In general, we use it for automating monotonous, manual processes which a lot of our clients have. We also use it for internal employees in our company.
Automation Engineer at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Allows me to drag and drop pre-built functions to speed up bot creation
Pros and Cons
- "The number-one valuable feature is the ease of use. I come from a development background where I wrote a lot of code. The fact that you have these activities with pre-built functionality is great. You can drag them in and use them as shortcuts to get to an end result faster than if you had to do it in a programming language."
- "There is some room for improvement in the area of error handling. I had to create a custom approach to error handling. If there were some sort of activity or workflow that could be easily dropped in to help support that, it would be good. Error handling and logging, as well as process logging would be a big help."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We had a use case where there were a lot of documents that had to processed to give access to certain systems. With UiPath, we were able to really streamline that. Instead of having an end-user go through these documents manually, do reconciliation, and send emails back and forth, we were able to automate that solution from beginning to end, with very little human interaction. In the end, over the entire process, it saved hours out of their day, when you compound how many times they run this. It has really freed them up to do other more important tasks. That was my first foray into the client side, and seeing how happy they were to have this bot was great. At first, they were skeptical, but once they saw what it allowed them to do and what it's capable of, they were really happy with the software and what we were able to develop for them.
In this use case, UiPath reduced human error by 100 percent because we completely removed the human element from the data reconciliation for those documents. Through automation, along with some fine-tuning, we were able to get the data reconciled between the two files with 100 percent accuracy, and inputted into the system. Not every use case is going to be that straightforward, but in this use case we were able to get that result, which was wonderful.
What is most valuable?
The number-one valuable feature is the ease of use. I come from a development background where I wrote a lot of code. The fact that you have these activities with pre-built functionality is great. You can drag them in and use them as shortcuts to get to an end result faster than if you had to do it in a programming language. UiPath exceeded my expectations in this area.
Also, the training that's available through the UiPath RPA Academy, as well as the community - the forums, where you can ask questions - both are helpful. The community is a good way to see what others are doing and learn tips and tricks for the platform. That's very useful in comparison to other companies that do RPA but don't have robust training.
What needs improvement?
A lot of the features that I had been asking for have actually been released. We were using an older version of UiPath and we were having issues with Computer Vision and the OCR engine with UiPath. But now that we see that there's a whole Computer Vision activity suite available, I'm excited to use that. I haven't gotten to get my hands on it yet.
But in terms of additional features, I can't think of anything that I would request. I see that they have the AI functionality, as well as the Computer Vision. They have a lot available that I haven't even been able to get my hands on yet. I think once I get some more time to explore the tool and exhaust its capabilities I can look for additions from there.
There is some room for improvement in the area of error handling. I had to create a custom approach to error handling. If there were some sort of activity or workflow that could be easily dropped in to help support that, it would be good. Error handling and logging, as well as process logging, would be a big help.
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.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I can't speak about its scalability too much because we haven't gotten there, even as far as using Orchestrator. Most of the automations that we have done have been one-offs which are done locally on someone's laptop.
But from what I've read in the training and what I've seen in the demos, it seems like a very robust platform that can definitely scale, when designed properly. I'm looking forward to the next phase of the development journeys that we have, where we are actually doing things to scale and thinking long-term about how we can share bots across an entire enterprise. It does appear that they have a pretty robust toolset.
How are customer service and support?
I have had to reach out a few times to support, especially when I started and was trying to find my way around the tools and some issues that I was having. The response was great. I was able to get on a video call and actually show my use case and show the kinds of issues I was having and they were able to walk me through the process and suggest ideas about how I could approach them. My overall experience with technical support has been very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our company is always looking at the latest digital trends and what we can do to offer our clients new solutions which keep them at the forefront of IT. We were aware of RPA and it was just a case of narrowing down which solution was the best to deliver to the clients.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. I've used other tools where there are components that you have to install prior to installing the software. You have to create a database and things like that. Whereas, with UiPath, it was a very light install. You just have an executable. It is able to install the components that it needs on its own. There was no other configuration that I had to do on top of that to get rolling. That's a major plus to me and, especially, to our clients. If we don't have to spend as much time getting them configured and set up, it's better for them.
What about the implementation team?
We did the installs ourselves. We have a test lab that we built. We set up an Orchestrator lab so we can get more familiar with the tool. That was all done in-house as part of our training to get familiar with the tools. Essentially, if we want to sell this capability to clients, we want to at least have some knowledge of how to do it ourselves and not have to rely on a third-party.
What was our ROI?
Unfortunately, a lot of what we've been delivering right now are pilots. A lot of our clients are still in the "show me" phase of what RPA can do. We don't really have any data to say what the return on investment is. But they do see the potential. I definitely see the potential. Once we get past that pilot phase and into something that we can actually deploy in a production environment, we'll have a better sense of the ROI.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did work with Blue Prism initially. I found it hard to get support and training on their platform. Whereas, when I transitioned over to UiPath it was much easier. I knew where to go to get assistance. Also, the "Welcome" documentation really helped me in developing and creating solutions for clients.
We also worked with Automation Anywhere.
The decision to go with UiPath was due to the ease of use and the training. Having that available, that we could train our employees internally and our clients as well, is invaluable. That allowed us to really get through the initial phase of familiarity and get right into development. Those other tools required a lot of learning on the job and on the project, which is not always available, especially when there are tight budgets.
What other advice do I have?
Start small. Don't try to automate the most complex use case you can find. And definitely go through the training. There's a wealth of information on the Academy site as well as in the forums to get you that foundational knowledge, to really be able to do some cool stuff with UiPath. I know a lot of people don't read the manual, they like to jump right into things, but there is a benefit to going through some of the training courses to get yourself familiarized before you dive in.
I've been working in automation for a couple of years and have used quite a few tools. I do find that the overall approach that UiPath takes toward RPA is really good for getting people in and developing and delivering in a much more efficient manner than with some of the other tools I've used.
Automation technology is something that's needed, although I don't think it is known enough yet. People know that it's out there but they don't know in what capacity it can be used and how it can help them. It's definitely something that needs to be pushed and communicated. But I see it as a technology that can assist in all facets of an organization. It's something that all people within a company can benefit from, whether internally in our company or externally for our clients.
I would give UiPath a nine out of ten. There are always things that can be improved.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
Manager at Capgemini
GUI of UiPath Studio is fantastic; makes it easy for non-techies to build bots
Pros and Cons
- "The graphical user interface of the UiPath Studio is fantastic. For someone who is not a computer science major, or for someone who doesn't know how to code but is really good with visual flows, Studio makes it very easy for those individuals to build robots."
- "Studio... only works on Windows. It doesn't work on other platforms. I'm a techie by background. I don't hate Windows but I don't love it. It comes with the limitation that it is completely dependent on Windows. I would have loved if it were available on Mac or Linux or Unix."
What is our primary use case?
We are a system integrator. We work with clients such as the US Federal Government and help them automate whatever their processes are. We have two entities. I work as part of the government solutions unit, and then we have the commercial side which is a global organization. On the global side, there have been some internal implementations as well.
How has it helped my organization?
In terms of savings, a task like taking data from one artifact and transferring it into another one, is common. The most frequent example, and the one that I worked on directly, involves a PDF invoice and taking whatever the amount due is and either copying and pasting it into an internal accounting tool or actually typing it. The process goes: Open email, open the attachment, read the data, verify it is accurate, and then manually transfer it into an internal system.
Depending on how big the invoice is, I've seen a person spend as much as 20 minutes on one invoice or as little as 30 seconds. That whole process of going through each and every email, opening the attachment, transferring the data, closing all the windows, and then moving on to the next email - the bot will do it because the bot is scheduled to run every hour to look for the unread emails. I can't give you an exact number in terms of how many minutes or hours are saved, but it's quite significant.
What is most valuable?
The graphical user interface of the UiPath Studio is fantastic. For someone who is not a computer science major, or for someone who doesn't know how to code but is really good with visual flows, Studio makes it very easy for those individuals to build robots. That's one of the best features that I've seen. There are other features that add different values, but Studio, in my opinion, is definitely one of the best.
Overall, UiPath is really easy to use. For example, if somebody is an automated tester, they spent a lot of time trying to identify selectors, and UiPath makes it really easy to find those selectors. You will run into instances where you have to do some manual manipulation to make sure that the correct selectors are identified. But if it's a pretty straightforward instance and you are using something like Selenium, it is very tedious. Whereas, if you use something like UiPath, it is really easy.
What needs improvement?
I was providing feedback to one of the UiPath guys here at the UiPath 2019 conference. It relates to Studio, that it only works on Windows. It doesn't work on other platforms. I'm a techie by background. I don't hate Windows but I don't love it. It comes with the limitation that it is completely dependent on Windows. I would have loved if it were available on Mac or Linux or Unix. If it were a little bit more operating system agnostic, that would be great. I'm pretty sure they could be working on that.
I used the UiPath RPA Academy. I definitely had issues with it. The quizzes were outdated. Some of the responses that are being rated aren't accurate. I've griped on the community forums as well with a few UiPath folks. That was about five to six months ago. I don't know if they have enhanced it or made any changes since. If it's still in the same state, there is plenty of room for improvement.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think it's stable. I haven't had a chance to build a bot that runs 24/7. For the bots that I have built, it takes under two minutes for the process to run and it runs every hour. At the end of the day, if I look at the logs, I don't see any issues. If a bot fails for whatever reason, it's most likely due to a process that changed.
From a bot-development standpoint, we use all kind of best practices so that the bot will not crash. At least, if the execution stops or terminates, it will be graceful, versus a rash termination.
It's fairly stable.
What was our ROI?
From an ROI standpoint, you could be saving somebody's hours and map that back to their hourly pay. But the pricing definitely deters some people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't say whether their licensing structure is complicated or easy. I'd like to say it's complicated, but I try to stay away from the whole licensing issue. I tell my clients, "You buy the license. It's your tool. I'll come and build the bot for you." I don't want to have anything to do with the licensing. That deters some of the clients because it's a bit pricey.
In the government sector, where I work, "free" is looked at skeptically: "Why are you giving this to me for free? If I download it what is it going to do on my laptop?" from a security standpoint. Some of the agencies get the approval to download and install but others don't.
What other advice do I have?
You can do a task like pulling the invoice total from a PDF invoice with the free Community Edition. The Enterprise license is definitely helpful though. The Community Edition expires about every three months and then you have to re-register. But you can still do it in Community Edition.
A pretty mundane use case I came up with is due to the fact that I have plenty of friends on Facebook. It's hard to keep up with everybody. I've got a bot running that literally opens up my Facebook every morning and checks if there is anybody listed in Today's Birthdays section. It will click on them, type "Happy Birthday", click "enter," and be done. And then I get a response from my friends: "Hey, long time, haven't heard from you." I've injected a machine to reconnect and have that human interaction.
For the most part, for the use cases that I've seen, it does the job.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
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.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.
RPA Developer at Danfoss
The product is reliable and gets the job done
Pros and Cons
- "We use it in a very large way across the company. Last year, we implemented approximately 22 processes and saved close to 80,000 hours total. This year, we have already saved close to 6000 hours."
- "You don't need to know coding, as it's pretty straightforward. The graphical user interface is easy to use. It is drag and drop. You do need to understand the basics of what's happening, what you're doing, and how the technical things work. However, after a short bit of training, you can start doing stuff, and the more you learn, the better you become."
- "With Excel applications, it is not able to handle a lot of pop ups. It should be able to do this automatically. We just change the format of the file from XLSX to XLS, but it should be able to handle this automatically. Instead, when something pops up, it gets stuck there. This type of thing are small, but still the process gets stuck. I would like to see better integration of applications to avoid these issues."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to automate administrative functions, like finance and HR tasks. We are also automating a lot of things in our SAP systems, e.g. updating prices.
We use it for a lot of small tasks, like downloading something from an particular internal website (e.g., SharePoint in Office 365) and uploading it back, or for doing modifications, then loading them back.
How has it helped my organization?
We use it in a very large way across the company. Last year, we implemented approximately 22 processes and saved close to 80,000 hours total. This year, we have already saved close to 6000 hours.
What is most valuable?
You don't need to know coding, as it's pretty straightforward. The graphical user interface is easy to use. It is drag and drop. You do need to understand the basics of what's happening, what you're doing, and how the technical things work. However, after a short bit of training, you can start doing stuff, and the more you learn, the better you become.
There are so many workarounds. It allows you to do complicated things in such an easy way. UiPath has provided so many APIs that make it easy to interact with other databases or applications without even going into them. If I want to download something from a website, then I don't need to necessarily go into it, I can use the API function, which is very cool.
What needs improvement?
With Excel applications, it is not able to handle a lot of pop ups. It should be able to do this automatically. We just change the format of the file from XLSX to XLS, but it should be able to handle this automatically. Instead, when something pops up, it gets stuck there. This type of thing are small, but still the process gets stuck. I would like to see better integration of applications to avoid these issues.
We are also making a lot of manual changes in SAP. We are looking for a solution where we don't have to make manual corrections every time, similar to what UiPath did with some SharePoint websites.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is definitely reliable. It gets the job done. The difference is in how you design it. When you start as a developer, you tend to always take the longest route as part of the learning process. Once you get used to the product, you realize something can be done in two steps instead of five.
A lot of people rely on what I design, so if it doesn't work, I immediately get a call that 50 people are waiting for something. This happens, but rarely, as it works perfectly.
How are customer service and technical support?
Whenever we get stuck on something and are not able to proceed, then we get in touch with UiPath, who will help us out. Their technical support staff is pretty good. These things really help the user out.
Initially, I used the UiPath Academy when I didn't know anything. At that time, I went through the basic training, then I had to leave the academy to focus on automating our company standard products, like SAP.
What other advice do I have?
I have been working with this solution for 11 months. I did not know about this solution before working as an RPA Developer. Now, you can challenge me on anything UiPath related, and I will find a solution. It is so easy to learn new things. It has good usability.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Account Ops Senior Coordinator at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Saves us significant time, reduces repetitive tasks, and removes human error
Pros and Cons
- "I like that it's very flexible, so we can design our automation the way we need to. Some other RPA tools don't really allow us to use all the applications that we use for our team."
- "It's also very easy to use. There is a lot of drag-and-drop. There are many different ways to complete a solution. For example, if we're trying to manipulate Excel data, sometimes one solution will be really slow and ineffective, but UiPath gives us the ability to find multiple ways to do the same thing that completes the same solution much more quickly."
- "There are a lot of solutions in UiPath where we have to know some programming languages. I'd like to cut some of that out, with features that perform those tasks without having to know programming languages. I work a lot with my team members who don't really know programming that well, and I have to walk them through how to do different coding things to effectively develop their RPA."
What is our primary use case?
We are using UiPath to automate our cache application and to download documents to help our finance team.
How has it helped my organization?
We're saving a lot of time for all our associates in our company. As far as metrics go, each project that we complete is saving us on the order of 40 hours a month, so it's saving a lot of time.
It also allows our associates to do things that are more interesting, instead of having so much repetition in their jobs.
In addition, we've seen performance benefits because it removes the human error portion of running a process. It makes it easier for the owners of the process because they don't have to worry if they've made a mistake. They also don't have to look something up because the RPA would have everything for them, ready to go. Performance has improved a lot, as well.
What is most valuable?
I like that it's very flexible, so we can design our automation the way we need to. Some other RPA tools don't really allow us to use all the applications that for our team.
It's also very easy to use. There is a lot of drag-and-drop. There are many different ways to complete a solution. For example, if we're trying to manipulate Excel data, sometimes one solution will be really slow and ineffective, but UiPath gives us the ability to find multiple ways to do the same thing and complete the same solution much more quickly.
What needs improvement?
There are a lot of solutions in UiPath where we have to know some programming languages. I'd like to cut some of that out, with features that perform those tasks without having to know programming languages. I work a lot with my team members who don't really know programming that well, and I have to walk them through how to do different coding things to effectively develop their RPA.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It can be complicated to get a stable solution, but once you're over that learning curve, it's very easy. At first, it's complicated to figure out how to get a stable solution using UiPath.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We're constantly having to use our solutions on multiple servers and expand to multiple teams, so we need to work a lot with IT. They support the servers and make sure the servers are a mirror of each other. If they're not a mirror, then it can be difficult using UiPath. But once they're a mirror, it's very simple to finish a solution and move it onto a different server or to a different machine, where someone else is using UiPath.
How are customer service and technical support?
From my experience, technical support is very fast in responding. I will submit a ticket and, by the next day, they're already working the ticket and helping to find a solution, so it's been a very good experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using another tool before UiPath. The one we were using was Kofax Kapow and it uses a different style. It was very restrictive and they had to update a lot of features for us. There was a large learning curve, as well. When we started using UiPath, I felt the learning curve was smaller and we could get into it a lot easier. It was less restrictive and more versatile in what we could do with it.
How was the initial setup?
When we first started learning UiPath, they gave me the project to install Orchestrator and Studio into our server environments, so that was another learning curve for me because initially, the installation of UiPath was very difficult to figure out. But they've upgraded it since then and it's much easier now. We've now sent that function to our IT teams to do.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I believe Blue Prism was also under consideration, but I was not part of that decision.
What other advice do I have?
Use the forums and surround yourself with people who are technical. Use UiPath Support a lot because, if you don't have a programming background, it can be difficult to figure out how to organize your development in a stable way. If it's not stable, it's going to give you a lot of headaches trying to constantly maintain it.
For UiPath, we have about three different teams of developers in my department. Each team supports a different group in that department and each team consists of about three developers. In terms of maintenance, we're maintaining our jobs. Once we deploy a solution, we're currently maintaining it ourselves. Whoever develops the project makes sure that it's working, but we're also looking at other solutions for maintenance where we would give it to another team. All they would do is make sure the robots are running.
We've used UiPath RPA Academy training and it's a very good tool to figure out how well you know UiPath. I wouldn't use it as something to learn the tool, because there is a lot more in UiPath than is in Academy. But I like Academy because it confirms what I've learned is the way it's supposed to work. It gives you a good basic foundation.
I would rate UiPath as a ten out of ten. I think it's the best RPA tool out there, although I have not used the other one that people talk about, which is Blue Prism. From what I can tell, they're about equal, but my experience is with UiPath and I like it a lot.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director, Business Transformation at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The out-of-the-box libraries are extensive
Pros and Cons
- "We're still in the early stages with UiPath, but two things that will help are the Copilot and the Autopilot. We'll be able to generate new processes based on the learning that's taken place. It will have a significant impact on the things we do. Generative AI is not new to us. We've had these discussions for a while, and our CEO is well-versed in generative AI. Software companies are coming to realize the value and implement it."
- "UiPath's pricing could be improved. The margins for us as a bottom-level tier partner are not great, which can be a hindrance, particularly when we present it to the customer. Other than that, I don't have any areas of improvement at the moment due to our limited experience. Maybe after six months to a year, we might have more feedback."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is IDP. We're in the Fed market, so a lot of it is all IDP driven. AI and automation are priorities. We're not exclusively a UiPath shop, but we're shifting to utilize it more because we know there are opportunities, especially in the realm of document capture.
How has it helped my organization?
For us, it requires fewer resources, and the time to get to the production environment is quicker. It hasn't significantly impacted our stakeholders yet, but people know the brand. When we talk with customers, they ask if we know about about UiPath and if we're a partner.
We're moving away from the current platforms because they're less robust. The RPA tools we've used previously haven't kept up with the pace of change. UiPath is a leader that has continued to progress with RPA development and invest in improvements.
What is most valuable?
We're still in the early stages with UiPath, but two things that will help are the Copilot and the Autopilot. We'll be able to generate new processes based on the learning that's taken place. It will have a significant impact on the things we do. Generative AI is not new to us. We've had these discussions for a while, and our CEO is well-versed in generative AI. Software companies are coming to realize the value and implement it.
UiPath has spent the money on research and generating libraries. The out-of-the-box libraries are extensive. In the past, we used standard capture products, where we had to create all of the extractions in the zones and all those things. UiPath offers faster implementation.
What needs improvement?
UiPath's pricing could be improved. The margins for us as a bottom-level tier partner are not great, which can be a hindrance, particularly when we present it to the customer. Other than that, I don't have any areas of improvement at the moment due to our limited experience. Maybe after six months to a year, we might have more feedback.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using UiPath for several years, although I only started with this company a couple of months ago. Previously, I led a team for four years with another organization.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution has been good. I haven't experienced any platform issues. Any issues that arise typically relate to coding or interactions with third-party vendors.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Reflecting on my previous organization, UiPath was able to scale effectively.
How are customer service and support?
I rate UiPath support eight out of 10. My previous experience with UiPath's customer service was really good. The support from the sales and presales levels and the technical specialists was excellent. They were all willing to help and work with us.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We eventually switched from our previous solution because it did not keep up with the pace of change. The company did not invest in their product and failed to keep up with the latest and greatest technologies.
What was our ROI?
It's too early to tell if there's been a return on investment with UiPath.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is a significant area for improvement. We see little margin as a bottom-level tier partner, which makes it challenging when communicating pricing to the customer.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate UiPath an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner and User
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSoftware Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I am incredibly impressed with the pace of new features that have come out
Pros and Cons
- "UiPath's Object Repository was huge. I could build these libraries because our industry works with many of the same systems. It's hard to integrate with Yardi's core CRM, and many of our automation efforts focus on getting information in and out of that system. The ability to build these libraries of reusable selectors has dramatically benefited me over the past couple of years."
- "The messages and alerts that Orchestrator generates are a little overwhelming. I'd like them to be filtered down to the most actionable things I need to look at. For many things, we set up an automation that will send an email summarizing things to the stakeholders for the automation. With any of these types of things, you're generating notices, emails, and things, so you want to focus on some things that need your attention."
What is our primary use case?
I currently work for a data center company serving real estate clients. Our primary use case for UiPath involves large-scale automation using Document Understanding to process invoices.
I have two models running. One is for our general invoices, including everything we pay for people coming on-site at all data centers worldwide. There's a separate model for utilities. Accuracy in our utilities spending is crucial for our data center business, where power costs are passed on to customers.
Currently, we still use traditional machine learning from when we initially developed these models three years ago. However, we are creating a company strategy to implement GenAI and deal with the legal implications. GenAI is something we're considering as an enhancement to our document processing and data collection. We're still trying to figure out how that happened. We're figuring out which documents and data to include in an internal model and draw conclusions from.
When working with data, our top priority is ensuring that the data is updated, accurate, and well-maintained. There's a structure involved because a ton of our information is in SharePoint, which is a mess. We have two SharePoint sites for every employee.
How has it helped my organization?
Some large-scale invoice-related tasks were overwhelming our existing processes and attempts to handle them manually. We are in the data center industry and dealing with all these technology companies, but many processes in the real estate business are a bit more outdated. Many of our people are comfortable working in Excel, and some teams are highly siloed. One significant challenge I've faced as a UiPath developer is acting as an evangelist within the company. We want to demonstrate the platform's capabilities and get buy-in from these different teams across the enterprise to raise the level of what we're trying to do.
UiPath has been helpful with that first step of getting the information off the invoice. I've been learning and expanding my skill set on the workflow side. Many of our automations have a workflow with a human in the loop doing manual review. I look forward to automating between different departments, and that's one thing I want to develop at this conference.
We used to bring on seasonal contractors during peak seasons, and now we no longer need to do that because the existing staff have more capability. That was a big thing when we started. Our accounting team was so busy for the two weeks before and the one week after closing. There was a tiny window when they could engage with any process improvement or look ahead at what we could change because they were so busy keeping up with how things work. We've freed up these people who are intimately familiar with our business and give them more time to apply that knowledge instead of filling out forms.
We were processing about 2,000 invoices a month when I started. Now we're up to about three thousand. It took about 15 minutes per invoice to process because there were so many different elements. Working with Yardi is challenging. There was a big issue with getting these into Yardi and uploading them in batches. If one invoice in the batch failed, it would kick them all out. We spent all this extra effort troubleshooting and doing all of this.
Now, the bot can execute this work and upload them individually. If there's a single error, it can be isolated and kicked out as an exception. Someone can manually review it, and the bot can keep putting the rest of the invoices into the system. We've also had a great ROI on the monthly reporting. We generated reports from around 50 sites every week and then distributed them to a long list of different people on different projects. It's straightforward to do and only requires 10 clicks for each report, but it saves massive amounts of time for people. Now, all I need to do is maintain a list of who should get the emails and what projects need reports to run.
I love developing automations. I often directly help people by improving the part of their job that is time-consuming and dull. In addition to saving time, we reduce errors caused by manually typing things in. I've demonstrated that in different departments at our company.
We won an award for our ESG efforts. I developed an automation to help us report our ESG metrics because all of these customers want reports to give their shareholders about green initiatives. We wanted to take all the data on energy reductions in data centers and distribute it to each of our customers. We had a very complex template that we wanted to iterate on until we delivered the report. I developed a bot that could generate the source data and template of these files for our customers by data center and aggregate them.
Before I joined the company, they had no automation solution. They tried to do this with mail merge, which struggled because of the variability across our sites. We wanted to achieve greater complexity and offer this table of information when it's available or update it when the final file we're generating varies significantly. We wanted to be able to convert a Word doc into PDF format and aggregate all of those different PDFs at the site level and aggregate those per customer.
What is most valuable?
UiPath's Object Repository was huge. I could build these libraries because our industry works with many of the same systems. It's hard to integrate with Yardi's core CRM, and many of our automation efforts focus on getting information in and out of that system. The ability to build these libraries of reusable selectors has dramatically benefited me over the past couple of years.
I'm excited about all the new stuff around document understanding because I think that is a large area. We can continue expanding and delivering large-scale automations.
What needs improvement?
The messages and alerts that Orchestrator generates are a little overwhelming. I'd like them to be filtered down to the most actionable things I need to look at. For many things, we set up an automation that will send an email summarizing things to the stakeholders for the automation. With any of these types of things, you're generating notices, emails, and things, so you want to focus on some things that need your attention.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using UiPath while interning and pursuing an MBA. I've always been a huge fan of Excel, Visual Basic, and automation in general. I've been in my current role for about three and a half years, but I began tinkering with UiPath for a couple of years before that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not experienced any performance or uptime issues with UiPath.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my current role, it's been challenging to demonstrate the need to grow and bring on more developers. We're processing a high volume of invoices, but the rest of the business has around 200 employees. We have large capital expenditures building these data centers but not a high volume of back office processes.
I have not necessarily been able to evaluate what it would look like to grow with 20 automations. We could keep a steady pace of new smaller-scale processes and look for new large-scale opportunities, especially with some of these new technologies. However, I don't think we'll be a large enough business to need these massive deployments.
How are customer service and support?
I rate UiPath support 10 out of 10. I have submitted tickets periodically for a specific issue, or when I'm trying to solve a new problem, I haven't faced before. I am the only UiPath-focused employee at my company. I can work on iterating, researching, and troubleshooting.
I've always been able to put in a ticket and get on a call with some people. They're able to connect me with someone and help me understand either the problem I'm facing or the fact that we've been able to have more calls recently about new potential. The online community is also an excellent resource for finding ways to approach and solve problems. Their support has been great.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to UiPath, there was no different solution implemented at my current company. At a previous company, we conducted a comparison between Automation Anywhere and UiPath and opted for UiPath due to its greater flexibility, capabilities, and entry offerings. At the start of my career, UiPath was one of the first to offer free online training and a lower entry point for businesses just starting out.
Automation Anywhere followed suit. While reviewing them, I built the same process in both systems and presented it to our executives. Automation Anywhere seemed focused on the financial industry. It had some excellent features if that's what you were what you cared about, but I greatly preferred the UiPath's general flexibility, capabilities, and breadth of integration. I've done some small-scale things with Microsoft Power Automate. That tool is hard to work with. They try to make it easy for non-technical people, but it means that I have a hell of a time trying to get it to do what I want.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, and it was conducted in-house. We host our own virtual machines for running automations and we are a cloud customer.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was done in-house.
What was our ROI?
We've seen the greatest ROI from large-scale invoice processing, but small-scale operations have had great returns. Before automation, we were processing 3,000 invoices monthly, which took 15 minutes each. It still requires time to review them in the Action Center manually.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
UiPath's pricing and licensing have been reasonable and manageable for us. Despite challenges in constantly monitoring SharePoint folders, UiPath has worked well within our resources. We have a fully dedicated, unattended license for our invoice processing, which needs to be a top priority and is always running throughout the day. We have another one for all of our other scheduled automations, and we've been pleased with that so far.
What other advice do I have?
I rate UiPath 10 out of 10. I'm incredibly impressed with the pace of new features that have come out. I have been working with UiPath for six years since I graduated college, and I'm blown away by what's coming out every year.
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.
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSystem admin at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Speeds up development while offering additional flexibility
Pros and Cons
- "It helped in relieving some of the burden related to paperwork and regulation, making people happy and excited about new opportunities."
- "Scaling efficiently and supporting people with technical information has been challenging."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case involves the democratization of software through the Sysen Lever and Power User Program. Essentially, we are trying to automate complex processes that can be easily rules-based, eliminating the need for repetitive motions.
How has it helped my organization?
UiPath helped relieve some of the burden related to paperwork and regulation, making people happy and excited about new opportunities.
What is most valuable?
The drag-and-drop features are useful, and having the ability to integrate technical scripting is beneficial. It speeds up development while offering additional flexibility.
What needs improvement?
Scaling efficiently and supporting people with technical information has been challenging.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have encountered scalability issues trying to figure out how to make the operations work with different setups. My particular employee group is all remote.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did not evaluate other options before choosing iMac.
What other advice do I have?
I rate UiPath an eight out of ten.
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.
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSoftware Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Helps to automate mundane business processes prone to human error
Pros and Cons
- "The tool has improved our organization by reducing operational costs through process automation and cutting FTEs. We can do more regression testing for test automation, leading to better products. It's helped minimize our on-premises footprint to some extent and aided organizational restructuring."
- "UiPath is pretty easy to use for small—and medium-scale automation. However, maintaining the code becomes a bit more difficult when building large-scale, enterprise-level automation. Areas for improvement include versioning for collaborative projects and reporting features currently lacking."
What is our primary use case?
We use the tool for robotic process automation to automate mundane business processes prone to human error.
What is most valuable?
Some of UiPath's best features are its ability to interact well with applications and its less proneness to errors. It allows us to implement end-to-end automation, which is very important for our organization since we have many time-consuming job runs.
The tool has improved our organization by reducing operational costs through process automation and cutting FTEs. We can do more regression testing for test automation, leading to better products. It's helped minimize our on-premises footprint to some extent and aided organizational restructuring.
We've used the academy courses, which are good for beginners and advanced users. UiPath has sped up digital transformation, allowing quick fixes without building entire new solutions. It reduces human errors by 60-70 percent and saves us around 2500 hours.
What needs improvement?
UiPath is pretty easy to use for small—and medium-scale automation. However, maintaining the code becomes a bit more difficult when building large-scale, enterprise-level automation. Areas for improvement include versioning for collaborative projects and reporting features currently lacking.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
As for stability, I'd rate it as six out of ten. Once a project is built, we face many issues, and we often have to go back to UiPath. So, in my opinion, stability could be improved.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company has 10-15 users. Based on my experience, I would say UiPath is a scalable solution. I'd rate its scalability around seven or eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The user community for UiPath is great. We can ask about any issues we have on the community forum and usually get them resolved. Regarding technical support, it's amazing that they respond quickly. However, their level one engineer could be better educated on the tool before moving to level two support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used an open-source Java Selenium solution but switched to UiPath for better security and platform capabilities.
How was the initial setup?
We have the tool deployed in the cloud version. The deployment process was straightforward—it was pretty easy, mostly just drag and drop. Because of the number of projects we have, the initial deployment took days to months.
We use UiPath in multiple locations globally, including the US and India. The solution requires maintenance, particularly from a coding perspective.
What was our ROI?
I'd estimate UiPath has helped us save around 10-15 percent in costs.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
UiPath is a pretty expensive tool compared to what the market offers, including open-source alternatives that can do similar things.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would recommend UiPath to other users. The main reasons I like it and would recommend it are that it's very user-interactive and its capabilities are really good.
On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate it overall around eight.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Sep 16, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
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sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
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