We performed a comparison between OpCon and Tidal Automation based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Features: OpCon offers flexibility, integration capabilities, and self-service features, reducing reliance on IT. It also excels in automation, graphical user interface, and database functionality. Tidal Automation has a strong job scheduler, real-time monitoring, and error handling. It also provides role-based access control and compliance controls for data security.
OpCon has areas that can be enhanced, such as its online platform, Solution Manager, and the process of upgrading to newer versions. It would be advantageous to have a mobile application and improved failover functionality. Tidal Automation requires improvements in its user interface, pricing structure, and integration capabilities. Additionally, it could benefit from advanced reporting, artificial intelligence, and machine learning features.
Service and Support: OpCon's customer service receives positive feedback for its promptness and successful resolutions, whereas Tidal Automation's support team is lauded for their expertise and willingness to assist. OpCon occasionally provides irrelevant solutions, while Tidal Automation sometimes overlooks less important matters.
Ease of Deployment: OpCon's initial setup necessitates collaboration with SMA consultants and training, making it complex. Tidal Automation offers a straightforward and easy setup with helpful documentation, resulting in a shorter deployment process.
Pricing: OpCon is recognized as having a high initial investment and being intricate to set up, however, it is regarded as a worthwhile product that offers good value for its cost. Tidal Automation is deemed to have a reasonable and predictable price, providing good value for the features and support it offers.
ROI: OpCon is a valuable investment that saves time, reduces errors, and eliminates the need for full-time operators. Tidal Automation provides cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved risk management.
Comparison Results: OpCon is the favored choice when compared to Tidal Automation. OpCon offers flexibility and integration capabilities, allowing users to automate tasks according to their specific requirements. The self-service feature improves productivity and reduces dependence on IT. Users particularly appreciate OpCon's graphical user interface and database functionality.
"Previously, we would receive a file from a vendor, then we would have to go through and make changes to individual accounts in our core system. There are probably between 10 to 20 accounts any given week. It probably took around five minutes for it to run through the report and make all the changes, and that was if there was nothing complicated with all very straightforward changes. Now, that is done in 30 seconds."
"The core system is the most valuable part: being able to view the processes that we've never really been able to view as a whole before. That is super-helpful, as is being alerted when issues arise."
"It seems like it would scale well."
"The biggest example in which OpCon has improved my organization is that we have to download and process files from the federal reserve several times a day. If we don't do it in a certain timeframe, we can be penalized. It's the fact that we can download these files, process them, get our accounting teams the information they need to work the exceptions that is one of the most important roles."
"The image scanning and anti-malware features are really valuable."
"It makes everything simpler. Once OpCon is in, it just repeats itself day after day. We don't have to worry about whether a process will be missed. It will run every single time. We are not dropping jobs or missing stuff. When you have multiple institutions, it's very easy to miss jobs. You get on a roll, start doing things, and then forget somebody. With OpCon, everything is done."
"I have been pleased with the support that we can get from the European partners. I think they are very good. All the time, when we have a question, they have an answer. It is very reassuring to have that support every day. Then, you can concentrate on your job and OpCon is just there to work. For us, it's perfect."
"It's very scalable. Right now we're barely scratching the surface of what it can do. I've looked at Symitar's instance of OpCon and they're running something like 13,000 jobs a day with all the clients that they have. So it can go from small use cases like ours to enterprise-level."
"The most valuable feature is the job scheduler, where you can schedule thousands of jobs to execute at specific times."
"We use the solution for cross-platform, cross-application workloads. That's the biggest use for us and that's the biggest advantage."
"The best feature is that it allows task scheduling based on particular occurrences, like the receipt of files, database updates, or system notifications."
"It has been super stable. There are no complaints on stability. We would not be using it if Tidal wasn't stable."
"We wouldn't be able to do many of the complex scheduling that we do today without it. For us, it is a mission-critical app. Because if it doesn't work or has a problem, then SAP doesn't function. It is that critical. So, it's an essential tool for us to manage and run SAP jobs."
"From a management standpoint, when using the solution for cross-platform, cross-application workloads, I've never had a problem with the application. It's very interactive, especially with the different security levels that they offer."
"Tidal integrates with other third-party systems, which makes it easy to connect and exchange data."
"We had a number of different schedulers in this organization and we've been porting everything that was running out of these other, unrelated schedulers into this scheduler. That has afforded us the ability to set up direct dependencies between processes that couldn't talk to one another before. Over the 15 years, we've definitely gained a lot from that. What had been manual controls have become automated controls..."
"The process of getting automations done and the process of testing them is a little complicated."
"I would like more web-based training from SMA. That would be nice. Our primary OpCon representative is phenomenal, but we would like some training opportunities for learning on our own. When I started utilizing OpCon, the sheer breadth of it made for a very daunting task. I was almost fearful to start, not to mention fearful to go change things and possibly hinder a job."
"There is some difficulty with the ease of use when I don't have some of the templates that were already created. More templates would be great. Non-core featured templates are my biggest struggle."
"More functionality within self-service would be greatly appreciated."
"We have not explored the possibility, but one of the areas for improvement would be more integration into Active Directory, to where it could do the creation of user accounts and the additional work to integrate third-party systems into payroll systems."
"It does not have the ability to interact with third-parties via the web/Internet. We have certain processes where we have to interact with a third-party on a website, and unfortunately OpCon just cannot do that."
"We are still in the early stages of our implementation, so at this point, I cannot see any needed improvements or features."
"At first, it's a little clunky, but once you learn it, it actually is very simple. You have to get over that initial learning hump."
"The solution needs more advanced reporting and data visualization capabilities to enable deeper analysis of job performance and trends."
"One thing I would like to see improved is that, currently, when an action is executed and finishes in Tidal, it's marked as either "success" or "failure." I would like more options that would flag a job according to multiple options, rather than just "good" or bad"... Tidal has told us that it's possible to do so through the product or with a workaround."
"Some users have complained that the initial setup process is complicated and time-consuming, while others have suggested that the software could offer more freedom in customizing processes."
"Tidal's adaptability and user-friendliness could be increased by integrating it with additional programmes and platforms."
"Initially, it is complicated to understand the functionalities as there is limited product documentation."
"The UI might have the potential to provide a more polished and user-centric encounter, promoting seamless engagements and simplifying the navigation process for individuals interacting with the software."
"One of the weaknesses of the product is, when something happens, it's difficult to find out the root cause. There are a lot of logs you can take a look at in Tidal. Sometimes, they are useful, but other times, they're not. That is mostly relegated to the administrative team. Users for the most part don't see that and don't know anything about that. They just know they have a problem, then it's up to the administrative team to see what happened and figure out the problem."
"The GUI, the graphical user interface, gets a little bit busy."
OpCon is ranked 9th in Workload Automation with 56 reviews while Tidal by Redwood is ranked 2nd in Workload Automation with 37 reviews. OpCon is rated 9.2, while Tidal by Redwood is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of OpCon writes "Gives us the ability to schedule dependent jobs across different mainframes". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Tidal by Redwood writes "Great visibility with a single pane of glass and a low learning curve". OpCon is most compared with Control-M, AutoSys Workload Automation, Automic Workload Automation, IBM Workload Automation and ActiveBatch by Redwood, whereas Tidal by Redwood is most compared with Control-M, AutoSys Workload Automation, IBM Workload Automation, Redwood RunMyJobs and Stonebranch. See our OpCon vs. Tidal by Redwood report.
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