tool within other IBM tools. It makes it easier to implement and maintain later on. I would definitely recommend it from this point of view.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
BPM Consultant at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
GUI designer feature enables creation of elegant, user-friendly, performant graphical interfaces
Pros and Cons
- "I would say that I like its GUI designer the best."
- "Performance on large scale requirements could also be improved."
What is most valuable?
I would say that I like its GUI designer the best. Using it, I have created elegant, user-friendly, and performant end-user graphical interfaces that allow end users to complete their tasks in the most enjoyable and easy way.
How has it helped my organization?
We implemented it on our own attendance system. Employees have been able to record hours for projects much more easily and HR can view various statistics, reports about it.
What needs improvement?
Installation and configuration could be simplified. Performance on large scale requirements could also be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
Five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Not really. Not that I can remember.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No. Scalability is actually a strong point of IBM BPM because it is designed to run on IBM WebSphere which can be scaled up easily if required.
How are customer service and technical support?
IBM technical support is great. Customers can receive very good support from business partners too.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did have experience with other solutions such as Appian, jBPM, Activiti BPM. We switched to IBM BPM primarily because we had customer demand for that product, and it has been that way since.
How was the initial setup?
Like I said, IBM BPM installation and configuration, migration, and upgrading can be a bit complex because you need to deal with a large set of data that involves databases. And product metadata always needs to be in good shape.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Usually, it's best for customers to start out with the Express edition to understand and see what value the product provides. Then they can upgrade to Advanced if their requirements increase and they know how to use the product properly. Starting out with Express can also help reduce the cost for adopting the product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes. Appian, jBPM, Activiti BPM, Camunda, Bonita BPM, Pega BPM.
What other advice do I have?
This product is fully capable of enabling organisations to achieve business process improvement goals. Although, like any software project, IBM BPM can fail if you're not doing it right.
You must have business buy-in before a BPM project can start. A BPM project will be more likely to be successful if executives understand and appreciate the value it can provide.
Also, you need a strong partner to help with the technical stuff; building up a satisfactory IBM BPM solution requires skill.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: IBM Business Partner.
Senior J2EE Developer at DataServe
An enterprise application that helps to develop and deliver products
Pros and Cons
- "We use the solution to develop and deliver products."
- "IBM BPM needs to have a better and modified interface."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to develop and deliver products.
What needs improvement?
IBM BPM needs to have a better and modified interface.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IBM BPM for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the product's stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate IBM BPM's scalability an eight out of ten. Our clients have around 2000 users for the solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is helpful but there is a delay in response.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used OpenText before.
How was the initial setup?
The tool's setup is neither easy nor difficult. I would rate it a five out of ten. However, it is difficult only in the traditional environment. Set up is easy if you move to the cloud and containerize. One person is enough to handle the tool's maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We have a team for IBM BPM's installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive since it is an enterprise application.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate IBM BPM an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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