I am a mechanical engineer, and I am in charge of seeing various production processes. We have various equipment and systems. Sometimes, they were unmanageable, and we used to experience breakdowns because of poor maintenance or poor management by our staff. That is what prompted us to try automating the systems and making them more efficient. That is why we acquired UiPath, and we have been using it to automate various production and design systems and processes.
UiPath enables us to implement end-to-end automation. It has helped to ensure that there are no machine breakdowns. It helps to ensure that what we are designing and what has been produced is as per the requirements.
We use the AI functionality in our automation programs for specific departments. We specifically use it in sales and finance. Most of the activities deal with data and numbers, so we needed to integrate artificial intelligence into those departments. It is helping us arrange our sales numbers, have our customer data, and maintain our employee information and data.
The AI functionality has enabled us to automate more complex processes in finance, sales, and customer departments. Previously, we used to struggle with the data in terms of breaking down those Excel numbers and the sales data. The AI functionality helps us break it down and understand it much better. Also, AI has helped us make decisions more easily because it helps us collect data and information much faster. These reports are very valuable in our company.
UiPath has enabled us to automate more processes overall. Initially, we planned to use the platform for design and production, but we have moved to customer service and finance, so it has helped us a lot more. There have been improvements in security management, customer service management, and ERP processes.
UiPath has reduced the cost of digital transformation. When you have UiPath, it opens up integration with other third-party platforms, such as customer relationship management platforms and workforce management platforms. It has opened up the way for digital transformation in our company.
UiPath has reduced human error. It serves as a second eye and goes through whatever has been done by our workforce. It helps to detect much faster where the issues are.
UiPath has freed up time. Previously, we used to have two shifts, a day shift and a night shift, but now, for the night shift, it is not a must to have all of the human workforce. Previously, we had 20 people on the day shift and 10 people on the night shift, but now, during the day as well as the night shift, we have 5 people less than before. We are able to assign other duties to these employees, and they are able to work on them. The work that was being done by 10 people can now be done by 5 people and much faster. We are able to assign these employees other activities where we were lagging behind. Overall, time has been freed up in our organization.
UiPath does save us money. When the systems and facilities are running faster, we are able to produce more. We can also serve our clients faster and even reach out to new markets, so it does save money and opens up more avenues to earn more money.
The best feature of UiPath is the integration. UiPath works very well for the automation of our facilities and systems. It not only integrates with our production systems but also with our ERP and CRM. It integrates with all of our processes so that we work in a unified manner and efficient manner.
Another strong point for acquiring UiPath is the ability to deploy and use it across various organizations operating in various industries. It does not matter whether you are in finance or engineering. You can deploy UiPath without many problems and start automating your operations.
Support maintenance is an improvement area. I understand that UiPath Academy is there to help users understand it better, but it would be better if the support and community were faster in responding to what is requested by clients. Sometimes, it takes quite some time, so a faster response when clients need something would be better.
I have been using UiPath for around four years.
Generally, it is stable, but it also depends on the usage. With any incorrect usage, it can crash.
It is scalable. New versions are coming up, and their teams are very generous with the information. They are very helpful.
Their support could be faster. Overall, I would rate their support a seven out of ten.
The UiPath Community is helpful in knowing about a problem. When we are looking for new information, we can get the help of the experts and peers at the UiPath Community to get accurate information about the platform.
We also used UiPath Academy initially to get trained on the proper usage of the platform. We only did the initial training there. Our usage has been minimal.
We were not using any alternative automation platform.
It was moderate in terms of complexity because we were trying to gather information about the platform, but we were able to link up with the other user communities.
It requires maintenance on our end. We have a team that is trained in the UiPath support and UiPath Academy. They have been checking the overall working levels and ensuring that they reach the required service levels. They also help to scale it up in case there is a new version or upgrade.
We used a UiPath integrator. He addressed our concerns much faster. Overall, we had a team of about five to seven people who were involved in the deployment and active adoption.
We have seen a return on investment because UiPath has made production faster. It has also reduced errors and breakdown times. All these errors and breakdown times used to cost us. We reduced them and the overall stability is rising, indicating that we are realizing our return on investment.
I find its pricing to be okay, but it also depends on the size of the company. Small users and individual users might not be able to exhaust all the features of the platform, but SMEs and large organizations are able to use the platform in a broad manner. They are able to enjoy many more benefits. UiPath needs to come up with a pricing and licensing model that favors small users and individual users.
To new users of UiPath, I would advise liaising with the user community that is closer to them and becoming a member. I would also advise taking advantage of the UiPath support and academy. You need to have a team of experts who can train you firsthand on its usage. If you follow those two steps, you will start reaping the maximum benefits of the product from early on.
In our case, it was not very easy to use UiPath, but it was also not very difficult. With the right team and with the right support from UiPath, you can do it without facing many difficulties, but when you have a team that does not understand it or that has not undergone the training, it will be difficult. With a team that is briefed and knows what it is supposed to do, it is not that difficult.
Overall, I would rate UiPath an eight out of ten.