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Sidhartha Mohanty - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Areteans
Real User
Offers a unique environment where its entire architecture is very unified
Pros and Cons
  • "Offers a unique environment where its entire architecture is very unified"
  • "Customers expect more out-of-box solutions to be readily available"

What is our primary use case?

Our customer base is varied, ranging from insurance to banking to government. In the insurance domain Pega is used for things like policy, as middleman management, policy administration and claims administration. In the banking realm, it's used across multiple areas from CRM systems, customer service, sales automation, and things like loan origination, payment investigations and payment arrangement management. In the government sector, it's used particularly as a case management software to manage processes.

Most of our customers are enterprise businesses, we are partners of Pega and our company functions as a system integrator. I am co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. 

What is most valuable?

One of the valuable things in the solution is that Pega offers a unique environment where its entire architecture is very unified, meaning it's used free across multiple areas. In other products, say IBM, and other solutions, the products range across several solutions and include separate components for analytics, separate components for the UI and a separate component for business roles. Pega, on the other hand, is one unified architecture and that is very valuable. The second thing is that Pega is model driven architecture so building something up on it from models is very quick. 

What needs improvement?

From a room for improvement point of view, what I've seen is that many customers want solutions that directly meet their requirements so while Pega has somewhat vertical solutions on Pega customer service and sales automation, industry and customer experts expect more out-of-box solutions to be readily available on Pega.

It is the same for additional features - the customer expects more business solutions to be directly available on Pega. For example, when I say business solutions, Pega could have a business solution on customer service, a business solution on sales automation. Pega may not have a proper business solution for LOS, or Loan Origination System. These are common business solutions which could be made available in the solution, it would be very good if they could focus on the direct business solutions which customers expect over here.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution since 2003, so 17 or 18 years. 

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As enterprise customers are using it, you can tell it's stable. It's one solution which we've basically used and worked both on-prem as well as on cloud and it's one of the other unique value aspects of Pega, that the same solution can work on cloud as well as on-prem. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From a scalability perspective, it's scalable. In terms of high volume, we have some applications based out of Vietnam which have millions of cases, so in terms of the number of cases, it's highly scalable. We have other customers who also have a high volume of users. 

How are customer service and support?

Because I've been working with Pega since 2003, I can see the improvements that have been made in terms of how they go about establishing contact with customers. These days, it's pretty easy and accessible.

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is quite straightforward. Deployment time is based on the actual size of the project. On average, it can take anywhere from three to five months to build. Usually, the team servicing from our side is around five to seven people and from the client side it's usually a project manager and a couple of others. 

What other advice do I have?

PegaRules is a very powerful rule engine. It's a very powerful platform to build any sort of solution onto. Where a customer makes mistakes is when they underestimate the business expertise of a partner, so they really need to ensure that initial implementation is right. It is very important to understand who is implementing it on the ground. If they don't understand the business requirements and the required business outcome of management, it can be awkward, and not in line with expectations.

The main thing I have realized is that understanding the business problem and understanding the required outcome for the customer is very important. One of the biggest business areas is to focus on understanding problems and the kind of business outcome the customer requires. It's really about understanding the big picture. 

I would rate this product a nine out of 10. There is always room for improvement, but I've seen many customers getting very good value out of this solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer2264166 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Owner at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
The workflow creation doesn't require users with extensive technical skills, thanks to its low-code platform, making it accessible and efficient
Pros and Cons
  • "The most notable feature is the dynamic workflow changes, allowing adjustments without completing the entire cycle. Transitioning from test to build to production was seamless and on the fly, which is something truly remarkable about Pega. Additionally, the workflow creation doesn't require users with extensive technical skills, thanks to its low-code platform, making it accessible and efficient."

    What is our primary use case?

    We had an audit team for order management, primarily focused on mobile communications. This encompassed tasks such as SIM card dispatch and user configurations.

    What is most valuable?

    The most notable feature is the dynamic workflow changes, allowing adjustments without completing the entire cycle. Transitioning from test to build to production was seamless and on the fly, which is something truly remarkable about Pega. Additionally, the workflow creation doesn't require users with extensive technical skills, thanks to its low-code platform, making it accessible and efficient.

    What needs improvement?

    The pricing could be flexible and have multiple options. It is mainly suitable for large enterprises. They could have subscription plans to cater SMEs.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Pega BPM for four to five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    I rate the solution’s stability a seven out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The product might not have been developed, possibly due to the absence of a dedicated product owner overseeing its development. Those who did the coding might not have performed up to standard. Improvements could be made in that area, as the code quality was lacking, affecting the scalability of the product.

    300-400 users are using this solution. I rate the solution’s scalability as a five point five because we have lot of performance issues.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup process is fairly complex, and we always need an integrator for implementing it. It requires expertise in the platform. It's essential to have someone with Pega expertise rather than relying solely on regular users.

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

    Pega is expensive than Versace. I rate the solution’s pricing a six on ten.

    What other advice do I have?

    When it comes to Pega, I haven't come across any particularly outstanding out-of-the-box functionalities. However, I appreciate their local, no-code approach, which makes it easy for users to quickly grasp how to create work solutions. Although case management is included, it doesn't seem as flashy compared to other VPNs.

    Pega was coming with lot of out of the box integration options with APIs and others but, we did not drive the AI part.

    Based on the specific use case, I would recommend it to companies prioritizing user functionality over scalability in their portfolio. However, it's crucial to collaborate with a skilled integrator to ensure smooth implementation.

    Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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    AmarenderChitti - PeerSpot reviewer
    Feature Lead at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Easy to set up with great documentation and training
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
    • "The local development approach is good in Pega, however, cost-wise, it's getting expensive. That needs to be addressed."

    What is our primary use case?

    For an upcoming project, my manager told us to look at all the different capabilities between the Pega, Appian, and the Camunda. We don't know the use case yet. We need to know the use case, however, at this point, we are just exploring different tools, BPM tools.

    What is most valuable?

    The integration is good. It can be capable of different integrations. 

    There is a Pega Decision Hub, which is just a text-based analytical site. Based upon the text-based analytics and it can decide and trigger a case.

    There are a lot of new features in Pega that are great.

    I like case management in Pega. For the case management applications, so it's really fast to develop and it can scale and be extended based upon the business requirements.

    The initial setup is pretty straightforward. 

    The documentation and training available are great.

    Pega is coming out with Pega Express, which is kind of a low-code development platform. The business rules can be built in a Pega Express Portal, which is more specifically built for business users and not technical users. That way, even non-technical people are able to build their own business processes easily.

    What needs improvement?

    The local development approach is good in Pega, however, cost-wise, it's getting expensive. That needs to be addressed.  

    With Camunda, containerization is the most helpful feature. It can containerize and it can have its own deployment process. Pega may be adding that feature in a future release, however, right now, that's lacking and needs to be addressed.

    I'd like to see Pega support microservices architecture, which it doesn't do right now.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using the solution for more than six years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is excellent. It can scale as much as you need it to. It's one of the great aspects of the product.

    How are customer service and support?

    I've never directly contacted technical support. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are. We have our own internal team that can troubleshoot.  

    That said, we used to connect with Pega on issues and it's my understanding that support tickets can be addressed very quickly. Support-wise it's very extensive. 

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

    I also trained in Appian. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward. There is no complexity. There is documentation around the installation process and upgrade process as well. Pega will also provide you with good training materials in the Pega Express Portal, which is helpful for teams who are planning for new developments. That way, they can learn easily and understand everything.

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

    It's a great product, Pega, however, cost-wise, it is a little expensive compared to other BPM tools. That's where I feel that they can improve.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    Now, we are exploring other software, like Camunda. We just want to see the different designs or decide which tool is better for our application.

    What other advice do I have?

    We are a customer and an end-user.

    We have been using Pega for more than six years, and at this point, we also want to just explore the other BPM tools. It's kind of for considering cost efficiency also. We are looking at the cost of the development effort or the scalability of the tool. While I like Pega, I'm just exploring the other BPM tools with respect to Pega.

    While it depends on the application you are using, if you're planning for an enterprise application that can interact with different applications, Pega would be a good option.

    Sometimes if you have a smaller workflow, for example, if you're just introducing a smaller workflow in an existing application and you just want to leverage only that workflow-related feature, you don't need Pega. You can just have any workflow tool, like Camunda or Appian. Cost-wise, Pega may cost you more.

    If you're planning to leverage all the features in Pega, like case management and low-code, no-code and RPA, robotic process automation, and other high level or case management, if you are planning to leverage all these different kinds of features that are available in Pega, just go with Pega. And if you're just planning to leverage only a kind of workflow, you don't need to go with Pega. You can just go with other BP flows or BPM process models like Camunda. 

    There are a lot of features that you can explore in fault tolerance and error handling, exception handling, et cetera. There are other items as well if you're in the development stage, and something like Page will likely be helpful. I don't know of other tools that will support anything to that extent.

    There are still some limitations in the solution. I'd rate it at an eight out of ten, as there are still some improvements that can be made. 

    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.
    PeerSpot user
    Rahul Bilove - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Technology Specialist at Aaseya IT Services Pvt. Ltd.
    Real User
    Top 5Leaderboard
    A stable and scalable tool for case management
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
    • "I believe that Pega's strategy when it comes to the UX part is not that great currently as compared to the other emerging BPM tools in the market."

    What is our primary use case?

    Regarding the primary use cases of Pega BPM, I can say that my company deals with multiple domains, like the government sector, banking, financial institutions, telecom, health care, and multiple domains that require Pega BPM.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature of the solution, I believe, is case management, which sets it apart from the rest of the solutions in the market.

    What needs improvement?

    I believe that Pega's strategy when it comes to the UX part is not that great currently as compared to the other emerging BPM tools in the market. I look forward to seeing the UX part of the solution improved in a much better manner.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Pega BPM for nine and a half years. My company's customers use the solution. My company has a partnership with Pega.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is a scalable solution.

    How are customer service and support?

    The solution's technical support is good. My company is able to acquire the required assistance from the solution's technical support team, and they also provide consultancy services. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I wouldn't say that I have used any other solutions previously, but I was trained to use TIBCO, a low-code platform.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup of Pega BPM is neither easy nor complex, so it falls somewhere in the middle. Pega has provided options for automation for the setup phase, but still, its setup phase is not as direct as some of the other tools in the market.

    Pega BPM has set a path for its setup phase, wherein you need to go ahead with Helm chart automation since Pega is a very wide solution, and infrastructures can differ for different companies. Pega doesn't offer something specific, like Terraform. In other technologies, the product gets installed with one click or just a few clicks, but with Pega, a person has to work a lot on the infrastructure part as well.

    The solution is deployed on the cloud and on-premises. My company provides the solution on Pega Cloud, technology-specific clouds, client-specific clouds, or on-premises.

    The complete implementation process for Pega BPM would take a minimum of two to three days, prioritizing the infrastructure first and then the product.

    Two people, one from the infrastructure end and one from the product end, which is the technical support person from Pega, would be needed to complete the deployment of the product. There is also the need to have Pega's partner who does the installation, making him or her the third person involved in the deployment.

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

    The price of Pega BPM falls on the higher side of the spectrum if I were to compare it with other solutions in the market. What sets Pega BPM apart from other solutions in the market is that it has many features, including the use of AI and modern gen AI, which currently is not something you can experience in any other tools in the market. The aforementioned details contribute to making Pega BPM a leader in the market.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would say the people who have realistic business process management kinds of use cases can go ahead and purchase Pega BPM blindfolded since it serves as a great case management tool, better than any other tool in the market. Pega BPM provides great visibility to its users, especially when you are involved in designing, where it will show you the number of stages, steps, processes, data, and even the people or parties who were involved, making it a great tool for case management. Presently, Pega BPM is heading towards the inclusion of more AI, owing to which it can be considered as one of the leaders in the market. The CRM part of the solution is one of its key selling features.

    Though the solution's UX is good for developers, when you have to deliver the product to the customer, you don't get too many options for customization that can help you create an appealing view.

    I rate the overall solution an eight and a half to nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Ganesh Parameswaran - PeerSpot reviewer
    Principal Consultant at Infosys
    MSP
    Stable, scalable, and easy to learn
    Pros and Cons
    • "Pega BPM's most valuable feature is the use of CDX to solve problems."
    • "Pega's technical support could be better."

    What is our primary use case?

    I mainly use Pega BPM to look at conversations and try to create a better experience for the customer.

    What is most valuable?

    Pega BPM's most valuable feature is the use of CDX to solve problems.

    What needs improvement?

    In the next release, Pega should include process mining.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been working with Pega BPM for three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Pega BPM is stable - I haven't seen any glitches because of usage or anything like that.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Pega BPM is scalable.

    How are customer service and support?

    Pega's technical support could be better.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Neutral

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was complex.

    What other advice do I have?

    It was easy to learn, adapt, and go through Pega BPM's low code builders. I would give Pega BPM a rating of nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Sherif Ibrahim - PeerSpot reviewer
    Presales Consultant at EBLA
    Real User
    Reliable and scalable BPM that empowers teams to address complexities without deep knowledge of a specific development area
    Pros and Cons
    • "Pega is a local platform that has evolved from a BPM perspective. This allows teams using this solution to address complexities without having deep knowledge in a specific development area."
    • "One of the areas of this solution that could be improved would be to advance the low code features of the application itself. We would also like to use the same platform to build any application, even if it is not necessarily defined as a functionality needed by a BPM."

    What is our primary use case?

    Pega is an Intelligent Automation Platform that has evolved from a BPM perspective. This allows teams using this solution to address complexities without having deep knowledge in a specific development area.

    What needs improvement?

    One of the areas of this solution that could be improved would be to improve the low code features of the application itself. We would also like to use the same platform to build any application, even if it is not necessarily defined as a functionality needed by a BPM.

    The RPA tool within this solution needs further enhancement to compete with other RPA tools in the market. They are focusing more on the overall platform rather than working on the RPA. Document AI tools could be an added functionality, for example. Alternatively, customers will need to purchase another RPA tool to complement the whole solution if they have very advanced RPA needs across their business.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used this solution for one year. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a stable solution. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a scalable solution. 

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was not that complex but also was not that simple.

    What other advice do I have?

    We often recommend this solution to our customers. It is a wonderful solution. There are not many professionals working with this tool which is important to note.

    If the core need of a customer is for BPM and automation, this is a suitable solution. If their needs exceed a BPM solution, such as modernizing different kinds of applications, there may be other suitable solutions. 

    This is a good solution from a technical perspective and is based on a very reliable and scalable platform.

    I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud

    If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Tech lead/Solution architect/Team manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
    MSP
    Full integration, flexible, and knowledge technical support
    Pros and Cons
    • "In general, we use web services to integrate this solution with our other tools. It is the main approach we use with this solution and it integrates with all tools that we need. If you want to integrate with other solutions such ThreatFire or similar, it is possible as well."
    • "The previous versions had good training documents but the updated versions need to improve the documentation."

    What is our primary use case?

    The solution can be used to quickly manage and monitor processes in your organization. 

    What is most valuable?

    I have found the solution to be flexible and they provide good support. 

    In general, we use web services to integrate this solution with our other tools. It is the main approach we use with this solution and it integrates with all tools that we need. If you want to integrate with other solutions such ThreatFire or similar, it is possible as well. 

    What needs improvement?

    The previous versions had good training documents but the updated versions need to improve the documentation.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for approximately five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have a customer that has over 6,000 users using the solution.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    The solution provides very good support. They have the experience, knowledge, and are always helpful. 

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

    I have used previously used Camunda, jBPM, and IBM solutions.

    How was the initial setup?

    The version for private use on your workstation is easy to install. However, if you want to prepare a platform, it is not easy. All good solutions are not easy to install and tend to be complex and because of this, I would not say this solution is any more complex than any other good solution.

    What about the implementation team?

    The amount of technical team needed depends on the project. For small implementations, we use one to two people and for big projects, we can have over 30 developers.

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

    The solution could be less expensive according to my customers. However, I think the price of the solution is fair.

    What other advice do I have?

    This solution is one of the best tools on the market right now. I would recommend it to others.

    I rate Pega BPM a ten 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.
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer990828 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Delivering Digital Workforce at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Integrates well, good automated workflows, and the technical support is helpful and responsive
    Pros and Cons
    • "Overall, the ability to integrate with multiple applications and effective case management is the most valuable."
    • "If it could also be integrated with robotics, it could help with a lot of things, even if we don't have APIs, we could still talk to other applications. If it could invoke a bot, for example."

    What is our primary use case?

    I am currently using it in my current organization. I have recently joined a new organization that also uses Pega, but in my previous organization, we used Pega for a couple of use cases where we set up automated workflows and other things.

    We were doing straight-through processing and had everything set up. And we had RPA, and BluePrism bots there that we wanted to decommission, we set up Pega to do so.

    We had issues with RP as a technology, as well as numerous challenges with some critical processes. Now, what used to always fail, too many bots and too many handoffs, both human and automated, is where we thought we would build APIs and integrate Pega.

    What is most valuable?

    When we were implementing in 2012, we also used Pega phones. It was a complete front office to back office interaction that was created, followed by case management. But I'm not sure, if you say case management as a feature, there's also knowledge management, which is present, but case management is what I've used extensively. 

    Overall, the ability to integrate with multiple applications and effective case management is the most valuable.

    What needs improvement?

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

    It currently has OpenSpan, but OpenSpan is a different thing entirely, as you call it in robotics order. 

    If the BPM and robotics could be integrated more easily, then I believe both could be used.

    It is not at all integrated. OpenSpan operates in a completely different manner, and Pega operates in a completely different manner. Part of it is called Pega robotics, but it has nothing in common, in my opinion.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have used Pega BPM for quite some time. I started using Pega BPM in 2012, it has been for 10 years.

    However, because I was leading at the time, I didn't have much experience with the tool. There was one client at the time, where my role was to lead a 60-person team. 

    We actually did massive implementations. We used that finance framework to create a lot of workflows, at least three to four workflow applications that were quite large, as well as a lot of integrations and such. 

    We did use it extensively from 2012 to 2015. We are still using it.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Pega BPM is definitely a stable product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Pega BPM is scalable.

    I am not sure how well it will work because we have a lot of requirements that I see today, we have a lot of emails, that we want to set up, all of these as workflow. I am still trying to understand and see how all of these emails will be converted to case management and email listeners, how much it can be scaled, and whether it'll work properly or not when the volumes increase because we have a huge demand right now. We also have to see how Pega will support us.

    We haven't reached the point where we can scale to maximum capacity to see how the product performs. However, we can currently see that the product is scaling based on our requirements.

    Because I am new to the organization I don't know how many users it has. But, in the previous organization, I believe there were many business units that used it, including the front of house and back of house. I wouldn't have a figure in mind.

    At my previous company, I was one of the business units that used it. I wouldn't know, but from my business unit's perspective, the front of house was probably 200 people.

    It is used daily, and we get through our smart forms, we get the inputs, and then the back office creates the interaction, and the back office works on it.

    How are customer service and support?

    They have a very good support system.  You must have your contacts in place, and they must respond to you based on the escalated level. It's fairly consistent.

    I would rate the technical support a four out of five.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    So far, I have primarily used Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere for RPA.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was difficult because, as previously stated, there were numerous integrations. However, we had excellent support from the ECS team, the Pega team, and the platform setup. 

    Once we got it set up, I would say we were pretty stable. Once done correctly and set up properly, it should be more stable than an RPA solution, in my opinion.

    I would rate the initial setup a four out of five.

    What about the implementation team?

    The initial setup was done in-house.

    It was in-house when I did my setup. It was not a cloud setup, but rather an in-house setup. We did an upgrade, and everything was done in-house.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would rate Pega BPM an eight 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.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Pega Platform Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: November 2024
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