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Solution architect at Incite corp
Real User
Top 10
For every automation, there is at least a 200% savings in time and cost
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution connects with different services via a plug-and-play model that includes Microsoft, Amazon, and Google."
  • "The solution should offer more AI-driven services that are outside of the finance industry."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses the solution to activate machine learning and automate processes for clients in the banking, supply chain, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries.

For one use case, we instruct a bot to pull data from various sources to Excel where we manipulate it and run macros to produce output that is uploaded to other target systems. 

For another use case, we automate report downloads from Salesforce and SAP.

For a third use case, we automate invoice and purchase order processing by combining machine learning with OCR to extract information, output it to a CSC file, and upload it to the SAP finance system. 

A fourth use case involves scientific analysis for a pharmaceutical company. We collect research and clinical trial data, use a bot to conduct analysis, and produce a final report for scientists to inform their next steps. Before automation, scientists would spend four hours manually pulling and analyzing data before moving to lab work. Now, the bot does all the groundwork so data is immediately available to scientists. 

A fifth use case focuses on leveraging image analysis to study molecule or protein structures and produce predictions. We train bots in a third-party machine learning model to understand the science and then integrate it with the solution. 

For a sixth use case, we use bots to translate clinical data that is common across multiple countries. A thousand pages of data used to take three months to manually translate in 30 languages, but now bots can complete the task in four hours. This also removes the expense and security risk of a third-party translator who would need to have access to sensitive data. 

Our goal across all use cases is to speed up operations with bots that work 24/7/365 so that staff can focus on other important work. In the last three years, we have built 100 bots with 80% unattended and 20% attended. 

How has it helped my organization?

An important company goal is to speed up clinical research processes that have an urgent social impact to ensure treatments become available to patients. 

COVID is an example of urgent social impact. When the virus hit, it moved fast and kept changing while scientists were still trying to understand its dynamic. 

Pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to invent products and push them to market as fast as possible. Delays cause patients to suffer. Fast results will allow pharmaceutical companies to push treatments that save lives. 

What is most valuable?

The solution connects with different services via a plug-and-play model that includes Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. We do not need to go directly to vendors for services or write custom code to integrate applications. In most cases, connectors need minimal or no code at all. 

Integration services, cloud testing, and the AI center are easy to leverage. 

What needs improvement?

The solution should offer more AI-driven services that are outside of the finance industry. For example, we work in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries so would like to see scientific-related components. 

Technical support is good but there is room for improvement because some staff are not knowledgeable enough to assist with senior-level issues. 

Buyer's Guide
UiPath
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about UiPath. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and services 40% of enterprise customers with no issues. We feel we are in good hands with the solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very easy to scale for both infrastructure and bots. 

How are customer service and support?

Our company purchased premium support so we have a dedicated technician available whenever we need help. Responses are usually quick and received within one hour. 

The solution's community forum includes a huge pool of talented programmers. If we get stuck on an issue, we post it in the forum and quickly receive ten to twenty solutions. 

The Academy offers video-based training modules that are helpful and straightforward. We can easily upgrade our skills with minimum time investment. 

Freelancers also post very useful plug-and-play components in the marketplace community.

I rate the support an eight out of ten because some support staff are not as experienced as needed. We cannot expect everyone to have senior-level skills, so are understanding with staff because the product evolves every day and that requires learning new skills. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used Kofax and Automation Anywhere. 

Automation Anywhere has issues with user-friendliness because it is not a drag-and-drop model and there are times when a lot of scripting is required for complex automations.  

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to set up and deploy both on-premises and in the cloud. 

As a solution architect, I am involved in all phases of deployment including discovery, development, implementation, and post-production. 

The deployment process includes exporting workflows as a package, saving and loading the package in the source control tool, and pushing the code to the orchestrator. The process is very simple and there is no real maintenance after deployment. 

What about the implementation team?

Our company implements the solution for customers. 

What was our ROI?

I do not have exact numbers, but for every automation there is at least a 200% savings in time and cost.

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

The solution's pricing is reasonable and lower than its competitors. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We selected the solution because it offers more services with lower code requirements than any other automation tool. 

Companies that adopted other automation products and built 100-200 bots are moving to the solution because of the services offered and its simplicity. With so many companies moving to the solution, the market impact is clear.

What other advice do I have?

The solution has exceeded our expectations and I rate it 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?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Anantharaja Jayaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Advisory Team Lead (RPA) at Ernst & Young
Real User
Top 20
Reduces errors, streamlines manual tasks, and is easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "It's made it easier to do development and create accurate products for the customers."
  • "They could add enhancements in AI technology that could be helpful for everyday developers."

What is our primary use case?

We needed a solution for users that had too many manual tasks. We're in a large bank, and there are tasks like account opening or other items that can be automated using the UiPath system. It can handle auditing as well. 

How has it helped my organization?

We've been able to increase productivity time by using UiPath. It saves time and costs. 

What is most valuable?

Previously we used the classic activity. UiPath modified the activity and it made it easier to do the development and create accurate products for the customers.

It's easy to build automation using UiPath. There are a lot of ways to make an automation, compared to other tools, like Automation Anywhere and Power Automate. It's very flexible. We can use different codes and use Excel modifications. It's very comfortable to use. 

In UiPath, we've developed a developer foundation and developer processes. If there are modifications to what has been done or ideas for new ways to do something, we embrace that. 

We can implement end-to-end automation. It's important for us. We do need to study the process and then create a process that is a better solution. Our users can study the whole process and come up with solutions and best practices for building automation. The best way to do it is to have one person handle the end-to-end automation so that there is no confusion in the process.

The UiPath Community is helpful for users. It's an advantage. It helps share knowledge. We're able to find the best solutions for issues with it. 

We've used the UiPath Academy courses. It helps users to study UiPath: what it is, how to use it, and how to build solutions effectively. It's great for users who want to study and be more confident in the development process. 

It has helped us reduce the cost of digital transformation. When we have more people, we need to pay more salary, and it takes more time. Using UiPath, we can save valuable time and reduce costs. What a man can do in one hour, UiPath can usually do the same task in half the time. 

It reduces human error. Sometimes people aren't in the right mindset. If they are tired, for example, they can make mistakes. However, a bot always does everything the same way. 

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see the accuracy improved. Sometimes the development works fine. Other times, it requires some small changes in the development. 

They could add enhancements in AI technology that could be helpful for everyday developers. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable for the most part. I'd rate it eight out of ten. Most of the time, it's working fine. However, sometimes we have small problems with the data connection or pushing data. It can be difficult to identify the orchestrated things. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have about ten people on our team servicing clients with UiPath bots. There are three senior developers. We have bots across multiple locations. 

I'm unsure if the solution scales well. 

How are customer service and support?

We sometimes have to ask a lot of questions as the accuracy can be missing. When they provide us with a solution, there are options between classic and modern. It might take a while to fix things or if there are issues again and again the customers can sometimes be disappointed. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I've used Microsoft, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism. I'm most comfortable with UiPath and Power Automate.

Power Automate is developing a lot of its own solutions right now for Microsoft. I find UiPath more advanced than Power Automate and Automation Anywhere, which don't have as many features. Power Automate is the most comparable to UiPath. 

The main disadvantage to UiPath is the cost, which is really high. 

How was the initial setup?

When we do the deployment, we have to take into account security, et cetera. It concerns us when we're talking about using the cloud. There may be particular processes we cannot do on the cloud. 

One good developer is all you need for maintenance. If you have to update the system or do a modification, we need to update UiPath. So there is maintenance required and a person does need to watch the process. We provide the maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

Currently, our vendors are doing the installation. After it's installed, we provide all of the bots and processes. 

What was our ROI?

I don't have any metrics in relation to ROI. 

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

The licensing is very expensive for UiPath. Many clients are going with Power Automate or Automation Anywhere based on the high cost of UiPath. 

What other advice do I have?

We're an end-user of UiPath. 

Currently, we aren't using AI technology in our solution. However, I like the idea of it. We'd maybe be able to resolve redundancies with it in the future. It may be on our roadmap in the future. 

I'd recommend UiPath. It's very accessible. I use a lot of products and this is the best product to give to customers overall. 

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. 

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. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
UiPath
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about UiPath. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Smitha Setty - PeerSpot reviewer
RPA developer at Presbyterian Healthcare Services
Real User
Helps to generate reports with 100 percent accuracy
Pros and Cons
  • "I am a developer, and I love the tool's easiness with features like drag and drop. The tool is ready to use with some minor updates."
  • "I have had issues with the selectors. I face problems during image capture, and I need to update them. It is not something that I can rely on."

What is our primary use case?

We use UiPath for web scripting, data loading, data uploading, desktop application scripting, file uploading, and data downloading. 

What is most valuable?

I am a developer, and I love the tool's easiness with features like drag and drop. The tool is ready to use with some minor updates. 

What needs improvement?

I have had issues with the selectors. I face problems during image capture, and I need to update them. It is not something that I can rely on. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I contact the support whenever I am stuck, and they help me. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

My director explored a lot of RPA tools and selected UiPath. He convinced the organization that it was a good tool. 

How was the initial setup?

UiPath's upgrade is easy. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated WinAutomation and Blue Prism. 

What other advice do I have?

Our business objective for implementing AI-powered automation is to reduce manual work. 

UiPath has fundamentally changed what our organization was trying to achieve. 

The tool has helped us save 3,000 man-hours. 

UiPath has enhanced our accuracy. We do government reporting where we are given templates. The Excel files are locked, and we have to type the data. There are thousands of cells, and we must generate weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports. We have to assign a person for each report. 100-180 such reports have to be generated. We use bots to populate the cells, and there are no errors. We can see that there is 100 percent accuracy. 

I rate the product a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Maneesha De Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Specialist - RPA Solutions at LOLC Technologies Ltd
Real User
Top 5
Automation has resulted in significant savings for our organization and helped reduce our environmental impact
Pros and Cons
  • "The UiPath community staff is the best I have ever seen. I have worked in several communities, not only in RPA platforms but for other tools, but the UiPath community is the best."
  • "Previous Orchestrator versions were very user-friendly for the admins and the users, but the new Orchestrator is a bit advanced. If they could reduce its complexity, to something more like what it used to be like, it would be better."

What is our primary use case?

I've worked in two organizations where I have used UiPath. The first organization was in banking and we used UiPath to help automate banking and financial forms. The second organization, the one I am currently working for, is a technology company with several sub-companies that include banking/financial, the hotel sector, and some overseas organizations. In this organization, we automate tasks that are repetitive, as well as reconciliations.

How has it helped my organization?

The main advantage is that we've synchronized our process across 70 sub-branches covering the entire island of Sri Lanka. Previously, we had three or four employees manually inputting the user entries for the various branches. We eliminated those positions so that data entry is now done by robots and performed in the head office.

We have multiple robots directing all of the data to the robot platform in the head office. We saw value within six months. That's how long it took to eliminate the positions. We stopped recruiting people who had previously done that task. More tasks remain, but the main use case was realized within six months.

The APIs are helpful in our workflow. We have a separate application for the government sector, and the Sri Lankan government provides that API. It's a matter of due diligence because we get the customer information, like the national identity card number. We use the API to exchange that information.

We get quick information about existing loans, including how they perform and whether the borrower is paying on time. If they are red, it means that the payments aren't being made in that period of time. That is the kind of information that is exchanged with the API. We can process 20 or 30 users every minute through the API on average.

Previously, our staff onboarding involved a large number of hard-copy documents—around 50. We have automated what was a long manual process, using automation to go through the documents to create a customized onboarding process, one that includes the government regulatory platforms that we are required to use. We used to have to store those documents in an archive, taking up our storage capacity. With UiPath's OCR platform, we get the information we need to do the task. That has resulted in huge savings for the organization, including environmental savings in terms of trees used for paper. It has also saved a lot of the human effort involved in verifying data in those documents.

In our previous process, the documentation was written entirely by humans, including data entry. That data entry was a critical point but there was a lot of human error. That has been reduced by 85 to 90 percent. In my current organization, we have automated about 70 processes and the amount of employee time saved depends on the process. For example, one of our automated processes has saved eight hours for one FTE, while another has saved 10 FTEs two hours each.

And we have done an end-to-end automation for an insurance platform, for renewals. There is no human touch at all.

UiPath has also helped us to reduce our on-prem footprint, compared to our previous platform. In our previous model, we worried a lot about our data. But with UiPath in the cloud, could our entire database be somewhere else, meaning not in our custody? A few years back, UiPath introduced governance and audit platforms, and that's when we felt that it was okay and that we didn't need on-prem platforms anymore. It was okay, at that point, to go for a cloud platform. We are migrating our on-prem platform to the cloud now.

What is most valuable?

UiPath Orchestrator is incredibly useful. It's the main dashboard platform we use. Orchestrator provides a single platform where we can connect with legacy systems and manage all the bots. 

Orchestrator lets us see the entire process across various department units so that they can see the separate tenants and units. The application can multi-task to handle processes even when we have a long queue. If the queue is piling up, we can assign multiple robots to clear the queue quickly. We can find the ETA for the queues and everything inside Orchestrator.

The Studio and development boards are also helpful.

The UiPath community staff is the best I have ever seen. I have worked in several communities, not only in RPA platforms but for other tools, but the UiPath community is the best. I am an active member of the community. If someone has a question, we always look after it there and are very happy to help them.

The UiPath Academy is very useful as well. My colleagues and I are always going through the new features that are available for our automation and new developments. We always keep in touch with the Academy.

What needs improvement?

Previous Orchestrator versions were very user-friendly for the admins and the users, but the new Orchestrator is a bit advanced. If they could reduce its complexity, to something more like what it used to be like, it would be better.

Also, if they can improve the performance of robots, that would be good. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are no issues with the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable and very easy to scale but, again, that comes back to the pricing.

UiPath scales easily, but scaling for the cloud and on-premises versions is different. For the on-premises solution, we need to add new licenses to scale up. But it's easy in terms of scalability on our end.

How are customer service and support?

Support can be divided into two tiers: enterprise users and community users. Enterprise users like us get high priority because we are dealing with live operations and customers. When we raise a ticket, we have options like critical and onsite support. They reply in one or two hours, or in less than 30 minutes if it's critical. Their technical support is very helpful and the ticketing platform is very good.

We also get a fast response for non-technical customer service issues.

I hope their support can be developed because when there is a difficult case, sometimes it seems that it's a new issue for them as well. I have experienced that. That should be improved a bit. Overall, support is very good, but there is room for a bit of improvement.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We didn't have an automation solution previously. As a developer, there are lots of costs in our country associated with switching to automation. There weren't other solutions that could integrate our entire operation like UiPath. I don't think it was possible to select another one.

As a user and an administrator, I can manage the entire server from the main controller. I know everything that UiPath is doing. I also can't think of another solution that has the same broad user community.

How was the initial setup?

UiPath runs Orchestrator and the application in the cloud, but our robots work on-prem in our data center.

In my previous organization, I deployed UiPath, but when I got there I didn't even know what UiPath was. Fortunately, they have nice documentation on the UiPath website, step-by-step. I followed that and was able to deploy things. Since then, I have helped several organizations, via the UiPath community, to deploy Orchestrator within two or three hours. If they have completed the relevant prerequisites, it can be done in that amount of time for a standard installation.

We had a detailed plan in place that progressed in phases. In phase one, we eliminated the data entry function in the main office and the branches. In phase two we would optimize our existing processes. Once all the automation is finished in the head office, we optimize those head office processes.

What was our ROI?

We have seen significant cost savings throughout the company. Before we started to use UiPath in 2019, we had three or four people doing data entry in every branch. It has eliminated human data entry and also frees up our cashiers because the cashier cannot go anywhere when the queue is long.

We calculated what we have spent for our entire RPA platform and what our ROI is. Our calculations showed that after one and a half years, we had recouped our entire spend on the RPA platform. That included the entire robot cost, servers, the software license, et cetera. That means we had ROI after 18 months.

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

When it comes to unattended robots, the cost for us in Sri Lanka is huge. It's tricky for us to convince management when they think about the price. We have to prove the value with evidence. We explain that we will save this or that amount, so please help us with this tool. 

Maybe for Middle Eastern or other countries, the price of that robot is not a big deal, but roughly $10,000 for an unattended robot is a very big deal for us. 

They are switching their licensing from a legacy mode to flex licensing. With that kind of license, they have given up a certain fee, which is okay, but the robot cost is high. Orchestrator is now free on the cloud platform, but we need UiPath Studio, the developer platform, as well as attended and unattended robots, and those are the things we pay for. The unattended robots are the highest priced. On a scale where one represents the most expensive and 10 is cheapest, I would rate UiPath at about two.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have looked at several automation platforms. We have done several demos and looked at the price of Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism. But they are more complex than UiPath.

If you consider other applications, like Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere, the UiPath platform is better because it's user-friendly, making it easy to get tasks done. Even for a beginning developer, it's easy to catch up with all the stuff in UiPath.

UiPath has noticed that I'm an active contributor, so they contacted me to get feedback and invite me to build the community. If I check my LinkedIn profile, I can see all the things I've done in the UiPath community. I don't see that with the Automation Anywhere platform.

If I don't know how to do something, I can watch one video and learn everything I need to know. If we post a question on the forum, we get an answer in one or two minutes from another user.

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
reviewer1214556 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Manager Operational Support at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It has saved us tens of thousands of hours and the ROI was almost instant
Pros and Cons
  • "We are the first company to bring UiPath Academy in-house on the 30th of September. When we signed our licensing agreement, we added it in our own LMS. So, we have that connection and everything else. We love it. We've implemented all of their modules: RPA Starter, all three of the development courses, Solution Architect, Business Analyst, and Build a Bot. It's super exciting. It's one of the best things that we've done. I would rate it a five out of five."
  • "We now have a functionality that is being released for web forms. It's more for attended. I would like to have these web forms exposed in Orchestrator to be able to trigger a bot externally. I know we have partners that provide similar functionality. I would like to have that same functionality where you could deploy a form, but instead of having it pop up on somebody's desktop, they could go through a URL through Orchestrator and trigger the bots via a web interface. This is instead of having to be tied down to an attended bot."

What is our primary use case?

We have several use cases. We're a telecommunications company. We use it for anything from order entry, design, activation, and interactions with technicians within our field. We really have an end-to-end solution.

We are using Studio, Orchestrator, and unattended bots.

It is deployed on-premise but on our own cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

We had a long-time situation where we were sending technicians to the fields unnecessarily, because they couldn't install the service. So, we worked through a process to wake up devices. We used RPA to implement it. 

With downsizing, we have been able to automate a lot of this space, so we can downsize and still function as a company.

What is most valuable?

Capitalize on the unattended automation, as there are a lot of different methods to evoke and schedule it. You can email it, trigger it via API bots or Orchestrator. There are a lot of different methods you can use. We don't really do a whole lot of attended. Not that we wouldn't at some point, but unattended is nice because it's out of sight and out of mind. Set it up and let it go.

We are the first company to bring UiPath Academy in-house on the 30th of September. When we signed our licensing agreement, we added it in our own LMS. So, we have that connection and everything else. We love it. We've implemented all of their modules: RPA Starter, all three of the development courses, Solution Architect, Business Analyst, and Build a Bot. It's super exciting. It's one of the best things that we've done. I would rate it a five out of five.

What needs improvement?

We now have a functionality that is being released for web forms. It's more for attended. I would like to have these web forms exposed in Orchestrator to be able to trigger a bot externally. I know we have partners that provide similar functionality. I would like to have that same functionality where you could deploy a form, but instead of having it pop up on somebody's desktop, they could go through a URL through Orchestrator and trigger the bots via a web interface. This is instead of having to be tied down to an attended bot.

For some of the Insights stuff, we have found that you have to be flexible on measuring your ROI. You have to be able to customize some of that because it's not as cut and dry as you think it is. 

I would look for the audits on the back-end. Performance-wise, make sure that it is still performing. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability as a four (out of five), but some of it could have been us too. 

An overabundance of logging that we created crashed the SQL Server. We had to adjust and restructure the way we were doing all of our logging to prevent that from happening again. Ever since then, it has pretty much been fine. 

We have had issues with upgrades. However, from a normal day-to-day functionality perspective, it is pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Right now, we have about 150 developers. Then, we have engineers and process analysts.

We have 400 automations on average and 1000 in the pipeline.

How are customer service and technical support?

It's been fantastic. It doesn't matter what time of day or anything else. We get top-notch service.

It has been about our contacts and support team. They look at us, and say, "You guys want to do what?" Then, they stand behind us and help us get it done.

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

We had merging companies coming together with a lot of integration going on. With integration, there are multiple teams, processes, and systems. To keep up for our reduced expenses, we had to do it. This was another tool in the toolbox for us: automation.

How was the initial setup?

It took us eight weeks from initial purchase to the first bot to be put into production. It took about two weeks for assessment and documentation, then another six weeks to develop and deploy it. The bot that we developed was complex. It wasn't super simple. We've done simpler, but that time frame was about average for us.

What about the implementation team?

We did the deployment ourselves, but we had the premium support. So, we did have some support from UiPath. However, everything that we did, we did on our own.

What was our ROI?

ROI was almost instant. We measured everything from deployment. We measured our successes. We do audits once a month. ROI was pretty much from deployment. We don't audit anything in the first 30 days because there is a lot of settling in, some bumps, and, "Oh, we missed this step." For the most part, within 30 days, we were realizing and managing expectations on benefits.

We're really only measuring handling time right now, which is defined by our business clients. They define what handling time we are trying to define, then the measure of success. That's what we measure ourselves on.

We're probably in the tens of thousands of hours that we have saved, easily.

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

Because we have so many agents, that's why we went unattended. Attended was very expensive for us because it's a per person license. Where we can take entire workflows, do the triggering and scheduling, etc. We never have to have any human interaction with unattended.

We have a cost model for operating expense savings. It is usually about $100,000 to $125,000 and takes us six weeks to develop and implement. That's development, testing, and implementation. We do code reviews on everything. That does not include all the documentation, assessment, etc.

We just signed a very large perpetual agreement. So, we had 125 Studios and 1200 unattended licenses. We paid $3.7 million. Then, we paid maintenance costs for the next three years, which was 15 percent of that.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Pega, and UiPath.

Scalability was probably the number one that we went with UiPath. Scalability, the ease of use of the software, and the existing functionality that was there were the main reasons. There is a lot more out-of-the-box in terms of embedded functions that were there at the time when we did our analysis. It seemed like UiPath was really on the cutting edge. They were more proactively implementing good features, where others that we were talking with seemed like they were behind in that perspective. 

We'd rather stay on the cutting edge with technology instead of having to wait for our partner to get caught up.

Obviously, there are cheaper options than UiPath.

What other advice do I have?

I'm really excited about the new stuff. There is great new stuff. We wish we would've had this stuff a year ago because we had to build some of it in-house. We are really excited about the Explorer and process mining.

I would rate the ease of use of the platform for automating our company’s processes as a three and a half to four out of five (where five is the easiest). It depends on the skill set of the developer. If you are a developer with a .NET background, then it will be a lot easier for more of the customization. For the technology overall, it is easy to automate our processes.

We run our automations in the virtual environments, like Citrix. We struggled a bit with Citrix at first, because our infrastructure and systems are somewhat antiquated.

Nobody is perfect. I would rate UiPath as a nine (out of 10).

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Ebin-Abraham - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Engineer at Baker Hughes
Real User
Top 10
We receive frequent updates, a reduction in human errors, and end-to-end -automation
Pros and Cons
  • "UiPath stands out for its robust SAP integration capabilities and a growing library of connectors that simplify connecting to various applications."
  • "Currently, UiPath doesn't provide automatic notifications for known bugs in new releases."

What is our primary use case?

Our team manages RPA licensing, including evaluating other tools besides UiPath. We consider factors like upcoming automation reports and license renewal costs when deciding between UiPath, Power Automate, or other options. By comparing features and licensing expenses, we make informed choices about which RPA tool best suits our needs.

UiPath handles our invoice processing and a variety of ERP tasks, including automating processes in SAP and Oracle. We also leverage it for some portal interactions and other invoice-related functionalities.

We use the UiPath orchestrator platform.

How has it helped my organization?

We recently migrated to UiPath's cloud-based Orchestrator, and the benefits have been tremendous. We receive frequent updates without any maintenance on our end thanks to UiPath managing everything. This ensures no downtime and access to all the latest features, which UiPath releases regularly throughout the year in response to user feedback. Additionally, our investment in premium support, including a dedicated Partner Account Manager and UiPath Advantage benefits, provides us with immediate assistance whenever needed.

Although UiPath is not as user-friendly as Microsoft Power Automate, it boasts a wider range of features. UiPath does require some coding knowledge for developers due to its drag-and-drop interface, but it provides a strong framework that simplifies development. Projects can often be completed within one to two months thanks to this ease of use, and the platform itself is constantly being improved.

UiPath offers end-to-end automation, replacing the need for multiple tools. It supports DLC and provides sample documents and maintenance guidance. Additionally, UiPath's built-in flowcharts eliminate the need for Visio, reducing costs. Furthermore, integration with Azure and pre-built templates minimizes the need for PowerShell scripting, streamlining the development process. Overall, UiPath simplifies automation by offering a comprehensive and user-friendly platform.

The UiPath User Community is a fantastic resource, offering a one-stop shop for all our UiPath inquiries where we can find answers and connect with other users.

UiPath has been a game-changer for us. Productivity has soared, security has been significantly bolstered, and the new features are proving incredibly versatile. We've even been able to reduce outsourcing by implementing UiPath automation, which have greatly simplified our monitoring processes.

Its ability to minimize on-premises infrastructure aligns perfectly with the current trend of companies prioritizing digitization to reduce their physical footprint. In other words, UiPath is a key tool for achieving this modern business goal.

Our vendors initially struggled to adapt to the cloud-based platform after migrating from on-premise software. To bridge this knowledge gap, we directed them to the UiPath Academy courses, which proved to be a valuable resource. However, the extensive course library made navigating and finding the most relevant content challenging. Fortunately, UiPath's supportive team provided us with the necessary links, allowing our team to get up to speed quickly.

It has helped speed up our digital transformation.

UiPath has significantly reduced human error in our finance department. Previously, manual processes resulted in numerous errors that often went unnoticed until the quarter's end. Now, automation minimizes errors and frees the finance team to handle any remaining manual tasks with greater ease.

UiPath has helped free up around 30 percent of our staff time and has significantly reduced our costs, and the KPI data we're maintaining confirms these substantial savings.

What is most valuable?

UiPath stands out for its robust SAP integration capabilities and a growing library of connectors that simplify connecting to various applications. Document Understanding has also seen significant improvement, making data extraction more accurate. Additionally, UiPath offers valuable process insights, providing a clear picture of automation utilization across machines, and giving us a powerful tool to optimize our workflows.

What needs improvement?

UiPath's cost can be prohibitive, and the sheer number of licensing options they offer makes it difficult to choose the right one, creating a confusing selection process.

Currently, UiPath doesn't provide automatic notifications for known bugs in new releases. This means we're left to discover and report them ourselves. Ideally, I'd like to receive updates on these known issues from UiPath to streamline the automation process.

UiPath implementing a feature like Microsoft's CoPilot would significantly enhance our development experience by offering assistance in building automation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

UiPath is easy to scale up.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is amazing. They are available at any time.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We also have a signed license agreement with Microsoft because of UiPath's high cost.

UiPath offers a pre-built framework that tailors to our specific needs, along with a powerful orchestrator for centralized control. While Microsoft's automation platform is still evolving and lacks features like UiPath's orchestrator, it excels in native integrations with Microsoft products like Outlook and SharePoint. However, for SAP integrations, UiPath provides exclusive activities that are crucial for automating tasks within our system.

How was the initial setup?

In 2018 when I first deployed UiPath I found it to be complex but now that I have more experience, the deployment is straightforward.

Our team created three AWS accounts, designating one of them. We then set up, launched, and deployed the orchestration tool on the first account. After performing a POC and gaining leadership approval, we spun up two additional accounts for QA with UiPath's ongoing support throughout the year. Finally, we deployed additional machines and established a Cloud Operating Validation environment.

In-house we required eight people for the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We initially developed the proof of concept ourselves, but after launching into production, we leveraged the expertise of multiple vendors to ensure successful implementation.

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

UiPath is expensive compared to other RPA tools.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate UiPath eight out of ten.

We currently have around 130 active bots, though, in the past few years, we decommissioned a larger force of 300. We also boast a user base of over 80.

The maintenance is handled by UiPath.

For a successful RPA implementation, establish a strong framework and conduct a thorough analysis to guarantee the stability of your bots. In the long term, a well-run COE is invaluable. Additionally, explore the range of tools available to enhance your RPA capabilities.

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?

Other
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.
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PeerSpot user
Raheel Irshad Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Automation at Ogni AI
Real User
Top 5
Helps save time, is user-friendly, and reduces human error
Pros and Cons
  • "The useability is very good - even for non-technical people."
  • "The Academy classes could be improved. There should be a portal for use cases. There should be more business examples."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for robotic process automation. We use it across the value chain for our business. We've used it in accounts, including cash management, and in HR for management tasks and IT for password resetting. 

How has it helped my organization?

The automation has been quite useful. It's been helpful in our journey towards transformation. 

What is most valuable?

I've used this solution for a while and I utilize the whole tool and get a lot of benefits out of it. 

It helps save time. We've had efforts that would take more than four hours a day, yet, when done through UiPath, it takes less than a minute.

The useability is very good - even for non-technical people. I'm an accountant by education and now I'm also an automation expert by profession. Its interface is user-friendly to those of us who are non-technical.

Anyone who wants to automate any task that is rule-based and repetitive can do it through UiPath.   

We can use the solution for automation emails or notifications.

It enables end-to-end automation. We developed a use case where people from different business units have large amounts of data, Excel files, we've made it so that we can combine it and enter it into the ERP system. Everything can be checked via the rule book and can create the report and send back the information to the customer. It simplifies the data and organizes and compiles it for them. Users have gotten the benefit of five FTEs by using UiPath. It saved many man-hours. 

I haven't used the UiPath Community too much. I often Google questions to find answers. It is a good place to go for development work, though. 

It reduces our footprint. We historically did have many items on-prem. I like it on-prem and on the desktop.

It can reduce the cost of digital transformation. Where processes can have faster response times, UiPath helps with efficiency. However, if the response time of the application is slow, and we need to provide workarounds, it isn't helpful in that it hasn't efficiently helped us save time.

UiPath reduces human error by 100%. Whatever you give to the robot, it will do it correctly. That said, it needs to be programmed correctly - if it's programmed wrong, it will do it 100% wrong. If it's programmed right, it does it 100% right. 

It's freed up human time. It's not well-utilized in that sense. It should be available to everyone so that they can find ways to save time by creating their own automation according to what they need.

What needs improvement?

There are a few shortcomings. For example, even in their latest version, there are still older features even though they've introduced new ones in parallel. They should do something where they update the solution and then close off the older version after a year or something like that. That might help with standardization. 

Sometimes it is very useful for automation. However, sometimes it is really, really frustrating when it is unable to manage the more dynamic items. When an element is stable, it's great. When it comes to changes to IDs or the dynamics of the website, it lets us down in front of our customers. It needs to be better at handling volumes of data. 

Automation on the cloud has had issues. It can be slower. 

The Academy classes could be improved. There should be a portal for use cases. There should be more business examples.

They should offer different licensing tiers, especially for daily individual users. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution since 2016, more than five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. There were some issues while interacting with different applications. For example, with Microsoft, we have issues with One Drive. When UiPath is working on a file, it cannot quickly get to the file. We need to move the file to a local drive before processing the data. Microsoft applications seem to give it trouble. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have multinational business units. Company-wide, maybe 500 people are using it. Where I am, there may be a team of ten people working with it and 50 to 60 automations. The solution is in multiple locations and departments. 

The solution is scalable. It depends on how an organization wants to utilize it. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very flexible, however, they do not respond quickly. Sometimes they just tell us "this is how it works" and we have to try to explain our framework.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I have also tried Blue Prism. I didn't work with it much; I just studied it theoretically. 

I also tried to work with Power Automate. Initially, it wasn't very good, however, later, it began to echo the style and functionality of UiPath.

UiPath is easy to use and easy to get started with. 

How was the initial setup?

The deployment was a long journey. I was one of the first people in Pakistan to use it. Now, once you get a license, you can deploy it in two weeks. However, it depends on the complexity of the processes in terms of deploying automation.

We have around ten people maintaining the solution. It requires a lot of maintenance. If anything needs to be changed in the target application, it needs to be incorporated into the robot. 

What was our ROI?

Someone told us you do need three to five years before you get an ROI. However, in our first year, we were able to save more than 8,000 hours. 

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

The solution is on the expensive side. 

There should be standardized packages. If an organization already has a license with UiPath, UiPath should offer special licenses to each employee so that each employee has their own UiPath automation capabilities for each of their individual tasks.

There should be regional packages and costs. Different regions cannot necessarily afford UiPath. What is affordable in Europe may not be affordable somewhere else. 

What other advice do I have?

We're a UiPath customer. We serve internal customers with robots.

We do not use the UiPath AI functionality, however, we are on a journey towards building our own internal solution. 

I'd like to see UiPath cut the cost of their license. For end-to-end automation, for developers, I understand why it needs to be expensive, however, for day-to-day users, it should be cheap. 

I'd recommend the solution to new users. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. It's still the best out of all related products.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
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. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Josh Hall - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior solutions architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Low-code, is continuously innovating, and has a helpful user community
Pros and Cons
  • "We enjoy the constant innovation. It's coming out with new things that we can use and new features all the time."
  • "We're actually looking into a document to understand the use case. It's essentially car titles, and we're struggling. We've used several different OCR engines to try to train the model and try to improve it. For us, a little more direction on how to actually achieve this would be useful. We've been struggling for a couple of months now trying to get it working and getting it to the level we need it."

What is our primary use case?

We started out with a lot of unattended use cases and then moved into using attended bots to help users. I've been with two separate companies. One was a financial services company. However, there was a lot of support for external clients. In the company now, we're doing a lot around the back office, HR, finance, and supply chain. UiPath just runs the gamut of all different kinds of use cases.

How has it helped my organization?

It's definitely made it easy to build automation. We have a team of about four or five developers. One of them was straight out of school, and they had never really had professional experience. We've also taken a couple of developers that were more into custom code and converted those over to using UiPath. It's interesting to see the level of excitement when you use a tool like UiPath from someone who is straight out of school and can convert over. 

What is most valuable?

We enjoy the constant innovation. It's coming out with new things that we can use and new features all the time. RPA has been around for a while now; however, the fact that we're adding integration services, adding apps, and all these other features, makes it possible to expand our use case.

We use UiPath to automate processes that deal with a good environmental cause. For example, for the company, however, we get invoices for bulk fuel. Our company sends out a lot of trucks, and a lot of customer engineers to actually service equipment. All this was manual, and a lot of not knowing how much we were paying. We automated that, and then the next step of that process is, "Okay. Can we start figuring out exactly how much money we spend on fuel, now, let's try to figure out ways to lessen that?" I could see how that could be environmentally friendly as we're trying to reduce consumption.

The user community is interesting. I've met a couple of people here and had really good conversations. It's interesting in the virtual world that we live in now, where everybody's just a face on a screen.

We've used UiPath's Academy. Being a solution architect, I'm not hands-on with code every day. I got certified as an RPA associate so that I could better understand what the developers are working on and using. When I'm designing solutions, I have a better knowledge of what's possible. I've taken a lot of the courses on UiPath Academy.

What needs improvement?

We're actually looking into a document to understand the use case. It's essentially car titles, and we're struggling. We've used several different OCR engines to try to train the model and try to improve it. For us, a little more direction on how to actually achieve this would be useful. We've been struggling for a couple of months now trying to get it working and getting it to the level we need it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for five or six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great. I compare it to what I would think the best in class is. It's like Microsoft releasing patches. I've had fewer issues with UiPath updates than I do with my Office client on my computer. Therefore, it's very stable. 

We've had it where we had an update, and it did break some of our robots, and we had to go and do some troubleshooting, yet that's only been one time. It's pretty good overall. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It remains scalable for us. We're not a huge shop yet as far as the number of bots, so it remains to be seen. It will be interesting when we try to reorganize our Orchestrator to make it more scalable. I can't really answer that one yet, as we haven't really tried to scale a lot.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is great. It's easy to reach out to them. It's easy to get feedback. As with any organization, a lot of times, the first answer is, "Go read the FAQ." I usually respond, "Well, I've already read the FAQ. That's why I'm asking." This is normal. Once you get past that, they're really ready to jump in and help.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I started out in 2016 looking at what was the best solution for the company. We looked at several of the top options. They're still the top ones today if you look at Gartner, Forrester, and publications like that. I used some of them. I've used Power Platform and other low-code tools like Pega and Appian. There are a lot of different tools in this space, and they all bleed into each other. 

I've been with two companies that focus on UiPath. It's just the constant way they try to keep up and keep innovating has made them a bit different than other options.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial deployment of the platform. I came in about a year ago. Since then, we've done things like automating month-end close processes, automating a lot of manual processes from moving from an old legacy HR system to Workday, and integrating with Workday. There have also been several other different smaller use cases like that. That said, for the implementation of the main platform, I wasn't here for that part.

The deployment of automation depends on how it's built and how you structure your UiPath Orchestrator, which has changed a lot in the last one or two years. They've got this concept of modern folders now in UiPath.

It's taken a lot of effort to transform what we did previously into what we're trying to do today. We very much had one tenant for one automation or a group of automation. Now, we're trying to do more. We ended up with a lot of tenants. Now, we're trying to consolidate into fewer tenants with these modern folders and trying to understand how that all works.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely seen an ROI. The team has talked about a million hours returned back to the business for other activities. It took a few years to get there, however, now it's every year. 

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

The pricing changes every day, however, it's not unlike any other SaaS platform. Sometimes it's hard to understand. That said, I'm more on the technical side. Some of the big questions are unattended versus attended since there's a lot more cost to unattended. When we get into document understanding, it's the number of OCR models, and the models you use that increases cost.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I looked into the other two big ones in this space. One of them, and this was in 2016 or 2017, didn't have a concept of attended automation. They thought it should all be unattended and no one should touch it. It should just run. That was really a barrier for us since one of the big value propositions is just automating those small tasks that people do to free up more time. Attended automation eliminated them.

One of the other ones we looked at couldn't support us. It was a proof of value, proof of concept type exercise, and they couldn't give us the support we needed to execute it. It was pretty easy to disqualify them when they couldn't go through that pre-sales motion to really get us. Why would we want to sign a contract? Why would we want to move forward? 

What other advice do I have?

Potential new users should focus on the business driver or the business use case and find the best tool. UiPath lives in this space of RPA, low-code, AI/ML. There will probably always be three or four of these tools to choose from at any enterprise or sizable company. How do you pick the right one? It's really about what the business is trying to do.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Support is good, reliability is good, and innovation is great. There are just some things they could get better on to catch up with some of the other players in surrounding technologies. UiPath started as RPA. Other companies started as integration platforms. I know we're getting into connectors and things like that. It just keeps moving in that direction.

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 UiPath Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free UiPath Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.