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RPA Developer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It is very easy to learn and implement, but the products has limitations due to its lack of interoperability with Citrix
Pros and Cons
  • "It has been helpful in reducing the manpower and error rate since we are able to run tasks 24/7 without interruptions. As humans definitely take breaks and there may be absenteeism that is unexpected, the solution provides continuous work. Humans tend to make errors once in a while, but the solution has almost zero percent errors."
  • "We are able to cope with our clients's demands. No matter how much volume they throw at us, we are able to get it done quickly."
  • "Another major drawback is OCR. We are not able to read scanned documents correctly in a reliable way. There is always some margin of error. Some of the processes require us to read scanned documents, and you need to ensure that it is 100 percent accurate. Without that level of assurance, you can't automate such tasks."

What is our primary use case?

We manage customer accounts: their orders, modifications, account cancellations, and back office stuff. For example, our clients are network marketing teams. Therefore, they will have accounts for multi-level marketing (MLM). They want their orders and accounts modified. For some of them, we want to change their subscriptions or cancel their accounts. These are all submitted as requests through online forms. Then, we will take them and do the modifications. We do this process automatically through Kryon.

All our bots are actually licensed for unintended, but we are not able to use them. So, we have currently 15 bots and all of them are attended only.

How has it helped my organization?

It has been helpful in reducing the manpower and error rate since we are able to run tasks 24/7 without interruptions. As humans definitely take breaks and there may be absenteeism that is unexpected, the solution provides continuous work. Humans tend to make errors once in a while, but the solution has almost zero percent errors.

We are able to cope with our clients's demands. No matter how much volume they throw at us, we are able to get it done quickly. That is where we see the biggest returns.

If a client gives us a new task, and it is a recurring volume, procedure, or SOP, then we are able to automate it within approximately a week. Then, they will be up and running with that automation. 

If it's a very simple task, we can automate it within about a week. If it's complex, then it will maybe be a couple of weeks to three weeks at most. We mostly differentiate simple and complex tasks by the number of steps involved. Sometimes, we need to cross check multiple accounts for a single request. We need to ensure all the information comes back correctly and that the logical calculations are done correctly. The more number of steps, the more complicated task that we will consider it to be.

We do code level modifications, which are already prewritten, and everything is with us. We don't use any of the advanced features of Kryon.

What is most valuable?

The simplicity of it: Kryon was very easy to learn and implement. The learning curve was very small. It didn't take a lot of time to set up or go live.

It is easy for business users to utilize. Mostly, it is a visual based tool. You don't need any expert coding knowledge. Even if you don't know anything about coding, a couple of weeks training should do the trick, as long as you are able to identify the logic behind whatever task you're going to automate.

What needs improvement?

While it does help reduce manpower, we still do require manpower because there are some processes and steps that we cannot do with automation. It may be too sensitive to be done by automated processes. In those cases, we still need manpower.

It does help to identify which tasks can be automated based on Kryon functionality, until you have close to 50 multiple tasks from one client. As soon as we automate any one of our top volume drivers, we try to understand how we can automate the next one orthe next highest volume driver. We have tried to use Kryon's functionality to the max, but still there are some limitations that don't allow us to automate all the tasks. E.g., anything that involves free form text is a major drawback. We use forms which get their data from our customers along with their account details. So, their form details are always the same. They don't change the fields, only the values are different. If it were an email, every customer would use their own words to describe the problem. It's difficult to write simple logic that is common for all types of words. I think free form text requires artificial intelligence. However, the lack of AI is not a big issues.

Another major drawback is OCR. We are not able to read scanned documents correctly in a reliable way. There is always some margin of error. Some of the processes require us to read scanned documents, and you need to ensure that it is 100 percent accurate. Without that level of assurance, you can't automate such tasks.

Our client uses Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway. It is a virtual machine. All the tools that we use run from the client's location and through a virtual machine called Citrix. It is projecting the remote screen onto our screen. Kryon is not able to identify individual applications behind Citrix. All it makes is a screen by taking the image. So, Kryon's functionality is limited to screen reading. Because of this, we are not able to take advantage of the Windows functionality or web server functionality. like browsers. They are not able to identify whether it's a browser, etc. It can just read from the screen. Being able to identify applications inside Citrix would be a huge advantage for our processes.

Their logging features are minimal. 

Reporting-wise, there are some reporting options, but I don't think they are very practical from the point of developers.

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Nintex RPA
October 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product close to a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any instability. It is very stable.

So far, the upgrade process has been smooth, but it does take a few hours. The upgrade process could be better. Right now, it takes a few hours for them to set it up. We must wait to have a shared meeting. They have to wait for us, and we have to wait for their availability. It would be better if we don't have to wait for them, and similarly, they don't have to wait for our availability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Everything is managed by our console and the Kryon admin. All we had to do is get a license, add the system name, and the bot is simultaneously up and running. So, stability is very simple.

We have two types of roles: developer and tester. Developer does the coding work and shows new tasks are deployed. Once they are deployed, the tester's work would be to ensure the tasks are running correctly. We have a license for an unattended bot. However, because of the Citrix issue, we still need to have at least one person on the floor to monitor the bots in case anything gets stuck, the tool is not responding correctly, or ground does not direct the total Windows, etc. 

We have seven people covering all the shifts 24/7. Apart from developers, we have four testers. One developer is enough for development and maintenance, but we still have three to ensure that all of our shifts are covered. Thus, we can work on multiple task at the same time.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service is pretty good. The only problem is availability. Because of our high transaction volume, we have to give a scheduled time to them. Similarly, their experts also need to schedule among other customers. So, there is no dedicated support, but I know they are available and very helpful. It just takes a bit of time to contact them with both of us trying together. On average, it takes three or four days to schedule something with the customer services. 

If it is an emergency that makes our bots go down, they will make special arrangements with us. They make sure that they are available immediately. We haven't had downtime for more than 24 hours, so far. The customer service is great in supporting us.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

This is our first RPA solution. We did try automation with Visual Studio, like encoding, but it was a failure. We thought RPA would be a better solution: easier to implement and error free. It made sense at the time, and it's still helping us out.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. 

The deployment took a couple of days: One day to set it up and one day to review.

We just have one environment with multiple bots. We straight away went into production. We didn't have a testing environment or equivalent.

What about the implementation team?

There were Kryon people who took care of everything. They just had to arrange the requirements. Once that was done, they were able to take up a remote connection and set up everything. They were helpful, ensuring everything was properly working and up and running.

At the beginning, we had fewer bots. So, we just went straight into it without a plan. We asked the Kryon team to set up a server, and they did. From there, they licensed us the bots. Once that was done, we started coding and straight away implemented them. Anytime that we have required an upgrade, we will just add additional bots.

If they need to upgrade the version, they will let us know that a version is available. We give them a suitable time and they will schedule a meeting to upgrade it remotely.

What was our ROI?

Error rate and manpower has been reduced. The error rate has been reduced almost to zero. Though, sometimes, some of the tasks are done better with humans than Kryon.

We are not exactly saving money at this stage, because we have invested a lot in Kryon. Our transaction volume and cost that we are receiving has not yet equated in a profitable way. We are moving to a more profitable way going forward, but it will take a bit more time. In maybe another year or so, we will see some improvement and ensure that this solution is profitable.

It saves our business analysts a couple hours per day.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Our workforce management (WFM) team is managing the licensing costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Kryon was our choice. Our project manager brought in Kryon team for a demo. Once we saw the features, we did a test with their training specialist, then we were convinced that we could utilize this for our requirements. We didn't look at any other options at that time.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good solution if you're not using any virtual machines, like Citrix. 

It would be better if you get a demo or automate a simple task using Kryon. Get them to show you a proof of concept so you can understand what other challenges that you will have rather than blindly implementing it. Definitely, get a demo to see how efficient it is. Seeing it in action helps a lot.

We are not completely moving to a digital transformation. Even our management doesn't agree with 100 percent digitized solutions. They still want some level of human involvement, as well as for auditing.

The humans in our company have been concern about the robots taking over their roles. The robots take up most of the redundant tasks and focus on those. This ensures that our agents do the more complex ones or the low volume drivers. The agents do all the ones that require more logical reasoning, installation processes, or secure processes. We train our agents on these tasks and reassign their skill sets. We give them more training, giving them more complicated tasks. We aren't trying to lose our agents, even though manpower reduction is there. We just trying to retain them, but for different types of tasks, ones that require more human involvement and thinking.

We don't use Kryon Process Discovery or any of their web related services.

Automation takes up most of the walling that we get from our clients. Ground is being used extensively. However, the limitations are caused by Citrix, which is making us rethink our strategy sometimes as to whether we will be able to increase with the product. We want it to be faster and more reliable. We want to ensure that with any errors which occur, it is able to identify those errors, and it's able to rectify them or at least log of them. We want to take a look at them or notify people. Currently, only because of the Citrix issue, we are constrained. We might need to take a look at another software that supports Citrix more efficiently. Currently, there's no plan to increase usage, but it is part of our major usage as of now.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Director of Information Management and Development at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Has the capability to connect and to interact with almost every system we have
Pros and Cons
  • "[One of the valuable features] is the triggers. It's relatively simple to activate it. You can activate it via Control-M or via email. It has a lot of built-in triggers which enable us to easily activate the jobs."
  • "We need stronger governance to know, when a transaction is done, whether it worked or failed; strong logging. That would be helpful."

What is our primary use case?

We have two primary use cases. One is the back office. We're a bank and we are automating some work of the bankers - mostly manual jobs like typing Excel data into our legacy systems and the like. The other thing is automating testing. We have really difficult scenarios involving both legacy and web systems. We hadn't found the right tools to take testing all the way from start to finish. But we have found Kryon very effective in that direction.

How has it helped my organization?

One way Kryon improves the way our company functions is in testing. Previously, we didn't have full coverage and we couldn't run a full regression day by day, or after major activities such as updates. We had to do it all manually and we didn't feel confident. Now, it's a completely different thing. We're trying to build a strong regression area where we can run a full regression of all our systems by clicking a button. We're not there yet, but we're heading that way. It's going to be a complete change in the way that IT acts because it gives us much more confidence.

What is most valuable?

One of the main features is its ability to connect into literally everything we've got here. Some of that was easier; some of it took some extra labor. But all in all, it has the capability to connect and to interact with almost every system that we have. That's the main feature. 

The next feature is the triggers. It's relatively simple to activate it. You can activate it via Control-M or via email. It has a lot of built-in triggers which enable us to easily activate the jobs.

The third is the support. We have great support from the guys here. It's not the product itself, but let's call it the "ecosystem" of the product. We have a strong product owner, and they respond very quickly to every question we have. That's a good thing.

What needs improvement?

The cognitive part, the OCR could use improvement, but I know it's on their roadmap. 

We need stronger governance to know, when a transaction is done, whether it worked or failed; strong logging. That would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using it about a year. We started the project about a year ago and we went live about six or seven months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's pretty stable. I can't think of a major crash.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We're not there yet, regarding scalability. It's fairly easy to purchase and make another robot, another machine, but we're not there yet. We're not at the limits of use of our first one.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Selenium was only good for web applications and most of our business processes involve more than just web applications. So if we wanted to run a complete test, end-to-end, Selenium didn't really help.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup took a while because we're a bank, so we have all the security requirements. It took a while but the setup was not very complex. The go-live took a couple of weeks but that was not entirely because of Kryon. It was due to the bank system itself, the firewalls and security.

Our implementation strategy was to go to the back office. We took ten nominees and we tried to pinpoint the one that would be most useful yet which was not too complicated. We gave it to Kryon as a PoC. They came and we said: "Let's take it step by step. Let's see if it works." If it did, we would try another one. We would then try to spread it among our core systems. We would connect it to each core system and have at least one active job in each of them. From there on, we made set up a center of excellence within the bank for automation, and people come to us now and ask us.

What about the implementation team?

A Kryon consultant helped us with the primary deployment, but now it's our own team. Kryon guided us. We went to a three-day workshop with them where they explained it and gave us the primary technological understanding. Our experience with Kryon consulting was that they were helpful and professional. It was okay.

We're connecting with on a daily basis when there is a problem. But we have since made our own team.

What was our ROI?

We're a relatively small bank. So even if we can automate a decent scenario, we still don't have a lot of users or transactions. So the ROI is going to take a while in that area. In the testing area there is a good ROI, because we're now capable of doing things that we couldn't before. Completely. It's a game-changer.

For example, in the scenario of making a loan, part of the process was typing things into our legacy system. Selenium, the solution we had before, just couldn't do it. We had to abandon the goal of automating the scenario, and now we can. It's a game-changer in that respect.

The truth is, when we brought Kryon, we didn't think about automating testing, and they didn't recommend it. It was not meant to be a Selenium or testing tool, but we thought it could be useful, and it turned out that it was.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other vendors. We quit using Selenium and, once we got Kryon, we said to ourselves, "Why not try to use it in place of Selenium?" It turned out to be much more useful and much cheaper, because we already had the license so we can use it whenever we want. Selenium was expensive and it only gave us certain aspects. So all in all, going with Kryon was a good thing to do.

What other advice do I have?

There is a vast field of RPA tools. You have to know what you want to do and how to add value to your business. You need to see if what Kryon gives you is the best fit for you. For us, as beginners in the field, it was good, because of the support and the willingness to help us and to be cooperative. That was very helpful at the beginning. So you have to evaluate which step of the RPA lifecycle you are in. I can tell you more, in a year or two, if I'm satisfied when I am more advanced. But for starters, it is a good decision.

In terms of using the solution for the full cycle of automation, from the discovery of processes to turning on the automation, and scaling it up, it's a little bit early to say, because we don't have a lot of experience. And I can't compare it to any other thing that we have, because we're really at the start of it. But so far, it has met our expectations. I didn't think it would go as fast as they described it, and it didn't, but it was fairly rapid, and it has its ROI. All in all, good.

It's not for end-users, absolutely. It's not that. For developers, it is interesting. We didn't actually use developers to work with it. We had more, what I would call an "implementation guide." It takes knowledge and it takes time. There are a lot of technical issues, not only because of Kryon but because of our system and the integration between Kryon and our system. It's definitely not for end-users, regardless of what anybody says. It's not. But it's fairly decent for developers. 

We have our four developers who actually touch Kryon. We have two-and-a-half to three people who are dedicated to deploying and maintaining it, and another one comes and goes. We definitely have plans to increase usage. At the moment we do about 1,000 transactions each day, but we want to get do more.

As for helping our organization embrace digital transformation, we're heading that way. It's only the start, but we have a good vibe here. I could answer that question more comfortably in a year. But I see the way. I see the light.

We had an outside advisor, not Kryon itself, to help prioritize processes that are ripe for automation. We preferred it that way. Maybe Kryon could have given us that service, but we preferred to take an outside advisor.

I would rate Kryon at eight out of ten. It's not as rapid as they describe it and it has its limits. We have met with Kryon a couple of times. The guys were very helpful and said, "We'll bring that into the roadmap," etc. But we hit the limit of the product. For starters, we expected that to happen in year-two or year-three, not three months after trying it. But all in all, it has been a good experience.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Nintex RPA
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Nintex RPA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
813,572 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Lean Navigator with 100% focus on Robotic Process Automation at raet
Real User
Quick and easy to use, and easily integrates with other systems
Pros and Cons
  • "Kryon will allow you to automate processes fast and easy and you do not need to be a developer to automate processes."
  • "It could be more reliable in spying HTML."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use this solution to substitute processes where humans perform checks that do not need human judgment. These include onboarding, offboarding, and changing a contract. 

How has it helped my organization?

Kryon will allow you to automate processes fast and easy and you do not need to be a developer to automate processes. The advanced command will let you integrate with other systems quite easy.

What is most valuable?

Apart from the usual advantages (recording etc), I think the process that is presented as  'Powerpoint' slides makes it really easy to close the gap between the subject matter expert and the person configuring the robot.

What needs improvement?

It could be more reliable in spying HTML. I did expect this to be better in the 19.4 version.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Kryon RPA for almost one year.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Consultant & Robotics Business Analyst at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Consultant
Very user-friendly for developers and we've seen increased operational efficiency
Pros and Cons
  • "The recording capability is valuable because of the amount of data it captures automatically. It's quite good. It means less development, and fewer configuration settings to fill in after you're done."
  • "Troubleshooting and debugging could be improved. It's missing a proper debugger. It's very difficult, based on the log files and the fact that it doesn't have a proper debugger, to troubleshoot issues. It will sometimes end with no indication as to why it ended and it becomes a bit of trial and error."

    What is our primary use case?

    As a company in the insurance industry, we use it for various functions within finance, such as identifying duplicate invoices, reporting, some operations functions - moving information from one system to another - as well as claims-processing.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Kryon has saved us a bunch of money and time. Specifically, it sends reminders out for claims that have not been actioned after a set period of time; for example, dormant claims, which haven't been updated or touched in five years. We actually created a job to send out reminders to the brokers to try to get updates. Since then, we've been able to close numerous claims and therefore reduce our reserves by literally millions of dollars.

    It has provided overall money savings and overall time savings. We've got dashboards that show our overall stats from all our jobs. So we can say robotics has saved X amount to date, Y hours per department. Some of the jobs measure finances. There are literally hundreds of hours and millions of dollars in savings.

    The solution has also increased operational efficiency. The percentage varies per department, but there are some departments that are saving two hours a day of people's time, so that's quite significant. If you think about an eight-hour day, that's 25 percent for a department which is already stretched thin. Time is extremely valuable when resources are slim.

    We have also seen a reduction in employee errors. One of our jobs for finance looks for potential duplicate invoices. There were instances in the past where duplicate invoices were sent out, bills were paid twice, etc. It has dramatically reduced that. I don't think we've had one since we implemented the job. The automation searches for anything that looks similar in specific fields, using search criteria, and then produces an exception report. Instead of having someone go through 10,000 lines in a spreadsheet, they then have about 50 lines to compare. Obviously, it's much easier to identify duplicates in 50 lines as opposed to 10,000.

    Finally, Kryon has helped our existing workforce embrace the digital transformation of our company. There is, obviously, resistance to change no matter where you go. Certain people will respond differently. But overall, the response has been really supportive and positive, especially from management. They're very happy with the way things are developing, the way time has been freed up. Most of the developers, and most of the people who use the automation, are also happy. There are only one or two people who feel a little threatened by it still. They don't really voice it. It's just that you can sense the resistance. I think it's a fear of their jobs going away. In our case, there's enough work that people just need to be repurposed and do other work. There's more than enough work for everybody. It was never one of our objectives to eliminate full-time employees.

    What is most valuable?

    The recording capability is valuable because of the amount of data it captures automatically. It's quite good. It means less development, and fewer configuration settings to fill in after you're done.

    It's quite easy to use, end-to-end, minus the Process Discovery piece. The ease of use is probably the best part about it. For developers, the program is very user-friendly.

    What needs improvement?

    Process Discovery currently is not working for us. It's not giving correct information, correct stats. It's an issue that is currently open with Kryon as a ticket that they are investigating. In our instance, it did not function as advertised. As a result, business analyst hours haven't factored in because Process Discovery is generally the piece that's supposed to save business analyst time. As of right now, we've saved no time in that area.

    Also, troubleshooting and debugging could be improved. It's missing a proper debugger. It's very difficult, based on the log files and the fact that it doesn't have a proper debugger, to troubleshoot issues. It will sometimes end with no indication as to why it ended and it becomes a bit of trial and error. Obviously, that is not a great use of time. If there were better debugging tools and logging, we'd be able to find the issues more quickly and fix them more quickly.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've been using Kryon for a little under two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Right now we're having issues, so you've caught me at a bad time. Once you get it in and working, it's quite stable. Part of the problem goes back to the development. Our biggest frustration at the moment is the time to develop, because we are doing a lot of trial and error. It goes back to that debugging and lack of logs. It takes quite a while at this time, longer than we would like, to move a job or prepare it for production. Once it's done and in production, it's very stable. It's the development part that is the problem. Once in production, it is really stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We are a small company, so we haven't really scaled that much. We have about five departments using it and we have under 25 jobs. We're not that large at all.

    In terms of creating new automations, implementing new robots, we haven't seen any issues at all. It's very simple to scale. Creating a new job, adding new robots, are both very easy to do.

    All our bots are unattended, so very few people actually "use" Kryon in our company. We have approximately seven or eight developers in total during different periods of the year. Some are more active than others. For example, in finance, when it comes to quarter-end, they don't really develop. They leave the automation alone for a couple months while they take care of their busy time of the year. It comes in waves.

    We have five robots in production currently. As of now, we have no plans for increasing. We've got lots of time to add stuff.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The support is really good. 

    Their first-level support needs a bit of work. If we put in tickets, very often we get a bunch of questions from level-one but that information was already in the ticket. We get repeat questions. 

    The only complaint I have, if you want to call it that, is that I would like to be able to pick up the phone and call someone. If we enter a ticket, by the time someone replies to it, we have continued working on our issue. The job has often changed, the situation's changed, or the issue may be resolved by the time someone replies a day or two later. Being able to pick up that phone and talk to someone immediately would be a tremendous benefit.

    They don't have an extra level of support that you can purchase. There is just our client manager. If we have issues that support is not addressing quickly enough, we just escalate and then they take care of it from their side. They get someone to get in touch with us. But it would be nice to be able to pick up the phone and not even have to enter a ticket. Half of our questions could be answered immediately if we talked to someone directly, as opposed to going back and forth via email. Once it's an email, it's stretching out from a five-minute phone call to three days later before we get the end answer. I'll ask a question; they'll ask a question in reply. It goes back and forth in an email exchange.

    There's no live support available unless we pick up the phone and call someone directly, but for that there's no support desk. I'd be calling our client representative who's really a sales guy. He's not a tech support guy. He would follow up with someone in tech support to get in touch with us.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    With this client, there was no other solution in use. I use some, myself, as a consultant with other clients. I've been here for the last almost two years. Prior to that, I used Cherwell which is more like an IT service management, workflow-type tool.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup was very straightforward. Kryon dialed in remotely and did most of the work, along with our infrastructure guys. There were no issues there. It was really smooth.

    They did it in sync with our guys. We had someone with the proper access and rights, so if they needed to do something on the server, for example, we had an engineer with admin rights on the call and able to assist them remotely. They worked closely with our lead engineer for IT to get it in and there were no issues at all.

    The installation itself was just hours, literally. It was really quick.

    It's the same with upgrades. Upgrades are very smooth and they don't take very much time at all. Kryon staff do the updates as well.

    As far as the installation of application goes, there was no strategy. We just followed the steps in order.

    Where implementation of robotics as a program is concerned, the strategy was to get some low-hanging fruit, some easy jobs with high ROI, and try and to show success. With that success, we rolled it into buy-in from the rest of the teams. Something else we did as a strategy was that we put a developer in each one of the departments, so it wasn't someone from IT doing the development, it was actually business-users. That way, people's peers would be designing, implementing, and developing whatever is being used in their departments. We got the subject-matter experts to actually design their own jobs. They chose what to automate, when to automate it, and then they would automate it themselves. It wasn't "Big Brother" pushing things on people. What they wanted to automate, and when they wanted to automate it was determined within the department. That created a better buy-in for implementing change and for change-acceptance in departments.

    People always have their backs up against the wall if it's someone forcing something on them: "Oh, now you have to use this application." The response is often, "Well, I don't want to."

    This way, it was them and their peers deciding what they were going to automate. It was much easier to get their buy-in. They determined as a group what they wanted to automate. It created a better culture for change-acceptance.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Automation Anywhere was the other one they were considering. I think they looked at a couple of others, but that was before I was here. I saw the paperwork comparing the final two and they were Kryon and Automation Anywhere.

    What other advice do I have?

    You do need someone with some development knowledge. Not necessarily everybody involved has to know development, but as a resource, it would definitely be important to have. A straight business-user who isn't strong in IT or development wouldn't be able to do half the things that we've done. Having someone with a development background, at the very least as a support person, internally, is tremendously valuable.

    As for saving time when launching new automations, we don't have anything to compare with because we didn't have an automation solution beforehand. It's new to the company. I would say our developers have gotten more proficient, so we've become quicker at development. As far as the launching now, though, it all takes about the same amount of time.

    Regarding business users, with no technical background, it definitely can be used. We have users of all levels of technical skill. Business users can create some basic jobs, but there are some limitations to the product. More technical users can get around the limitations using scripting with JavaScript and the like. If people are familiar with that, it definitely makes the development phase much easier. It's totally possible for business users to use it. We've had users who have done basic jobs, but when it gets to more advanced things or quicker ways of doing things, a little bit of development knowledge goes a long way.

    For deployment, maintenance, or upgrades of Kryon, there are two of us. I'm involved in coordinating and our lead IT guy works with whomever they assigned from Kryon. I'm not even necessary for those tasks. Really, just one person is required. I do the change request. I take care of the bureaucracy and the red-tape approvals and the like. Once all that's done, we hand it off to the technical team and there's a single person that does it all. He is the IT lead. As needed, he'll pull in DBAs or whoever, if the situation calls for it. He coordinates with his team.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    BI and Data Warehouse Developer at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    Not only saves us employee time, it also allows us to assign employees to more satisfying work
    Pros and Cons
    • "The recording feature enables us to record what we're doing, like typing or clicking the mouse, and to identify objects on the screen. We basically teach the program how to type, instead of a person. That's the most powerful feature."
    • "I would like to see a better OCR solution. That's the main thing: identifying unstructured data, like all paper documents and data from pictures."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have legacy software in our company. Some processes in our company are being done manually. There are very routine jobs, processes where people are sitting in front of a computer and typing data. This software, Kryon, enables us to make these processes more automated.

    We program the software, we run the use case with the software and now, instead of things being done manually, they're being done automatically. It's helping leave all this old legacy software which doesn't have APIs. We wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We cannot get into this legacy software. There are no APIs. It would cost a lot of money if we wanted to develop something like an API. This software enables us to overcome this API problem, automate things, and do it relatively quickly. It's low-cost development.

    We're a bank. We get money transferred to the bank from other banks, but some of the data can be wrong. We know it's money coming to our bank, through a money transfer system in Israel of which we are a part. But if we cannot recognize which account number it belongs to, regulations require us to send the money back to the bank that transferred it to us. This happened every day. Until we had this Kryon RPA solution, there was a person sitting in front of a computer typing these transactions into the legacy system. It was all manual work and the person doing it would work, say, two hours a day doing these transactions. Now it's done automatically. 

    So it's not just that we're saving the time of this person having to do this typing, but we have also improved this specific person's job satisfaction. She doesn't have to do this boring, hard work. Not only are we saving valuable time of our employees, but there is added value, like fewer typing mistakes.

    What is most valuable?

    The recording feature enables us to record what we're doing, like typing or clicking the mouse, and to identify objects on the screen. We basically teach the program how to type, instead of a person. That's the most powerful feature.

    That's valuable for us because it's the only way we can automate this process.

    What needs improvement?

    I would like to see a better OCR solution. That's the main thing: identifying unstructured data, like all paper documents and data from pictures. 

    Also, because we are in Israel - Hebrew is a hard language - we'd like it to better handle Hebrew.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We started using Kryon about six months ago in production.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We had some issues, but it's relatively stable. We didn't have any major issues. Their support helped us a lot. Some of the issues we had were because we didn't know how to work properly with the product. But it's working and it's doing its job. I'm relatively satisfied with the system.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We don't yet have a lot of processes in production, so I don't have experience with its scalability. I don't see any problem, why the product would not be scalable. But we don't have a mass of processes, so I can't say anything further.

    So far, we have automated six processes, about one process a month. Of course, we have plans to try to put through two processes a month into production. We're planning on doing tens of processes in the next year. We want even more, but that depends mainly on us.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is very good. They answer fast and they know what they're doing. We have had a very good experience with them.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    We used nothing before Kryon.

    How was the initial setup?

    It's hard to say whether the setup was straightforward or complex. I think it's quite simple. But because of all the security requirements for data at our bank, we couldn't do it in a straight way. We had to go a very different way, so it wasn't so straightforward. I don't know if it's our fault, because of all the security issues we have, or if it's a product fault. Let's put it at 50/50.

    It took about a month-and-a-half, from the beginning of the deployment with Kryon, until we solved everything, and we could run our first process in a production environment.

    Our deployment strategy included internal meetings, trying to map the processes we wanted to automate. Second, we started negotiations with Kryon for buying their product. Then we started learning the tool and how to work with it. At the same time, we started installing it on our server in our company.

    After we finished the basic installation of the development studio, we started developing our processes. That was the month-and-a-half. We were installing the program and dealing with all the security issues. And at the same time, we mapped our processes and development.

    After we finished with them, we continued mapping and identifying the other processes in our company. Kryon has been advising us, not only about installing, but also by giving us best practices on how to map and how to identify the processes that we can automate in our company.

    What about the implementation team?

    Kryon assisted us with the deployment. It was a very good experience. They were really committed to our success. They were very informative and helpful. They solved the problems and the issues we had to deal with. I have a very positive opinion about them.

    What was our ROI?

    We have definitely seen return on investment. We are checking it all the time. By the end of this year we will have returned the investment, and we will start gaining more. Most of the money goes to developers' salaries, people working at the bank, rather than the licensing. Including the salaries, we expect that by the end of this year, we'll return the investment.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    For an unattended robot it's $6000 a month. Right now we have three unattended robots.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We checked out Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere. Even though we have deployed Kryon, we are still checking other solutions. Maybe they will be valuable in different processes. 

    We decided that Kryon would be the best, mainly because they have the most installations and production in Israel. They have quite a lot of experience.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would highly recommend getting a commitment from the vendor - and not only from Kryon. It's hard to get the vendor's commitment and to know, when you sign the agreement, what the SLAs for dealing with your problems are, and how committed they are to you as a client.

    The second thing is that more important than the source of the RPA solution is the way your company handles the automation of processes. It's a very big issue in a company. Employees are scared they will lose their jobs. It's something you have to deal with no matter what the RPA solution: how you manage these changes in your company. Kryon and others have a very methodical way to do this by creating a center of excellence, etc. It's very important to do this even before you choose your vendor.

    You need to address peoples' fears, that's the main thing. A good organization will not send people away, but will find them more valuable things to do, instead of the very routine things that RPA can do instead of them. You have to address many people at many levels, that this is something that you have from now on. Every new product, everything you have, they should know that you have an automation tool that you can use. It's very powerful. It's helping make things more accurate and faster. 

    It's a change, not just because people fear losing their jobs, but in many other aspects. Even management has to know about it, about the capabilities of these tools.

    The users are developers. We have two developers and I am a system administrator. This program is for developers who develop the processes. Once the processes are developed, we can replace business users in certain jobs. The three of us, and perhaps two others who are administrators of our VM machines and who deal with security issues, handle deployment and maintenance.

    Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
    PeerSpot user
    Senior Digital Business Consultant at HNRG
    Consultant
    Robot runs during the night to perform time-consuming and tedious activities

    What is our primary use case?

    Automating a process involving SAP and Excel operations. Such operations require access to SAP TRX, export in Excel file, and running Excel macros.

    How has it helped my organization?

    Cuts time due to the building of a robot which runs during the night to perform time-consuming and tedious activities.

    What is most valuable?

    Recording user actions in SAP environment with field input and function activations, such as export to file, variants selections, etc.

    What needs improvement?

    I would improve the object recognition features, making it not linked to the screen resolution or the position.

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    No.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    Setup is quite simple and not very expensive, but regarding licensing, I don't know.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    No.

    What other advice do I have?

    No.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
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    Updated: October 2024
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    Download our free Nintex RPA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.