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Hamid-Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead at Phenologix
Real User
Top 20
Good document understanding and saves labor costs but can be expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "It saves manual labor. Those that don't use it have to hire ten to 15 people to do the same job."
  • "These days, document understanding costs can be very high, so we've implemented it only for two or three customers. It can be very costly for clients, even though the functionality is very good."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for automation. I have implemented the solution in many ways. Some clients need to send us files via email or through Excel. We are reading and creating the file into some internal systems. 

Some other clients need the solution to read invoices from different vendors. We get them from Outlook email and fetch data. 

How has it helped my organization?

We are working for finance organizations. For example, the Canadian government is creating rules to discharge loan applications within one month or suffer a fine. We are helping financial companies discharge files on a daily basis to help them maintain compliance and reduce fines. 

What is most valuable?

Many features are quite useful for us.

The document understanding is something we use a lot. It's very good and easy to use. It was a unique solution at the time. More are providing it now. However, having document understanding at the time was implemented for a US-based client who really liked it. 

It's useful for building automation. It's good for the client side. 

The Studio is very useful for automation and development purposes.

It saves manual labor. Those that don't use it have to hire ten to 15 people to do the same job.

We are able to implement end-to-end automation. To start, we'll meet with the operations team and they'll describe their problems. For example, what they do on a daily basis and how many people they need. Then, we create a requirement document to find ways to move forward and streamline. 

We work for a financial client. They have the top three or four Canadian banks attached to them. They are all providing files. There's money involved in every transaction on a daily basis. If there's any mistake it can cost a lot for the companies. By automating the processes, and removing human error, we are saving a lot of money for these companies. 

We use the user community and forums. They are all very helpful. Every time we have a question, we find a solution to them. We can also find answers on YouTube. It helps us find solutions easily. 

The product has helped us minimize the on-prem footprint. We're using the on-prem orchestrator and it's been helpful. 

I haven't used the UiPath Academy courses, however, we direct new users to it. It's very easy to use and helps new people get up to speed and understand quickly.

It helps speed up and reduce the cost of digital transformation. We're working to automate more on a daily basis. It's continuously upgrading and developing. 

When it comes to document understanding, it's helped reduce human error. It's given us more power to check things, like inappropriate invoices are set aside and they give the user the chance to change the mistake where it makes sense.

It helps free up employee time.  

What needs improvement?

These days, document understanding costs can be very high, so we've implemented it only for two or three customers. It can be very costly for clients, even though the functionality is very good.

They are continuously improving their product. I have no specific complaints as to its functionality. 

It would be ideal if UiPath had more cloud functionality, similar to Power Automate. 

Buyer's Guide
UiPath
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about UiPath. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution since 2019.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is usually stable. Sometimes the activity doesn't work as expected. 

I'd rate the stability seven out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have four developer licenses and five developer-attended bots plus five unattended bots. The machines are Azure and on-cloud.

The solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very helpful. I've never had an issue with them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I'm also familiar with Power Automate, which allows you to run processes over the cloud. You don't need to run anything through the portal. You need to connect the bot to your machine to run any process in UiPath.

Another difference is the licensing costs. Power Automate offers very low pricing. 

I don't work with any other RPA tools. 

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial setup. 

There is some configuration required when upgrading. We don't have much maintenance and usually engage the UiPath support team when we need to do configurations. 

What about the implementation team?

The UiPath support team assisted our admin team with the setup.

What was our ROI?

I don't have specific details in regard to ROI. 

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

The pricing is quite expensive compared to Power Automate.

Clients are charged on a yearly basis. I'm not sure of the exact amount. 

What other advice do I have?

I am a systems integrator.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten. 

I'd recommend the UiPath Academy to new users and I'd recommend the product to other users looking to automate. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid 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: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Hemakumar Gv - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at RE:CODE SOLUTIONS LLC
Real User
Top 10
Eliminates human errors by consistently processing 100 percent of the tasks each time without requiring any human intervention
Pros and Cons
  • "UiPath's most valuable feature is its ability to view and extract any data throughout the entire development process in the automation framework."
  • "The document understanding has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I am a developer, and I use UiPath to extract PDFs for invoices and logistics in the banking industry. 

UiPath can be deployed either on-premises or in the cloud, depending on the customer's requirements.

How has it helped my organization?

There are times when the logic is difficult, but the majority of the time, it is easy to build automation using UiPath.

UiPath enables us to implement end-to-end automation, which is essential for our customers. We gather all the requirements from the customer, analyze their feasibility, and proceed to the development phase where we build bots according to the customer's needs. After that, we move on to User Acceptance Testing to ensure the bots meet expectations. Finally, we deploy the automation into production.

UiPath aids in enhancing organizations by cutting down costs and saving time. Without UiPath, a task like collecting and uploading information that typically takes humans around 40 minutes can be completed by the UiPath bot in just ten minutes.

Our customers primarily use UiPath for cost savings.

In addition to saving time, UiPath also eliminates human errors by consistently processing 100 percent of the tasks each time without requiring any human intervention.

UiPath helps reduce our customer's on-premises footprint.

UiPath Academy is excellent for learning about the solution's capabilities and how it works, especially in the beginning. It provides end-to-end courses and certifications for both beginners and advanced users.

UiPath accelerates digital transformation and reduces costs by eliminating the human element. However, this transformation does require IT application support for configurations and security.

What is most valuable?

UiPath's most valuable feature is its ability to view and extract any data throughout the entire development process in the automation framework.

What needs improvement?

The document understanding has room for improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

UiPath is extremely stable and that is why customers ask for the solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate UiPath's scalability a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used Microsoft Power Automate. When comparing it with UiPath, one significant difference is that we can use UiPath on a local machine to easily build a process, upload it, and create schedules effortlessly. Microsoft has an advantage in the cloud, but it is not as effective on-premises.

How was the initial setup?

The number of people required for each deployment depends on the complexity of each project. For more complex projects, two to three people are required, and it can take up to three weeks to complete.

What was our ROI?

Our customers experience a return on investment when using UiPath, owing to the time saved in performing tasks and the improved accuracy compared to manual efforts.

We can start to see value after one month of using UiPath.

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

There are two versions of UiPath; the first is the free community version, which is limited, and the second is the premium version which requires payment but is recommended for large-scale productions.

UiPath's cost is acceptable.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate UiPath a nine out of ten. UiPath is reliable and accurate.

The maintenance is easy. We only need one person to monitor and maintain UiPath.

I recommend trying the free community version first to ensure that it meets the organization's requirements and then consider upgrading to the premium version in order to handle larger projects.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
UiPath
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about UiPath. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Software Engineer at Accenture
Real User
Helps us automate output from PDFs, reducing human time and error
Pros and Cons
  • "UiPath is easy to use without any training. Anyone can use it. There is also great customer support."
  • "It needs improvement in terms of optimization. Sometimes the tools slow down when you are working on a huge data set or if the internet connectivity is slow in your area."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to automate output from PDFs.

How has it helped my organization?

It reduces human time and human error compared to manual processes. It helps a lot in improving business productivity, project productivity, and scalability. It also saves us money.

What is most valuable?

UiPath is easy to use without any training. Anyone can use it. There is also great customer support. And if you want to learn new things or enhance your skills, you can choose the UiPath Academy training courses.

It is very secure and cheaper and faster.

What needs improvement?

It needs improvement in terms of optimization. Sometimes the tools slow down when you are working on a huge data set or if the internet connectivity is slow in your area. Otherwise, it works as well as the other tools that are available in the market.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for the last three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I give the stability a 10 out of 10. It is very stable compared to other solutions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is also good, a 10 out of 10.

I have deployed it across different departments and different locations, per the requirements of the various projects I have worked on.

How are customer service and support?

I would give a 10 out of 10 to customer support. If you have any queries you can post them to the community. Last year I was facing some issues related to some processes and I posted queries on the community. I got a response after some time. That was very good for me.

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

Before UiPath, I tried a related Microsoft tool. 

How was the initial setup?

I did one deployment with the team, but I'm not privy to how deployment works from scratch. But the deployment is of medium difficulty, not very straightforward and not very easy.

I have used UiPath in different types of deployments, depending on the project. Sometimes it's on a private cloud. For example, if it is a project related to deployment on the client side or server, we use the cloud services. If we want to test something on a website or another cloud, then we use the SaaS.

The solution does require some maintenance. The number of people needed depends on the project's size and complexity.

What was our ROI?

It gives a great ROI. It gives around 25 to 30 percent return. It works well.

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

The pricing is moderate. It's not that cheap and not very expensive. Every organization can buy or renew a license.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have used Microsoft Power Automate. I chose UiPath because it is cheaper and has great customer support. There is a huge community of developers, more than for Microsoft Power Automate.

What other advice do I have?

If we're working on a project related to website automation, it requires a minimum of five to 10 people. And if we're working on a small project, there might be a single person or maybe two who work on it. The responsibilities relate to developing, testing, and hosting.

If an engineer wants to learn more about RPA, they should consider this tool first. I always recommend UiPath if you are working as an individual. If you invest X, it will give you 100X.

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
Johannes Becker - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner at TPA
Real User
Excellent customer service, works very well, and so far, there is nothing that we couldn't solve with it
Pros and Cons
  • "It has been helpful in centralizing. We are a tax, audit, and accounting company. We are centralizing for one of our partner companies with multinational clients. We have to centralize the results of a client in 40 countries every month by reading some information out of their balance sheets. Previously, we had to do this manually, and now, we have automated it. Internally, we also have a client with more than 200 companies. We have to centralize about 200 balance sheets every month for them. That's something that we have automated internally."
  • "Some of the licenses, such as for Document Understanding, are a little bit expensive, and we hope that they will reduce the prices over time. Apart from this, I don't have anything to improve."

What is our primary use case?

We are partners of UiPath, and we are also programming for them. We are using it internally in our group, but we're also using it to develop automations for our clients. 

In terms of its use cases, we have implemented several automations in financial departments, mostly related to preparing reports, but UiPath is not limited to that. We also had use cases in HR departments for calculating bonuses, for instance, for large companies with more than 1,000 employees or for centralizing the hours worked at certain building sites for a construction company, etc. 

We automate whatever a client needs to be automated. We will discuss possible use cases with a client and prepare a short evaluation regarding the costs and benefits, then it´s up to the client to decide.  

UiPath develops increasingly towards cloud solutions. We still have clients who prefer to have it on-prem, but new clients will mostly opt for cloud solutions. The clients decide on the cloud provider, and we basically use whatever the client wants. 

How has it helped my organization?

One of the most interesting use cases we had was for a carrier that has about 300 trucks all over Europe. They check the bills that the truck drivers bring back from the gas stations and compare the amount of fuel in the bills with the consumption the GPS system of the truck has actually recorded. In the past they prepared these reports manually, which was quite complicated. It took them almost half an hour for one report, and that 300 times per month. They had to compare the figures from the GPS systems with the ones that were stored in the cloud and with the figures that they had in their accounting based on the bills from the truck drivers. We automated the whole process. With the automation we could reduce the time for preparing a report from half an hour to about 35 seconds, and the process is completely running in the background. Apart from the data regarding fuel consumption, we also included some additional information in the reports that they always wanted to see, but never could implement, due to time constraints - such as when a truck is due for the next service, how much time the drivers use cruise control, and so on. This was quite an interesting and a little bit unusual use case.

Very often, UiPath has been helpful in centralizing data. TPA is a tax, audit, and accounting company, and internationally we are part of the Baker Tilly network. One of our international Baker tilly partners has to centralize the financial results of a multinational client from 40 countries every month by retrieving and processing information out of the balance sheets. Previously, they had to prepare this manually - automating it saved dozens of hours every month. At TPA, for instance we have a client with more than 200 companies. We have to integrate data of more than 200 general ledgers every month for them. That's something that we have automated internally.

What is most valuable?

In two and a half years of using UiPath, we haven't had any issues regarding its stability. It is working very well.

Their customer service is excellent. Whenever we have a question, we immediately get a response. We have calls with their teams, and being in Bucharest, where UiPath also has one of their offices, we are often able to meet them in person. That's working pretty well.

They are permanently improving their products, that´s a huge advantege compared to other RPA providers. In comparison, I have heard that Automation Anywhere sometimes has issues that remain unresolved for quite a long time, but UiPath is permanently bringing up new versions, new products, and new solutions. Until now, we did not run into any issues, we could automate anything we had agreed upon with our clients. We have not had one case where we would have reached the limitations of UiPath.

What needs improvement?

Some of the licenses, such as for Document Understanding, are a little bit expensive, and sometimes potential clients hesitate when they learn about the license fees. We hope that they will reduce the prices over time. Apart from this, I don't have anything to improve.

In terms of new features, it is already difficult for us to keep up with what they're offering because there is so much happening, and we always have to take care that we're not missing out on something.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for two and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, we have had zero issues. It is working very well.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is really very good. When it is about new products, such as Document Understanding, we have to understand:

  • How does it actually work?
  • What can it do?
  • What it cannot do?
  • How to sell to the client?

We often have very detailed calls with the staff of UiPath, and if the client is in Romania, we often go with somebody from UiPath's sales team to the client. When the client is abroad, we frequently include somebody from UiPath in the calls to have an introduction for the client.


How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

When we started with RPA three years ago, we did not use UiPath. We used Foxtrot/Nintex at the beginning, which was quite unreliable, they had severe stability issues, especially with more complex automations. We stopped working with Foxtrot/Nintex after about three or four months because there was something going on all the time, and we couldn't offer it to clients.

How was the initial setup?

Usually, we start with relatively simple automation. Most of the clients start with a small studio and one robot license, which is anyways included with the studio for an extended proof of concept. They have done automation where they see that it is working, and then they start discussing other more complex automations with us.

We also have clients who start right away with quite complex processes, sometimes almost too complex. If a process would need six months or more to automate, clients tend to lose patience. We always prefer to start with a process that can go live after two, three, or four weeks so that they see that it is working, and then extend it step by step. 

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


What other advice do I have?

My advice would be to start automating something that really hurts but is not an extremely complicated use case. It should be a process that takes only a few minutes being performed manually, but is being performed frequently. These are  use cases that usually can be automated within a few days because they are not very complex processes, and automating them delivers quick results. Based on this first experience, you can have a discussion with us or the other partners of UiPath to see what else would be automatable in your organization. Many times, clients have some suggestions of what could be automated, in most cases classical RPA solutions, but there is so much more all around RPA to better understand your own organisation, such as process mining, task mining, and other solutions that UiPath has recently finalized and brought into the market. 

I would rate it a strong nine out of 10. It is not yet perfect, but then, nothing is perfect.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Associate Consultant at Capgemini
Real User
User-friendly interface, saves us time and money, and the support is good
Pros and Cons
  • "In addition to savings in time and cost, UiPath further saves us money because of the reduction in human error."
  • "Many of the features that UiPath has are good, although better documentation is required for them."

What is our primary use case?

I use this solution to automate business processes that are rule-based. This includes the automation of different applications and background processes, such as posting invoices.

How has it helped my organization?

UiPath makes it very easy to develop automations. The interface is user-friendly and makes it easy to perform operations or use services, whether it is a database or another product. We can perform tasks on Microsoft Azure, for example. Many operations can be completed using inbuilt packages.

For whatever activity we want to perform, it only involves using the drag-and-drop capability, so it is easy to do. Anybody can do it. No programming-specific knowledge, like .NET, is required.

It is easy to develop custom components, which makes life easier.

UiPath allows us to implement end-to-end automation starting with the process analysis and ending with the monitoring. This is important to us because for any new process that we identify, using the task capture methods helps us to gather the documents that are required to automate it. After we develop the automation in Studio, we can easily monitor it using Orchestrator. It is helpful to have a complete solution from start to end, with all of the features that it has.

Using automation means that we increase our process output with minimal effort, which is something that every company wants to do because there is a saving in terms of manpower. It is definitely helpful in our organization.

The amount of time or cost savings depends on the process. For example, some processes that take four or five people to complete can be done using a single bot. Also, people can only work six or seven hours a day, whereas, with automation, the bot can run 24 hours a day. Not only is the process done more quickly but at less cost.

Attended automation has helped to scale RPA benefits because we have some scenarios where human collaboration is required. These are business-critical processes, so any level of automation is important for us.

In addition to savings in time and cost, UiPath further saves us money because of the reduction in human error. When a human is performing a task, mistakes happen. When the bots are used, there are no errors and when the number of mistakes is reduced, the business has more income.

UiPath has helped to speed up digital transformation, although hosting it requires IT support. For example, if UiPath needs to be updated or our infrastructure needs to be expanded, then it requires the help of IT support.

What is most valuable?

One of the things that I like is that they keep adding new features, such as machine learning models. For example, if you are reading a PDF copy of an invoice then the RPA should be able to identify and understand it. Rather than using rules to identify different formats for different kinds of invoices, machine learning and AI should be involved.

We are using the AI functionality and it gives us the ability to have more automation, saving more time and manual effort, and at less cost. This is possible because UiPath provides pre-built and pre-trained AI models that we can import, depending on the use case.

Some of the processes we have implemented are very complex, and these are the ones that we need AI for. Some of them involve human interaction and cover use cases such as taking different formats of invoices and pushing them to SAP. We have had good success when working with the machine learning capabilities.

The Action Center and Task Manager are very good for business users. The features are helpful because these days, business users are expecting more than a simple rule-based operation in RPA systems.

UiPath Studio integrates well with third-party tools such as Git. It is easy to maintain code from within Studio.

What needs improvement?

Many of the features that UiPath has are good, although better documentation is required for them.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using UiPath for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have had issues with previous versions but the latest updates have resolved my problems. As of now, the stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is very good in UiPath.

We have five UiPath users in our project; one is a lead, another is a manager, there are two developers and a consultant. At this point, I'm not sure if we plan to increase our usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have been in contact with technical support in the past, and I would rate them a ten out of ten. They respond very nicely and help to resolve our problems.

How was the initial setup?

When we deploy processes, it takes about half an hour. It varies depending on the process but half an hour is the average per activity.

UiPath is easy to maintain and support. We have a support team and QA teams, and they are responsible for monitoring the processes and the bots. They will check the activities that take place in production.

What about the implementation team?

The number of staff required for maintenance depends on the architecture that the client has.

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

The licensing model is very good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We chose UiPath because it is more flexible and has better licensing terms than some competing products.

What other advice do I have?

We use some third-party tools in conjunction with UiPath. For example, to maintain the code and for versioning control, we use Git. We have two or three years of experience with Git and not only is it compatible with UiPath, but it is also easy to use.

My advice for anybody who is implementing UiPath is to start with the documentation. There is a lot of good documentation that includes best practices and plenty of examples. Using the documentation, one can easily learn UiPath.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
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
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Saves time, integrates well with Microsoft applications, fast and high-quality technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "UiPath has the simplest low-code user interface that I've seen in my professional life."
  • "If you don't change the name of the activity manually then you will lose some information during logging. It would be useful to put a simple incremental ID on each activity, so even if you don't change the activity name, you will know where the process becomes stuck."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is the automation of many reports, dashboards, and tables that were created manually by some of my colleagues. The tasks involve collecting information from SAP Solution Manager, manipulating some of the data based on business rules that have been implemented, and then storing the data in a specific way that can be used in the next part of the workflow. This includes using Excel and the aim is to create a PDF report that is sent to the top business line managers.

UiPath is the perfect tool to implement a solution like this, with continuous operative tasks between Microsoft native applications such as Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

How has it helped my organization?

Before our UiPath implementation, the organization spent approximately two junior FTE on these tasks, and another 0.2 senior-level FTE in order to guide junior resources.

This process runs every day and if these tasks are executed manually, it means that two resources need to be staffed forever. At the end of the project, the organization gained a boost of two FTE saved and released, able to move on to other projects. This produced real value for the organization.

The efficiency of the process was the key success factor.

What is most valuable?

UiPath has the simplest low-code user interface that I've seen in my professional life. You simply drag and drop the activity on the flow, in a clear way, with clear names, and manipulating clear variables/arguments based on parameters. These are the key points in my humble opinion.

The library creation platform is really simple to use. Basically, it works like a normal flowchart application and once you've published packages, you can use and re-use these packages like activities in another workflow.

Last but not least, official Microsoft office integration is really useful, although all of the official integrations are very easy to use.

The UiPath Connect! and UiPath Go! communities come to our support every time we need to implement something challenging.

What needs improvement?

There are features that could be implemented on the coding side; for example, automatically assigning a unique ID for the "activity" used during the flow. As of now, if you use an activity via simple drag and drop, the activity keeps the original name. If you don't change the name of the activity manually then you will lose some information during logging. It would be useful to put a simple incremental ID on each activity, so even if you don't change the activity name, you will know where the process becomes stuck.

During the last update, the connection between robots and the Orchestrator (cloud) changed a lot. It would be a good idea to provide an easy way to use a single type of robot, regardless if it is a standard robot, floating robot, connected user, etc. Basically, have a simpler way to deploy robots in development, testing, and production environments.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with UiPath since 2017, and I plan to continue.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is really stable, and this is true for the on-premises deployment as well as the cloud version.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is really scalable. It can be used in other organizational departments or on other robots in order to boost your automated tasks.

How are customer service and technical support?

The vendor provides really good support; fast response time and great quality!

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

UiPath was my first RPA solution.

How was the initial setup?

During the initial setup, care should be taken when configuring the robot connection. If you choose the "modern folder" setup then you could be struggling.

What about the implementation team?

I am part of the vendor team, implementing RPA for other clients.

What was our ROI?

We have a 300% return on investment.

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

The price and setup costs need to be supported by a strong business case.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, WorkFusion, and Selenium (for web automation).

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid 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
Operations Support Sr Manager at Etisalat UAE
Real User
Unattended robots save us time, provide good value, and the training is good
Pros and Cons
  • "The unattended, back-office robots are the most beneficial feature."
  • "The Form Builder for back-end robots needs to be a web portal instead of a full desktop application."

What is our primary use case?

We use Studio, the Orchestrator, and we have attended and unattended robots.

Our primary use case is automating back-office processes from the corporate side. One example is the automation for ticket closure for some of the customer complaints. We also use it to fill information gaps between systems. Instead of having information run through standard APIs, we have it copied over from one system to another.

We run automations in a virtual environment, and the implementation was pretty easy and quick.

We used the Community Edition before purchasing our license. From the point that we purchased our UiPath license until we had our first robot was approximately one week. We found it to be very easy and very fast. We, as a Contact Center, usually face a lot of problems when we suggest any requirements. When we started with RPA, it took approximately one month for a very complex process to be automated.

With respect to how easy it is to automate our company's processes, on a scale of one to five, I would rate this solution a five. It is very easy. You can use the UI, or you can use APIs for the connection. In the end, you can do it.

On a scale of one to five, judging how beneficial it is, I would rate the training a five, for sure. In two or three weeks, an RPA developer can do everything.

How has it helped my organization?

In the Contact Center, the key issue is the handling time. RPA has helped us to decrease our time, and eventually, it will help to decrease the headcount.

For one of our processes, it reduced the time it takes from five minutes to somewhere between forty and fifty seconds. That saves a lot of time.

In terms of eliminating human errors, there has not been much difference because we have very strict processes and strict steps for them, so human error was minimal, to begin with. Our success is in the reduction of time to complete them.

What is most valuable?

The unattended, back-office robots are the most beneficial feature.

What needs improvement?

The Form Builder for back-end robots needs to be a web portal instead of a full desktop application. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

With respect to the stability, on a scale from one to five, I would rate this solution between three and four. For exception handling, it means that a senior RPA developer has to understand the reasons behind the process. If they have not been exposed to it then it is easier to perform some simple fixes and continue the process.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have implemented eighteen processes so far, they are they used in several departments. In total, we have approximately four thousand people who are using this solution.

From a scalability point of view, we're not that confident that we can have the robots running twenty-four hours a day with a huge transaction. Being a telecom operator, we have a lot of transactions and the stability of the unattended robots needs some enhancement.

How are customer service and technical support?

I think that both customer support and technical support are very good. When we have any questions or any issues, we are connected immediately. 

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

We did not use another RPA solution prior to this one.

We learned about RPA because one of the contractors was working on an RPA PoC at our company, and we were convinced that it could help us a lot. The IT people were invited to see the technology and from there, they decided to implement it with our in-house IT group.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward. We used the Community Edition and it is very easy to use. 

What about the implementation team?

We performed the implementation on our own.

What was our ROI?

We realized ROI in approximately six months. Our cost savings come from savings in agents.

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

From a cost perspective, unattended robots are better. They run twenty-four hours a day and do not require running on a client machine. The attended robots are not as cost-effective.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate one other RPA solution before choosing this one. Our main reasons for choosing UiPath were the price and the ease of development. The Community Edition is very useful, and we are easily able to find RPA developers working in UiPath. This is different than with some of the competing products.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody researching this solution is that it is easy to download and it has a big community. A PoC can be done easily, and you can decide from there whether this solution is suitable.

This is a good solution, but the stability of the unattended robots needs to be improved.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1214526 - PeerSpot reviewer
Robotic and Intelligent Automation Lead at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A user-friendly solution with good training and is easy for people with C# experience
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is user-friendly."
  • "I would like to see more machine learning features and capabilities for more accurate OCR."

What is our primary use case?

I have used UiPath Orchestrator, and we have created both attended and unattended robots for our clients.

We have been using the new AI and OCR technologies with UiPath, and we are currently trying to implement the Citrix log capability that was recently introduced.

We are not running our automations in a virtual environment. When we automate any Citrix-based application, it's all email-based. There is a Citrix receiver and we communicate with that, which helps automate Citrix applications much faster.

Most of the clients I had seen have been running in virtual environments, although I have seen some of our clients running on the desktop. We have also seen hybrid scenarios.

One thing is that virtual environments can be standardized pretty quickly. So, that's an advantage. Normally, the companies, which are leaning towards more cloud now, will be happy with this. So, I think that is one factor. As you move virtual machines to the cloud you can migrate your bots to the cloud faster.

I have worked on various different domains including the public sector, commercial, healthcare, energy, utility, and federal. These are the different customers for which we are implementing solutions. Now, the customers are moving towards AI and natural language processing. They are more into chatbots, how they can use artificial intelligence, making use of data science, and putting more machine learning on board.

With respect to how easy it is to automate our company's processes, on a scale of one to five, I would rate it two and a half. I'd say it is about marketing. You can develop anything. There are very small processes that you can develop with having minimal experience. However, when you start implementing complex processes, I would say you need to be a background developer.

On a scale of one to five, judging how beneficial it is, I would rate the training a five. All of my team members have been using UiPath Academy for training and certification. It's not just with the U.S., but outside the U.S. as well.

From the point that a UiPath license is purchased until the first robot is ready totally depends upon what use case we are implementing. There are different methodologies that people use. Some build the bot without exceptions and it can go to production. Like a very simple process can go to production in two to three weeks. A more complex bot will take eight to ten weeks, and depending upon the process, it can go longer. I have seen tasks when a human is performing the job and it takes him around twenty minutes per transaction. But, when the bot comes in, it actually completed that same transaction in five minutes. But, to develop that five minutes of processing, it was understanding system availability and testing. Then you have to do load testing. It takes ten weeks or so.

Our clients decide to implement RPA for several reasons. The first reason, of course, is to have work completed faster. Second, when there is a workload, you can work on it more efficiently and with fewer people. Consider an open enrollment in October, where the open enrollment starts at 10:00 AM and there are a lot of transactions flowing in. Now you have to hire a human and train them. With the bot, we can just scale up instead. Finally, the bots are errorless.

How has it helped my organization?

In terms of eliminating human errors, it is a one hundred percent reduction. When you implement bots, it's error-free, as long as you have implemented it properly. The robot does not get tired, so the error rate is actually zero.

I would say, more important than saving money, it's more about business growth and client satisfaction. Our clients all serve someone, so it's more about customer satisfaction. The employees benefit because sometimes they have to do repetitive jobs, and they get bored with them. So, they can use automation and apply their brains somewhere fruitful.

Overall, automation is always improving customer satisfaction. Response time is improved, errors are reduced, and productivity increases because work is being done around the clock.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is that it is user-friendly. I was a coding developer, so I know how to write code, and I've also used other RPA tools. This solution is workflow-driven, where you can easily relay what you had written. If someone has to read the code, it is very readable.

Second, I've always been a Microsoft technology guy, and they have provided the facility where we can implement any of the C# code into it. We have .NET code, and that's why I like it. We say it's a tool, but I would say it can also be leveraged as a custom coding tool. We can actually do whatever custom code you want.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see more machine learning features and capabilities for more accurate OCR.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

With respect to the stability, on a scale from one to five, I would rate this solution a five. It's stable. The thing is, with the software, we have a few glitches here and there, but what I like is that we have the right support. When we actually reach out to verify, we get a faster response and also a faster solution. The responses are effective and fast.

How are customer service and technical support?

The responses are effective and fast.

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

I have seen some cases where there is backend automation, but it was a series of processes. With this solution, they combine all of it into one. There were few human-interactive automations. Rather, it was batch-job processing of databases, etc.

How was the initial setup?

The complexity of the initial setup depends upon the client.

There is admin access and a whole lot involved. There are safety concerns from client to client with their security policies, and it may take time. I have hardly seen any clients where it's easy to set up, within a week or two. It takes longer because of the client's own security policies. You have to get a lot of clearance because there is a lot of admin access that UiPath needs. If I had to rate the setup, I would give it three out of five.

A dedicated person is required to maintain this solution. The same way humans get sick and need doctors, the bots get sick and you need a maintenance person.

What was our ROI?

I would estimate that our clients see ROI, on average, in one year. It depends on what they are trying to save. If it is FTE then eventually you'll be getting everything. If you are trying to have a faster experience, it totally depends. There is a development cost and a tool cost that have to be considered. It also depends on the complexity of the processes and how long they take to code.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have clients who use almost all of the RPA solutions. The most common ones are Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and WorkFusion. We don't recommend. We advise. We can implement regardless of the solution.

The choice is dependent on various factors. What we have seen is that most companies have a technology stack. Some have a Java shop, while others have a Microsoft shop, or others will use a different technology stack again. People tend to choose what best matches their technology.

What other advice do I have?

When we started initially, most of the business users were afraid that the bot was going to take their job. That is not the case. The bot is actually helping them with their substantive, day-to-day work, by handing the repetitive work. So, after seeing the benefits, I've seen a lot of users now leaning towards bots, and they are very happy with RPA.

I am looking forward to the new version where they have implemented libraries. One thing they have done is merged the media packages into one. 

From a cost perspective, there is a difference between attended and unattended bots. I have implemented both, but most of the plans are moving towards unattended. The unattended bots come at a higher cost. For an attended bot, it is being used while the user is at the machine, and is more like an interactive bot. While there is a huge difference in cost, I still prefer unattended bots. I see less benefit in using attended bots and say that I would use unattended eighty percent of the time.

When I'm implementing an unattended bot, I am actually putting it on a machine. I can run as many unattended bots as I need on that one machine. I can do this with attended bots, but the thing is, you need user interactions. Now think in this way, if the user is not there, the attended bot is waiting for that user. Secondly, I see some of the use cases that are really helpful and suitable for attended, but I would rather go with unattended because it's going to show that I don't need a physical machine and it will be more efficient.

My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is to start with the UiPath Academy and do the training. Then, look through some videos, implement a process or two and see how comfortable you are. At this point, you can move forward with it. I would say that it is pretty easy to understand.

This is a good solution, but I'm a hardcore custom developer. I still want that flexibility in my hand to do whatever I can do. With a tool, there are always limitations in terms of policy and rules.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user