Automation Anywhere (AA) Reviews

We've done a lot of automation with the product in the last two years. We started with accounts receivable processes in finance. I would say like AR function is one of the most mature functions in the product right now because we almost automated all the aspects of accounts receivable.

We have also started looking at automating the accounts payable process as well. I've only mentioned finance at this point, but we also have done a lot of automation with IT, as well as with procurement. Right now the penetration is higher with the support functions but we are also looking at different ways to automate. For example, we would like to use automation technology in core engineering. We also want to be expansive and do projects beyond our current boundaries — outside of just India. We've already done a small PoC (proof of concept) with a company in China and we also automated three small processes with a U.S. entity.

We use it daily and have done projects with the support functions, such as financial services, IT, and procurement support. We have 50 to 60 processes that have been automated using RPA in all three areas put together. This is the breadth and extent of what we have automated.

We are using the on-premise deployment model.

The product is improving our company in a number of different ways through the automation it helps us to create. I would say like the AR function is completely automated right now, but we are in the stages where we are looking beyond AR, beyond finance, and beyond support functions. 

All this time that we were using the product in the beginning, we chose to work on individual processes for automation. We are working in small pockets. We were identifying a project or a process as a small chunk of automation and we looked at opportunities within that particular function or a process and automated it step-by-step. 

For example, within the AR invoice process, there are different types of invoices that we do, like project invoices, manual invoices, past invoices, and other invoice variations. We had started building solutions for these things in isolation. We automated the SPA (Sales and Purchase Agreement) function first and then the project invoices. Then we saw an opportunity and made a change to bring all the invoices into the same platform. So now there is a bot which identifies what kind of invoice it is and it triggers a respective sub-rooting function what we have built-in. This is much more efficient. The AR function is something which we have automated end-to-end right now.

When bots start interacting successfully with each other, that is when we will see a true enterprise RPA (Robotic Process Automation) evolving out of using this solution. So we have benefitted a lot now, but expect that we will benefit even more in the future as we get better at using intelligence.

When we automate, we deliberately kept some manual toll gates. This was a very informed decision that we made. It's a conscious decision that we don't want to leave everything to the bot to do from start until the end because the accountability will not be there with any of the team members. This is one of the reasons why we have kept a manual toll gate in all our processes.

I would say the entire Automation Anywhere RPA functionality is the most valuable part of the product because it helps me to automate the mundane interpretative task. That is where most of my team members, who are part of the support team for product function, spend a lot of their time.

The IQ Bot is good. The pilot that we have done with one of our U.S. entities went well. Our accuracy has increased tremendously over the last two to three months. We have increased FTE efficiency. It's definitely a success for us. 

You spend some time trying to automate using RPA and then once a solution is created, they will gain back the time that they spent in development and then have more time to think about how they can further improvise and improve the process. That is all possible with the RPA. That is what we have been doing successfully in the last two years. The opportunity to customize and build out the platform makes it more useful and valuable.

We found it very comfortable because we are all functional experts. Nobody had any programming experience earlier. We all were able to learn Automation Anywhere in a four day classroom session that we had with one of the trainers from Automation Anywhere. With that, we started our own development. 

At least for our requirements, whatever version we have been using till now —  I think the current version 11.3.2 — is fantastic and more than we could use as we grew with the product. Any additional functionality I'm going to get in the upcoming version is a bonus for us as users. 

No product is perfect, so there is always some room for improvement. Right now we are most interested in cloud functionality. It could give us an additional option for managing everything in on-premises or in the cloud.

My experience and knowledge with respect to our initial deployment of Automation Anywhere were very limited. Had we had more experience, we probably would not have used the Intel landscape. We would have used something more relevant to our process and function. This compatibility might be improved.

I would definitely say Citrix automation is one area we have continued to struggle with for the last two months. If that can be an improvement in design for the next release it would be welcome. I know that a Citrix plugin has been already introduced by Automation Anywhere. If that can be made seamlessly integrated and easy to use, then I would definitely be very, very happy with that as an enhancement. The Citrix automation plugin that they have come out with until now has not been working for us. We are still in the process of figuring out how we can make that work. So, we are collaborating with the technical team from AA. There is an alternate solution where you can just move the system or application out of the Citrix environment and made it a standalone system. That will work. We know the workaround, but we still haven't figured out a solution to making it work in a Citrix environment. Hopefully, they will figure a solution in a month's time.

Any customer would look for advantages and changes in pricing. I won't say Automation Anywhere pricing is not good or not competitive. It is definitely competitive. But there are additional players in the market that they need to compete with and working on pricing could help. I believe there are competitors who do not charge anything for what is the AA Control Room (used for Bot creation). They charge only for the runners (Bot execution).

So there are other options available where you don't need to pay extra costs that may be more attractive depending on your usage. With Automation Anywhere I'm the creator as well as the Control Room. If Automation Anywhere could get a little more competitive on those aspects of pricing, I think it would be like heaven.

I would like them to combine a BPM solution with RPA. Sometimes you need to have BPM in place so your process orchestration will be smooth. It'll go through a standard process. On top of that, you are doing some manual activities that will be replaced with RPA. Automation Anywhere already has RPA, if they would allow us to create a simple BPM solution on top of it to use RPA that is the best resolution. It would solve most of my problems in my processing unit.

I have been using the solution for about 18 to 19 months.

I would rate the stability of the RPA as much higher than the stability of an individual manually handling processes. Because stability is pretty good, the machine will outperform an individual. With respect to individuals, there will be always some attrition — there will be some learning time and people will tend to do mistakes. That is not the case with respect to the RPA. So while that is not directly about the product, it does add stability to our processing.

Beyond that, whenever there is any change to your applications or environment where you have automated a function, that is when your processes or RPA can stop functioning. So it requires a little bit of customization, and again you upload it into the control group. Because the RPA is so flexible and so convenient to work with and easy to use, I don't think that is where the major bottleneck occurs at these junctures.

Beyond that, we developed a fallback plan. We test the fallback plan once a quarter by stopping all the bots in operations and then we invoke the fallback plan. We have this mapped out in a document where we ask the respective processors to do the processes and simulate a stability failure.

There will be always risk associated with anything that you do. It's all up to an individual to make plans as to how they deal with bottlenecks, how to structure plans for potential stability issues, how they mitigate these potential issues by having a proper solution and proper process in place. To me, that is where the secret of stability really lies. It is not really correct to blame the stability of the product when it is the fault of the process. It's all up to an individual better manage how to look at things.

I would say that scalability is a critical aspect of using RPA and maximizing efficiency. When you develop one bot. You can just use it for N number of ports with the same source code. So it doesn't require any retooling. Scalability is very high. There will be some process deviations or some nonstandard aspects associated with any process that may require rethinking and interaction.

For example, maybe because of the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or the different systems that we use or integrate at the time of taking over those processes, scaling may be influenced. The classic example for our company, I would say, is that we have grown manyfold by acquiring lots of companies in the last three decades.

Every time we acquired new divisions or companies, it is not only about the revenue or products. We also get legacy systems or along with those entities, there will be some processes and practices which are nonstandard for our organization. We'll need to incorporate these different systems in the ERP.

But scalability is always possible. With the RPA only those areas where there are differences need to be fine-tuned in your RP source code. Then you can redeploy it successfully. Beyond that, we also take this as an opportunity to evaluate processes because we don't look at the RPA project as an isolated project. It is an opportunity to grow and improve automation in various ways and not just this one project alone.

Even before we automate something, we look at processes to scrutinize what are the nonstandard activities we do. We look to see if there are ways we can make the process more lean, simple and straightforward. This can actually make the process that I'm trying to automate more efficient. Then it is also easier to accomplish the development, easier to integrate with other processes, and more adaptable when you automate the process. Working this way, I know for sure that what I am automating is going to be an efficient process. 

So scalability is very easy and very simple to achieve especially compared training individuals in a process. A bot needs no training. Making tweakings to the source code and deploying successfully in production is much faster and easier. Because of these reasons, I would say scalability is pretty efficient and easy to achieve using RPA.

We plan to increase usage in the future both in our current departments and new divisions of the business.

I would rate Automation Anywhere as one of the best in the world when it comes to customer service. I've had the opportunity to gain specific experience with certain members of their team and the service is consistent and excellent.

Initially, when we started with the IQ Bot project, we had some issues and experienced a bit of a learning curve. So we immediately raised those concerns. Our first issue took less than 24 hours to get fixed, and without adding any additional cost to the customer. That type of service and support of a product is an important thing.

I would say the customer service team, the project team, and even the aftermarket customer success manager are all fantastic guys. I know that the organization has people with strong capabilities and excellent talent. It is very, very evident when you interact with them.

I would definitely say Automation Anywhere is aggressive when it comes to driving success for the customers. They are very passionate about customer success and their focus on the customer.

Some of my team members have taken courses with Automation Anywhere. They still need to complete a few more assessments before they get their certifications. The courses are pretty good, the assessment is very cumbersome and complex (from what I understand). It's too technical for them. Maybe it is easy for technical guys, but not for functional people. I assume that this is the way it should be, because it's an assessment before you get a certification. It has to be tedious and cumbersome to crack it.

The best person in our organization to speak to the complexity of the initial setup is an IT guy from my team. He was responsible for a series of calls to the tech support team and he was involved in a lot of discussion with the Automation Anywhere team initially. Obviously we had contact with technical support so it may not have been so easy to do the initial setup, but I think that is quite acceptable or understandable. Anything which is new will probably be something you need to spend extra time on during the initial phase-in of a new product.

Beyond that initial setup and normal learning curve, I haven't seen any problem with respect to adapting the RPA technology in our company. It has been pretty smooth. The technical support team was great in terms of supporting anything we experienced in the way of technical issues. The only issues we experienced after that have been some issues with respect to using a Citrix environment. We are finding it difficult to automate on Citrix efficiently.

We have been continuously on calls and meetings with the technical support team. They have been coming up with a lot of innovative ways as to how they can fix that problem with Citrix. Of course, we are still in the midst of finding a solution to the issues. But I know for sure with the support that I get from the support team that we will definitely have a solution in the near future.

We did our own implementation with assistance directly from Automation Anywhere's technical support team.

There was a bit of a hand-holding in the beginning because Automation Anywhere developers came and developed a few bots for us. Beyond that, it is all on our own. We have been very independent. We hardly got support from the Automation Anywhere team after that. From our own experience, the tool is pretty easy to understand and start using.

The bot creation process has different processes depending on what we automate, e.g., accounts payable, IT, and procurement. These are miles apart. The complexity would differ based on the different applications that we trying to integrate using RPA.

We try to check the different applications involved for automation and whether they are compatible with Automation Anywhere. Then, we understand the process. We do a value stream mapping, e.g., what are the non-value-added activities that we are currently doing to make it lean, simple, and re-engineer the process. We identify the activities that can be automated using RPA, or any tool.

There'll be the extensive workshop conducted before we conclude what we want to automate, how we want to automate, and how long it is going to take to automate. We do an extensive study to determine:

• What'll be the return on investment? 
• What type of a return that you'll get by automating the process?

We document it and prepare it as a business case. We send it to the sponsor for approval. Once it is been approved, then we will kick-start our development. Once the development is completed, there will be UAT and we will roll it out to go live.

There will be a burn-in period where we will be providing the support. It's like a normal SDLC. It's the same model. However, we analyze the process in detail and a BRD will be prepared, then we will start the development.

A simple process might take somewhere around four weeks from start until the end. Something which is very complex in nature might take up to 12 weeks. Anything which is very complex, we would like to break into small pieces, then automate it step-by-step. We don't try to take the entire thing and digest it. We would rather try to break it into small portions, then move on. 

Calculating ROI for us is pretty simple. We identify efficiency at the beginning, then based on that we will just move the headcount out of the process. We try to compare with the cost spent versus the quote of the money that we have saved on the fully loaded employee cost. That's a simple comparison of what we do. This is a very crude way of calculating our return on investment because there are other benefits that are derived by doing an automation. Other benefits include:

• Improving the quality of the process.
• Eliminating some of the duplicate payments to save some dollars. 
• Making timely payments to the vendor to have better negotiation skills with them. 

These are some of the other overall business benefits that you can derive out of it, but they are too tedious to take into consideration when you're trying to do an archive. That's why we keep it very simple by comparing the labor cost saved versus the cost spent on the technology.

They are already coming out with a community license, which is really good. That's something that I wish to have.

We had looked at a lot of prominent players in the market and examined the different options as well, like Blue Prism and UiPath. Automation Anywhere was the one company who was flexible in terms of offering a PoC. We find this very comfortable. They were very approachable and aggressive, in terms of getting things done. This helped us make a decision in favor of Automation Anywhere. Also, Blue Prism doesn't have the functionality with attended automation that we would like to have. We are looking for the flexibility and convenience that comes with attended automation where you can still run your show.

We ended up choosing Automation Anywhere based heavily on their highly-approachable team. We thought of doing a PoC and Automation Anywhere was the first vendor to volunteer and say they would do PoC for us. That was not the case with the other vendors. They were very reluctant for whatever reason.

In terms of product, almost all the products are good. The differences are insignificant from the product standpoint. What makes Automation Anywhere a little different from the other players in the market is their presence in India. They have a very strong presence in India. They've an excellence sales team, very approachable solutions team, and technical team.

They are very approachable. They come and help you out in terms of creating a PoC, which is not the case with the other companies. The other companies are not that aggressive. They normally don't show that level of interest in terms of getting things done with the customer. They all come and approach for new business, but when it comes to going the extra mile to making something happen, that is where they are lacking. That is the difference for our decision of going in favor of Automation Anywhere.

But we got a lot of support from the company and they have always been willing to go the extra mile in terms of supporting the customer and making solutions happen. So that really influenced our decision, and that is one of the reasons why we want to go with the Automation Anywhere compared to other players in the market.

If I were to rate this product on a scale of one to ten where ten is the best, I would definitely rate them nine. It is not a ten because of what may be my ignorance of the entire Automation Anywhere platform. Probably I'm not aware or don't know the complete suite of assets. I'm not in a position to rate it a ten. To rate Automation Anywhere a ten means I should have complete knowledge of the product and I am sure there are things I have not yet explored. 

As far as advice, the normal tendency — and the mistake often made by organizations — would be to commit at the time of vendor selection by volume of features. They pay too much attention and focus on the product landscape. They think about one solution that has got 200 different functionalities rather than one which has got 210 different functionalities as being inferior just based on a number. But in reality, the users may probably not even be using even 10% of what is available in the tool or the platform. So they tend to give more weight to the product landscape. 

In our case, we made an effort to look at more than just features, but the qualities of the companies and vendors as well. For example, we learned about the leadership journey for each vendor, how long ago they started in this business, how much focus they put into coming up with the product development — the R&D. It is also important who the venture partners are and who the people are who are associated with the company and product.

We have done a lot of automation with our ERP systems. We also have some in-house applications which are on .NET that we have integrated with RPA. This should be the minimum expectation when you're signing for an RPA contract with any vendor. You would expect the RPA solution or tool to work seamlessly with any system. Automation Anywhere works well with no problems except for the Citrix environment. This is where we have had a bit of a challenge. Beyond that, we have never had issues with Automation Anywhere.

These details are relevant and important when you go to make a decision or when you take on a partner as an RPA solution provider. You are not just investing in a partnership for the next six months or a year. Probably some of the bots you are developing today you'll want to be using even after ten years. It's a long-term association what you're trying to make with an entity, the product, and with a company. So it's important that you go through all these checkpoints rigorously.

I've not used anything from the Bot Store.

Every technology has pros and cons with some limitations. There is no point in just harping on the limitations alone. You need to look at how you can make that technology work and solve your problems. This is where the human intelligence comes into the picture.

This technology is an enabler. It will solve most of my problems. It is up to individuals on how to make it work. That is where the trick of the trade lies. If you know how to work with RPA, you will not complain. I've seen many people complaining saying, "RPA doesn't work. It doesn't give you ROI." It's not the technology's problem. It's the people's problem. It's your mindset which is stopping you from getting automated and start using the technology. 

Biggest lesson learnt: You'll understand existing processes in a different dimension. You'll understand your people problems with the process in a better manner. It should not be just be looked at as an opportunity to automate it. If you look at the overall process to revamp and re-engineer it, then you can make your process efficient by making it lean, simple, and straightforward. On top of that, when you try to automate it, the overall process efficiency should increase tremendously. 

if you just look at RPA as a tool to automate everything, that is not a good approach. There are some things which can be automated efficiently using simple VBA Macros. Sometimes you might require a simple .NET solution to automate your end process, which is more efficient. You can make automation in the existing ERP, and that might work better. You have to look at different ways of automating things based on the process and complexity. You have to look at what is the ideal solution, then you have to pick and choose what you want to automate.

Don't look at RPA to solve all your problems. You need to use the right technology to automate, simplify, and minimize your problems.

We teach Automation Anywhere to people with refugee backgrounds. It is cutting-edge technology that requires no code which makes it easy to learn and earn. This has given them greater opportunities for job inclusion.

We also use Automation Anywhere in-house in collaboration with other corporations in our Social Impact office to create curriculum and scholarship programs for people with refugee backgrounds. We train them and we do projects where they can test automation delivery for Automation Anywhere's new features. They can learn quality assurance and delivery. This way they are well trained and can provide test automation services for other companies.

The reason we implement Automation Anywhere is two-sided. For refugees, it is about evolving their skills and digital career development. For corporations, they want to utilize automation with generative AI so they can do both automation and analytics at the same time which increases their productivity even for test automation. 

Automation Anywhere changes everything drastically. Testing software takes long hours, but with Automation Anywhere we can do it within seconds. With generative AI we can create test scenarios and test data more accurately. There are a lot of changes going on.

We get a lot of requests related to documents. We can use automation, OCR, and generative AI. OCR works like eyes where we scan documents and we can use the data with automation to let the AI read it. The AI functions as the brain. Many retail companies have import and export departments dealing with many papers. They can automate them using OCR, generative AI, and automation.

The most popular programming language is now English. It has expanded the digital population. Everyone can use generative AI with just natural languages and people can focus more on local technology to handle that AI. Automation Anywhere together with generative AI is great because it is easy to use and automate.

Automation Anywhere did a lot for us. Neeti Mehta who is one of the co-founders of Automation Anywhere believes in our purpose. Everyone deserves a second chance. The number of refugees on Earth is now one hundred million people. This means that every second another human is being forcibly displaced. These people need another chance. Automation Anywhere is used by corporations and governments. People are looking for a solution that works well with generative AI and Automation Anywhere is the best solution for that. Automation Anywhere accelerates the productivity of humanity and at the same time creates inclusive job opportunities for refugees.

Automation Anywhere is super easy to use for people who don't have technical skills. Our people with refugee backgrounds didn't have IT knowledge but now they have the talents to professionally provide automation technology for corporations. It is really easy to use.

We train our refugee talent professionally, so it takes about three months to learn. Professional coding training usually takes six months. The learning curve for Automation Anywhere is shorter for our people. Our members deliver projects to teach other employees in large companies. This doesn't take three months because we provide workshops to learn bot creation and they work together to create their first bot within two weeks. It is really easy.

We started using Automation Co-Pilot around two months ago and it has helped increase everyone's productivity.

I anticipate that Automation Co-Pilot will help save us and our customers time and money, not just because we can automate our tasks but also because we can do many analytics that we couldn't do without Automation Anywhere. It is about how to enable value-add work that we can't do without automation technology. It is not just about saving time but also about advanced analytics.

Automation Anywhere is one of the best companies for automation technology and we invest a lot in integration with other systems. We have many requests from other companies but Automation Anywhere goes well with most of the systems.

Automation Anywhere has saved us and other organizations who care about social impact a lot of time and money. As an estimation, Automation Anywhere is about 60 times faster than a human. The time spent goes from one hour down to one second when we use Automation Anywhere.

Automation Anywhere can improve process mining. Many people have started using generative AI. There are many types and many systems. People are reshaping their operational flows and with a process mining system, we can visualize what we are doing with generative AI and easily spot where automation can be used to improve productivity.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for three years.

I have used other automation products and find Automation Anywhere to be easier to learn and use. Other products are more low-code, whereas Automation Anywhere is no-code making it easier to learn and user-friendly. It is also cloud-based making it more portable and easier to integrate with many cloud systems.

The deployment is easy. We are not implementing huge ERPs, but rather automation technology so it is easier than traditional huge systems. It is more flexible and we can use it to automate any task we desire.

The time it takes to deploy depends on the tasks. When automating critical operations we need to be careful in the assessment but it should not take more than six months to complete. We can complete an easy deployment in two weeks. 

I am working on the democratization of DX. I teach refugees digital skills and then our members accelerate DX of society by teaching other people digital skills. Automation Anywhere is easy to learn. The metrics we focus on when evaluating products are the learning curve and how much the product is used in the market in different countries. Automation Anywhere is used in many countries and we can support many global corporations.

I would rate Automation Anywhere ten out of ten.

Our journey started with a migration initiative with something that already existed in an RPA solution. Then we started expanding and we started going into finance and HR activities. We use it in different entities and have been working with Automation Anywhere to build automation. We're seeing a lot of very good use cases that help deliver very good ROI. 

Our company is quite large. We have several hundred applications and systems, including legacy systems. As part of a recent merger, part of our work is consolidating these systems. There are a lot of challenges. Someone has to manually perform activities, for example, to be an integrator between two systems. We use Automation Anywhere to bridge the gap. Wherever we can find and remove the human from repetitive tasks, we use Automation Anywhere. 

This is a cloud solution. The framework we had before was on-premises. We wanted to move to the cloud, and that was a huge change. We're also able to redesign and refine processes that may have already been in place.

During our migration initiative, we were able to talk to different customer groups and revisit aspects to make things better and do things that may be needed. We were able to effectively optimize the processes and redo what was already in the existing platforms.

There is a lot of interest in operationalizing AI. There's a lot of buzz around generative AI. We've been reviewing different AI services. However, our focus has been more on orchestrating an entire end-to-end process, not just the AI. When we're talking with all the groups, we try to identify which steps can be automated, and add AI into the mix, if it is needed and it makes sense. We've had a lot of opportunities to work within legal, corporate, finance, HR, et cetera, and we're working to bring more use cases into production. Right now, it's all in proof of concept. 

The leadership is very invested in generative AI and doing a lot of research. There's a separate team that does InfoSec reviews. We're undergoing a stringent vetting process. We're in the analysis phase to ensure the data stays within the model and doesn't go outside the LLM for training. 

We are finding opportunities to implement some hyper-automation options. 

Automation Anywhere and even previous versions, which I've worked on, have good core functionality. The core functionality of being able to automate and build a solution that is local and low code is one of the key differentiators that's allowed us to find success. 

It's easy for business users who don't have technical skills. We try to build and help users build automation quicker. We've built a framework around it that's made it easier for everyone to build automation. 

The learner curve for users is okay. The curves are different for end users. We have a large footprint of citizen developers, and some take quicker or longer depending on prior project commitments. It depends on the amount of time they can commit to it.

We've used the automation copilot, which is quite useful.

We have a lot of internal tools. A lot of finance and HR, for example, have specific apps and platforms. We've established a lot of connectivity with other apps. If there's an interest that business users want to start building, we already have the framework in place, which makes integrations fast.

We get a seamless experience when using the packages. There are constant upgrades. It doesn't stay stagnant; there are new features added to it. The consistent growth of the packages has remained seamless.

We save time and money. I can't share exact details, however, we do have good ROI. We track time, compliance, cost avoidance, et cetera. Everything is heavily tracked, and we make it available for leadership to review. 

The improvements have already been rolled into recent releases, like better governance models. From a GenAI perspective, there are good releases like automation pilot and copilot that are already part of the product's release agenda. 

They need to improve the stability of the core functionality. If they keep the core constant and constant, they will continue to thrive. It needs to stay consistent. 

I have a long history with the solution. With my current company, we've been using it since 2021. However, in my previous roles, I've worked with it as well. 

The platform is highly scalable. That's one of the key advantages. We build at first on a smaller scale, and build it up over time. The scaling part has been really seamless. It's been good so far. 

We've had a great experience with technical support. They've partnered with us in terms of the challenges we face. We have a collaborative relationship and have had a positive experience. 

As the product evolves, it would be great to have more support and have them up to date on the latest and greatest. The teams should be constantly upgraded to ensure that if something goes wrong, they can handle anything - that will be important for the future.

Positive

We do use other tools that are low code/no code, such as ServiceNow, SalesForce, et cetera.

Everyone tries to improve their opportunities. This competitiveness has helped the product evolve. 

We've deployed processes within a week, while others might take four or six weeks, depending on the complexity. We have release schedules and release controls in place. Everything is streamlined, and we test before the automation goes live. 

We're on the cloud, so we do not have to upgrade anything. 

Maintenance is more on the partner-owner and device side. There might also be work upgrading and testing packages and new features. We do spend some time when a new feature comes out to test it before we actually upgrade our packages.

The licensing isn't an area I can discuss in great detail. 

I'd rate the product eight out of ten. They have been an industry-leading automation solution provider. They have a lot of experience, and the core functionality is great. Keeping up with the market and putting in new competence into the product - the constant innovation - makes the product impressive. 

I am striving to provide individuals with more time to focus on value-add tasks due to widespread headcount reductions. For instance, in finance and accounting activities, we use Automation Anywhere to replace individuals in maintenance tasks or those that were previously unknown to be time-consuming. This is where we witness the greatest utilization of bots. 

Moreover, we employ bots to handle fines associated with individuals driving company cars. With hundreds of fines occurring each month, it used to be a nearly full-time responsibility for one person to receive the fine, identify the driver at the time of the incident, and ensure the fine was directed to the appropriate person for payment. Such activities lacked significant value and consumed a considerable amount of time for someone, but now the bot handles these tasks on our behalf. I believe that finance is the primary area where we extensively utilize Automation Anywhere.

When we began deploying the bots, we established Key Performance Indicators to assess the return on investment. For instance, if a bot could save one-third of an individual's time, we would evaluate the amount of time saved and dedicate it to value-add tasks. However, evaluating the exact monetary savings facilitated by the bots is challenging because the funds are not directly spent on low-value activities. Instead, they can be utilized differently. 

It is important to note that the bots never completely replaced human workers. No job was entirely taken over by a bot. Rather, it was an assessment of how effectively we spent money with the assistance of bots, as they enabled individuals to perform tasks more efficiently. Although I don't recall the exact details since it was in the past, we would reassign the equivalent of full-time employees to these value-added tasks instead of low-value ones. At the time of my departure from the RPA topic, we had 150 bots in production, and we had a clear understanding of how many full-time employees would be dedicated to higher-value tasks as a result.

The ability of Automation Anywhere to provide automation at scale is commendable. We have indeed achieved tangible business benefits. That is certain. I am no longer aware of the metric used to evaluate this, except for the fact that we have eliminated various mundane activities from the workday of numerous individuals.

Automation Anywhere has helped our organization increase its automation consumption.

From what I recall of the type of issue we had to deal with when we started implementing Automation Anywhere, it was the integration with the identity and access management system that the company might use. This is because Automation Anywhere has a vault where we store all the information related to the bot, including the password it will use to connect to the system. The feature, which might be interesting for companies that don't already have an identity management system, was a bit tricky because I would have preferred the system to directly rely on our corporate identity and access management system to manage the bot's credentials. This way, we wouldn't have to store this information in the bot as well. It's something to consider in terms of integrating with an existing IT landscape.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for almost six years.

We did not encounter any stability issues with Automation Anywhere during the time I worked with the solution.

Automation Anywhere is scalable.

The technical support was helpful and responsive.

Positive

We had previously been using UiPath, and in late 2017, we acquired an organization that was already using Automation Anywhere, which belonged to a much larger organization. Consequently, we began to explore that tool and benefited from our colleagues' positive experiences with Automation Anywhere.

They were able to provide suggestions on the setup and deployment of the solution. As a result, we ultimately decided to discontinue the use of UiPath and transitioned to Automation Anywhere. Without the acquisition, we might not have implemented Automation Anywhere and instead would have continued with UiPath or explored other alternatives. Due to the acquisition, we were able to recognize that Automation Anywhere was one of the market leaders and swiftly create a proof of concept.

The initial setup was straightforward. Although I was involved in the deployment project, the actual installation was carried out by those responsible for implementing the Windows servers.

We needed to acquire the hardware because we had an internal cloud at that time, so we still have it. I would say that we managed to allocate the servers. It didn't take long. We provided training for the people who would deploy and customize the product with the assistance of Automation Anywhere in France. The global deployment infrastructure was ready to be used within a few weeks.

The implementation was completed in-house with the help of the Automation Anywhere team.

We obtained benefits from the original price prior to the acquisition and had to engage in negotiations due to the expansion of the usage scope. We were required to purchase licenses and bot runners, which determined the permissible run times for the bots. We successfully achieved a fair price worldwide. 

I rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten. 

We primarily utilize an attended bot, meaning they are not created by users. We have made efforts to retain control over IT in bot creation to prevent it from becoming a new avenue for shadow IT. When we started in 2018, the final department had a dedicated team responsible for bot development. However, they eventually hired contractors who developed C-Sharp programs that interacted with SAP through APIs. The bot would simply launch these programs, which is not the ideal method for automation, as we believe the bot should directly interact with the application instead of relying on a separate program to communicate with SAP through an API. I believe the team responsible for this no longer exists. Presently, we have a process in place to identify relevant use cases, and we are collaborating with a subcontractor who creates the bots for us based on specifications provided by the business.

We utilize Automation Anywhere with an attended bot. This implies that after receiving the specifications from the business and creating the purchase, we establish an agreement on the bot's scheduling for execution. However, the user never directly interacts with the bot; they only observe the results of its actions. Therefore, there is no need to provide training for users to utilize Automation Anywhere. We maintain IT control over it, while the development itself is outsourced. Consequently, the issue of the learning curve is not applicable to our situation.

We didn't use a lot of APIs with Automation Anywhere. Instead, we simulated the user's actions on the application's user interface. I can't recall any instances where we relied on APIs to initiate actions in the systems we were connecting to. However, I am aware that APIs can be utilized. There was a point when we wanted to employ APIs to retrieve the password or the bot from our identity and access the financial system just before the bot was about to commence its task. Additionally, we intended to trigger an API to reset the password once the bot had completed its job to ensure that there were no potential security threats associated with the user IDs used for the bots.

For those who prefer using API integration instead of a comprehensive process automation solution, I would like to emphasize that it's not exactly the same approach. Integrated APIs require developing a program for them to interact with. In my opinion, RPA offers a more straightforward approach as it simply replicates user actions within an application. We already have a ready-to-use bot. However, I wouldn't recommend using bots for everything, especially when we encounter use cases that resemble interfaces. 

Essentially, it involves manipulating the user interface of an application to extract data and then sending that data to another application on a daily basis. This approach doesn't seem logical. I'm not sure about the usage of APIs in the context of actual IT program development, where we need to retrieve data from various source systems that provide APIs. In such cases, we genuinely desire bots that faithfully mimic the actions of real users within an application. Our intention was never to replace any kind of deployment with bots, which is why we wanted Information and Communication Technology to be involved in the decision-making process. We wanted to ensure that the distinction was made between tasks that should be handled by bots and those that should be treated as interfaces or programs, aligning with our understanding of process automation.

We have a team of three people in Spain who are in charge of the daily operation of the Automation Anywhere platform. However, deploying our new bot is a quick process. There is a test environment where the bot is validated, after which it is transferred to the production control room and the bot's schedule is updated.

The team responsible for the data operations of the platform, taking everything into account, including the intrusion of the new bot into the production environment. They also handle the platform's maintenance. I believe we have three individuals dedicated to these tasks.

I use it for various IT operations.

Automation Anywhere has significantly improved our organization's efficiency. Across various processes, we have achieved a 90% time savings for each use case, making our workflow much more streamlined and productive.

We used to do things manually, which took a lot of time. Now, with Automation Anywhere, most things are automated, making things faster and better. Sometimes we still need to do things manually, but overall, it has made our work much easier and less prone to mistakes.

To improve Automation Anywhere for the next release, standardization is key. The application should work universally across servers and desktops, without limitations on licenses tied to specific virtual machines. Currently, the one-to-one bot and VM dependency pose restrictions, and a more flexible licensing system would enhance its usability. Additionally, for business users without technical skills, using Automation Anywhere can be challenging. While it is easy to develop automation, deploying and running them requires some technical knowledge. Training is essential to navigate the platform effectively.

Upgrading Automation Anywhere can be challenging. Communication about upgrades is lacking, and an auto-upgrade feature or at least notifications would be beneficial. Currently, there is no automatic check for the latest version, and improvement is needed in providing information to users about updates.

I have been working with Automation Anywhere for a year and a half.

It is a stable solution. I would rate the stability as an eight out of ten.

Automation Anywhere can provide automation at a large scale, but the effectiveness depends on the complexity of the processes, which is common for any ERP system.

I would rate the technical support as an eight out of ten.

Positive

The deployment process is fairly straightforward. Deployment of Automation Anywhere typically requires just one person. If you are familiar with the entire workflow, one person can manage the deployment effectively. Maintenance for Automation Anywhere is minimal. However, due to recent use, aspects like patching and version upgrades are not entirely clear, and occasional manual intervention is needed for tasks like access management.

The price for Automation Anywhere is reasonable compared to others, but there are some feature limitations. Specifically, the ability of one bot to support multiple VMs is an issue, distinguishing it from some other solutions.

In our organization, I see great opportunities to operationalize AI, particularly in the realm of monitoring. Whether it is through comprehensive monitoring tools or leveraging Python for data analysis, there is potential to enhance our operations.

Assessing the learning curve for Automation Anywhere, it takes around a month for non-technical employees to become proficient. While an expert developer might grasp it quicker, providing training is essential for non-technical users to effectively learn and use Automation Anywhere.

Our organization is focused on expanding automation and AI use cases, continually adding more features. Additionally, there is an interest in exploring generative AI to enhance our capabilities further.
We have integrated Automation Anywhere with various solutions, including ITSM, a centralized portal, and several third-party applications.

Integrating Automation Anywhere into our workflows, APIs, and business applications is effective, but it is crucial to ensure a secure network.

Automation Anywhere has been a time and cost-saver for us. Achieving a 90% cost reduction in tasks is a significant boost to resource efficiency and overall cost-effectiveness.

We use Automation Anywhere across multiple departments, but it operates within the same environment and infrastructure, given its public nature.

My advice for those using Automation Anywhere is to start with a less complex use case. It is a good platform overall, but beginning with simpler tasks will help ease into the automation process. Overall, I would rate the solution as a seven out of ten.

We mainly use Automation Anywhere for pod development, to automate repetitive tasks by replicating them into bots. We conduct tests and POCs with other tools that Automation Anywhere offers. We try to see what's the best fit for our company. Because of the large offering of different tools, we see how we can leverage them and identify if they are the best solution for our teams. Mainly, we use Automation Anywhere for RPA bots for automation.

We wanted a tool that was easy to use and to implement, that we could leverage to then do the applications, and it was quick enough in our trial that we could just take our opportunity, design, and develop the requirements, and then build the solution from there and help the business with tasks that didn't add value to their processes.

We currently are looking at different use cases for AI such as document automation, process automation, product automation, communication, and many others. So we are looking at different platforms, including Automation Anywhere. Now that Automation Anywhere is offering the AI capability we want to see how we can best feed to our company and leverage AI to help us implement processes, and projects faster and automate processes in a way that will help our business.

When it comes to generative AI, the technology is here, and it's open to people to use. We wanna make sure that we leverage fully, to continue being a leader in the market. Generative AI is here to stay. We wanna make sure that we get the best use of it while maintaining quality and transparency, and making sure that we have all the security in place to leverage generative AI.

I did not have a technical background and I was able to build my first bot using Automation Anywhere after just one course. The learning curve is simple. Automation Anywhere has prebuilt blocks so we don't have to code. It is user-friendly and simply a matter of understanding best practices because we can build blocks and create with 50 steps, but we can also create with five steps if we are using best practices. When we start using the solution we look at different ways to approach the same problem and best practices so it gets better. It is a straightforward and user-friendly platform to start our journey with RPA and automation.

We are trying to start using Automation Co-Pilot but we have not fully deployed it yet because we are still trying to create the connectors. We do see the value of Automation Co-Pilot for our business. We want to be able to add humans into the loop and trigger bots. This way businesses can review the processes and even make changes. It is a better interface with fewer clicks and added value for the business user.

We touch every application in our business with Automation Anywhere. We connect to some using APIs and others through the UI depending on the applicability of the solution we are building.

Automation Anywhere is easy to implement and integrate with workflows, APIs, and applications.

We do have savings with Automation Anywhere. When we implement, we look at how much time we are saving the person and how much we can save by reducing the repetitive manual work for a business user. We have a good amount of bots that we have developed that help save the business time.

Even though we haven't used all of their features for some of our use cases, because they look at the end-to-end process, it's very useful for businesses that are starting their journey. They can build an end-to-end solution with Automation Anywhere. In our case, we leverage the automation RPA solution, but we do see other use cases to leverage other tools and applications that they prefer.

My background lies in continuous improvement, and as a black belt, I think we always have the opportunity to improve. Automation Anywhere is always looking for what is next. Even though they may have implemented something today, they are still looking at what can help our clients in the future. That is a great way to have the right offerings for clients and more of an opportunity to build a bigger community on the automation group and leverage that with the lessons learned and the challenges. Automation Anywhere is headed in the right direction but they still have a good way to go.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for one year.

I appreciate the technical support of Automation Anywhere. They are knowledgeable, senior, and jump to help us find the right solution and assess from our business case what would be the best way to approach it.

Positive

I would rate Automation Anywhere eight out of ten. It is a great tool that is easy to implement and they are always looking for what is next.

The time it takes to learn Automation Anywhere depends on what the user wants to do with it. Do they want to be a developer, a business analyst, or help businesses understand processes and identify opportunities? If a person has a good understanding of processes it can take anywhere from a few months to a few years. For a developer, it can take a bit longer.

When we analyze a problem, we consider the most effective solution, which may not always be automation or RPA. We employ other tools when appropriate, but Automation Anywhere is frequently used in our process improvements.

When there is a version change we have to conduct maintenance. It is a fair amount of time but not so much that it would impact the quality of our services.

We have a group of close to ten people who have a relationship with Automation Anywhere and deal with the maintenance.

We have a bot support group for our full portfolio because we have attended and unattended bots. This group supports the bots 24/7.

We use Automation Anywhere for process automation.

Automation Anywhere has enabled us to eliminate manual, time-consuming tasks, and increase accuracy within our organization by automating them.

We witnessed the benefits of Automation Anywhere within six months of its deployment.

Automation Anywhere helped reduce the workload of our P2P billings by around 60 percent.

Automation Anywhere helped our organization increase its automation consumption by 25 percent on our billing automation once we resolved all the background issues.

Automation Anywhere performs efficiently.

Automation Anywhere is difficult to use and could be made more user-friendly. The GUI needs to be improved.

Using Automation Anywhere can be extremely difficult for individuals who lack technical skills.

The learning curve for Automation Anywhere is challenging. We should not need to rely on a vendor to handle the solution. The end-user should be able to use the solution independently.

The automation at scale has room for improvement.

There are many features missing from Automation Anywhere, including cloud collaboration tools provided by Google and Microsoft, that I would like to see integrated into the solution.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for three years.

Automation Anywhere is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

Scalability involves both the customer and the vendor, requiring significant effort to increase due to its lack of user-friendliness.

We experience difficulties in getting our issues resolved when dealing with technical support.

Neutral

I used Microsoft Power Automate, which was not a great application at the time. However, it has now become easier to use, more cost-effective, and more scalable compared to Automation Anywhere. As a result, we are considering switching back to it.

The initial setup was complex. The vendor was unfamiliar with the process, and there was no guidance from Automation Anywhere regarding the requirements. According to Automation Anywhere, we were supposed to simply follow the onscreen instructions and click "next," which should have taken a maximum of one hour. However, due to an error and misunderstanding, it took us around three days instead.

The deployment started at the control room, then the client, and finally the developer.

One person, who was an Automation Anywhere specialist with infrastructure knowledge, was used for the deployment.

We used a vendor for the implementation.

To realize a return on investment, we must utilize Automation Anywhere for several years.

Automation Anywhere is significantly expensive. The cost is at the highest end of the spectrum.

In addition to the licensing cost, let's say, $1,000, we also have to pay the OEM vendor fee, which can be around $150. Furthermore, we are responsible for the payment of managed services, and occasionally there are additional charges for maintenance.

We considered several options, including Blue Prism, before choosing Automation Anywhere.

I give Automation Anywhere a six out of ten.

When I joined my organization, we were using Automation Anywhere. Consequently, I am currently using it. However, all the features are also accessible through Microsoft Power Automate, which offers a free upgrade.

We attempted to train non-technical staff members for one month to utilize Automation Anywhere; however, learning proved to be quite challenging. As a result, we ultimately abandoned the endeavor and opted to hire a technical professional.

Automation Anywhere requires technical personnel who can write code to utilize the solution, making it challenging to integrate RPA bots, APIs, business applications, and documents. We are compelled to hire a vendor to write the code, which is not a practical approach.

I would recommend Microsoft Power Automate over Automation Anywhere because Automation Anywhere is excessively complex and challenging to use.

We have three users across three teams who utilize Automation Anywhere in our organization.

Automation Anywhere is self-maintained unless there is an error.

I advise exploring other options before settling for Automation Anywhere.

I was working for an airline client that had their processes in the mainframe. The application Sabre that they had was all terminal-based. It was very difficult to navigate and capture everything. We automated a lot of tasks related to validation. For example, when someone booked a flight ticket and tried to cancel it, they needed to give some reason. We had rule-based validation, so we had to validate the reasons and assess them. Previously, it was all manual and terminal-based, and then we used Automation Anywhere to automate.

We also used Automation Anywhere to do a lot of PO manipulation. It was done in an application called Coupa. We used to do that automation with APIs. API automation was very easy with Automation Anywhere. We used it to automate such tasks.

Automation Anywhere was introduced as an RPA tool to facilitate the digital transformation journey of the client organization. They wanted to eliminate a lot of manual tasks and provide quality work for their employees rather than them doing manual activities. They also wanted to make sure that a process was in place. They wanted a very low code or no code automation so that even business people could upscale themselves and automate. They wanted to free up their employees from such manual tasks and have a lot of bandwidth to do some other research.

In the use case related to the cancellation of a ticket, a lot of things have to be handled. When you cancel a ticket, the airline has to make an update at a lot of places. Only then you would get the refund. It involves a lot of processes. They could be related to the meal or something else. Even if you have not subscribed to any add-ons, all the checkboxes have to be ticked, and only after everything is cleared, you get your refund. Before automation, the refund process was very tedious. When they were doing it manually, any mistake could lead to incorrect transactions. For example, they might end up transferring a different amount. It was a very tedious process, and it was handled with the Sabre application, which was not very user-friendly. It was mostly a terminal-based mainframe application. It had a user interface, but a person with good experience was required for it. A fresher or somebody less experienced could not do it. You needed to know where exactly to go, and there were a lot of things that you had to learn to do this process. It was always done by an experienced engineer, and it was very manual involving navigating different screens. During COVID-19 times, there was a shortage of employees, and the airline was handling a lot of regulations, so this manual process became more problematic. At that time, we introduced Automation Anywhere. We were targeting only 50% automation, but we were able to automate 80% to 90%. It significantly improved the time to process a request and reduced the dependency on a senior engineer for the process. The robot could handle the process. We had programmed the robot. It was a very good experience. It helped the client navigate through tough times.

When you decide to automate a process, you try to understand the process in and out. You try to understand the exception scenarios and how to solve them. You prepare a process discovery document. While doing this documentation, you try to streamline the process because Automation Anywhere, as a tool, needs to be configured to automate that process. It forces us to ask a lot of questions, such as what if the file to be downloaded is not there. You come across all such things at the initial phase. That helps a person to restructure the process and fine-tune it more strategically. It saves a lot of time. It has plenty of features to do Excel operations. It has a lot of capability for querying. You can read data from Excel and process it using a query. You do not have to do Excel operations one by one. It is very quick. If a person is taking 30 minutes to do the operation, it takes only seconds or minutes to finish it. It provides a lot of efficiency.

You also have a lot of traceability. You have a lot of logs. You can see what happened after a process. When you have an audit, you have some traceability. A person doing a task does not always document each and every step. He or she would just do the task and finish it off. When you automate the process with Automation Anywhere, because the robot is doing the tasks, you get a lot of logs and a lot of traceability for auditing.

At the initial stages of automation, you also redefine and optimize a process. Instead of downloading 4 Excel files at different places, you try to standardize it. You give a standard name and a standard path. Everything is standardized, and a lot of focus is put on security and data privacy. We are very conscious of not saving it at any location that is accessible to anybody else. Subconsciously, we do all these checks. It improves the security and data privacy aspects. It also leads to process optimization. Like any RPA tool, it saves a lot of time, and it is efficient, and then logs are there as a good source of tracking.

Automation Anywhere is easy. It takes one to two weeks to introduce a non-technical person to this solution. They already have good domain knowledge, and they just need to know how to work with the tool. In about a week, we will be able to train them in basics. We can show them the interface. We can show them what goes where, but they will not be able to develop full automation or know about full RPA coding. They can get the basic knowledge in one to two weeks. Full training will require building a use case. It could be a small use case. If a developer would take four weeks, which includes development, testing, and other things, a non-technical person would require eight weeks. Only then a person will be able to learn completely and become a very good developer.

In terms of integration, there was SAP integration and Sabre integration. There was one more application. I worked only with these applications. If there is a component available, the integration goes smoothly. When you want to go for something customized and you try to build an integration, it is very challenging, but that is common with all the tools. When you try an out-of-the-box integration, it is very easy because they would have already tested that it is working. When you try to build something or customize it, that is when the challenges come. I have seen plenty of challenges with Automation Anywhere when you go for something that is not there in the package. You need a lot of support from the team and a lot of effort. The security restrictions from the organization were also stopping the integration. It was not happening. A lot of errors came, and we had to reach out to the network team and the security team. There were networking and security issues that had to be resolved.

Automation Anywhere has saved time and costs, but I do not have the metrics.

I have not used the recent versions, but it provides a great way to automate. Excel automation is quite valuable. Initially, it was only there in Automation Anywhere. It was not very popular with other automation tools. Excel automation is a very good feature. A lot of back-office activities happen in Excel. It is a very needed feature that Automation Anywhere provides.

In 2021, Automation Anywhere switched from on-premises to cloud. They renamed it as A360. They brought the required changes with this version. Before that, they used to have a line-by-line code view. They did not have a flowchart diagram, but it was very much needed. Because it was low code, a pictorial representation of the code was something that was missing in Automation Anywhere. It was there in UiPath and Power Automate at the time. Automation Anywhere then introduced two views. That gave people the option to use the view that they were comfortable with. That was a very brilliant move. Having two options made it very accessible.

It is very user-friendly. The AI capability that nowadays I am seeing in Automation Anywhere is very good. They have plug-and-play AI solutions. You do not need to know a lot about coding or AI to implement AI in your automation. You can just use their plug-and-play solutions. That is where its real strength is.

Automation Anywhere is easy, but the Automation Anywhere courses are not so easy. All RPA tools have their own academy where business users can go and learn the solution and do things themselves. Automation Anywhere courses are a little bit complex to understand. You need a little bit more time, and accessibility is also a little bit of an issue. They should focus a bit more on the academy and learning materials on their portal. The content should be easy to understand. It is not easy to grasp for a non-technical person. It should be easy for citizen developers. Also, their certification is very costly.

There should be more visibility as an RPA product. Every organization is trying to stick with certain tools. I like Automation Anywhere, and I would like to work with it, but I am not getting an opportunity. Automation Anywhere is not promoting itself to other organizations. Organizations are moving towards Power Automate and UiPath. It could be because Automation Anywhere is not reaching out to companies.

Their community events are also less. There are not many developer events in the cities where IT is there. In Bangalore, India, most of the IT companies are there, so we get to go to a lot of conferences. We get to hear a lot from other vendors, but Automation Anywhere's events are very limited. They should take care of their presence in the community and companies.

They should introduce videos for the new features. They should promote new features. They should be known to people. They should be accessible to people. Only then developers or companies will know about it. Only then, it will get used. There are probably plenty of good features, but they are not known or explored.

I worked with Automation Anywhere for 2 years.

It is a stable product. I would rate it a 7 out of 10 for stability. It is not a perfect product, but it is improving every day.

It is not very scalable. I would rate it a 6 out of 10. After you have built your robot, if you want to make some changes, you can do that, but if you built a robot and you want to make it an AI-enabled robot, it is quite a challenging task.

There were many users of this solution. I was a part of the Center of Excellence. The finance team and HR team were also trying to use it. There were more than 50 people for this solution.

I was getting good support from them. I would rate them a 9 out of 10. They were always very helpful to me. My colleagues have had a bit of a bad experience, but I did not. I have raised a few tickets, and every time, the person was attentive and helped me out. They were very patient. They were straight to the point. They knew the technology.

Positive

I am working with UiPath and Power Automate. Automation Anywhere has got its own benefits and its own strong points, and the same is applicable to other vendors. It is just about which one your organization is aligned with and which one your organization has chosen to go forward with. However, other vendors are better in terms of reach. Even if I am not working on Power Automate for six to seven months, I get to learn about it. I see a lot of things on LinkedIn. There are communities where I can go to learn and keep myself updated, whereas, about Automation Anywhere, I do not see much information. I have to exclusively go and spend a lot of time to find the information. That is where I see the difference.

It was on-prem before, and then we migrated to A360. It was already deployed when I joined, so I do not know about it, but migration took 4 to 5 months.

There were 4 people mainly focusing on migration. It was a bit complex because it was new, and there was not a lot of material available online. It was a little complex, but later, it became smooth. We reported a lot of bugs, and other people also reported them. It was very smooth.

It is cost-efficient in terms of licensing. I found their support good when I was working for the airline client. However, I hear from my managers here that the support price for Tier 3 or premium is a little higher. That is why we are not going for Automation Anywhere. Its price was okay for our client, but for us, it seems expensive.

Automation Anywhere was a tool that was decided by our client. They were very much satisfied with how work was progressing. It gave them faster results, and it helped them navigate through the Covid-19 situation.

I would recommend Automation Anywhere. It is a very solid product. I have always vouched for it. I see a lot of potential because it is very easy and it was a stable product when I was working with it. They were very careful about their releases. They were not releasing a lot of things, which is something I see in other products. With Automation Anywhere, each release is very carefully tested.

They introduce new features, but I have noticed that in India, the market for Automation Anywhere is not very big. I am not getting to work on Automation Anywhere because companies are moving to Power Automate and UiPath, so I am not able to learn it more. It is difficult to get hold of this solution.

In terms of our organization’s perspective when it comes to automation and AI, specifically Generative AI (GenAI), we want about 50% of the income coming from IT and services. Automation and AI are placed at the top of the strategy. We are moving towards RPA plus AI and ML. It is almost like hyperautomation or intelligent automation. This is one focus area, and another one is Pure Generative AI and data. The data part is handled by a different organization. We are looking into how to drive insights from data analytics and how to leverage the GenAI technology outside and derive value from it. These are highly focused areas.

I would rate Automation Anywhere an 8 out of 10. I liked working with it.