What is our primary use case?
We use the Pega BPM platform for helping companies establish, expand, or solidify their business process management and workflows.
How has it helped my organization?
We do the licensing of the product, and the capabilities of the platform have allowed us to flexible in the type of organizations we work for. Our strengths are in corrections and investigation into the organizational process. We also have our own IT and have existing models that we use for the insurance industry, inventions industry, and others. These models allow us to have a starting point and build out to fit a unique organization's needs. We do a bit of work for the government as well. For the clients, improvements should be an enhancement to business processes, workflow, and efficiency.
What is most valuable?
A lot of our customers are working with a digital confirmation. The enhanced features in Pega are appealing to our customers as they can use it on designs, digital agility, omnichannel or customer experience. The rapid renew structure allows better implementation over other solutions and aids clients in serving their customers. Because of the features available, we are filling a need we see for our customers. It works with team frameworks and allows them to take proactive decisions with their product lines, data integration, data crunching and some other features that are helpful for customer marketing.
What needs improvement?
In terms of improvement, we would see a benefit in Pega having better availability on the cloud side. Their presence on the cloud is not as strong as their competitors. Pega and the partners both have needs to enhance their cloud footprint compared to what it is now.
There is room for improvement with RPA as well (Robotic Process Automation) to automatically take action for users.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Pega solutions for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is also extremely stable. It has a very strong case management base. This holds a lot of complex business to business information and that makes it so implementations and use can be simplified and promptly provided to the customer. The key is that the business department has to understand the product and its purpose in the right manner. I think Pega is one of the most stable applications in the environment of business technology, use, and implementation.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is extremely scalable. Scalability comes with two criteria: choosing the number of users and how it will be implemented in the businesses. Some organizations have 40-50 users on Pega and others have more than 1000 users. As far as the scale of use is concerned, there are absolutely no issues.
The kind of variety and scale that Pega can handle — the different types of business, different types of application, the different types of integration — is absolutely amazing and don't think that any of its competitors come close.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is extremely good. By technical support, this refers to technical support that we as partners get from Pega. But the support comes in two parts. When we implement Pega, we take ownership of supporting our implementation on multiple levels.
We talk to Pega one-on-one for service requests and we have no reason to complain. That being said there are still some issues here and there, but they are infrequent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been using Pega BPM since our inception based on capabilities. Our expertise has helped us carve out a nice niche with the marketplace.
How was the initial setup?
The Pega BPM is designed in a manner which allows for the product to be implemented by experts and then for control to be handed over to the business users. If the business users are not prepared, the flexibility and ease of use for the business users can't be guaranteed. If the Pega platform is implemented in the right manner, the organization needs to integrate the right skills, the right implementation, and best business practices.
Unlike other software solutions, Pega is not about having a whole army of developers working to put a solution together. Once the core platform is set, the application can be taken further with even junior developers implementing more controls.
The resources involved in the implementation actually support the organization and the product when implemented well.
What about the implementation team?
As we do the implementations we do not rely on outside teams. We are the outside team with a high level of experience with the product.
What was our ROI?
Of the business tool available on the market, as of right now, Pega is not the cheapest. But when you choose Pega, it is possible to realize a greater return on investment. The return on your investment is more important. The implementation is a big investment as is the commitment of the organization, but the return is greater.
What other advice do I have?
I would place Pega BPM at around an 8.5 out of 10 because of the cloud and RPA issues. However, Pega is an excellent choice. It is efficient and does what it is supposed to do. It is extremely important to choose the right product and implementation partner. What the customer should be looking for in terms of an implementation partner is the quality of resources that they have, it is not the quantity.
The Pega resources are classified into solution updates, frequent solution updates and new solution updates. An implementation partner needs to have a core team that brings the solution together. The emphasis is on the people who take the implementation forward.
It is very important to see if the implementation partner has the right interface and the right experience. Organizations themselves need to look at developing a certain amount of internal Pega support. This means choosing a partner or provider willing and able to impart their skills and knowledge. The client has a lot of control on their side. Its good to be able to rely on a strong business implementation partner.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.