Appian vs IBM BPM comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Appian Logo
8,844 views|5,864 comparisons
IBM Logo
9,798 views|7,620 comparisons
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Appian and IBM BPM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Business Process Management (BPM) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Appian vs. IBM BPM Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It provides us with real-time data on all connected systems in terms of how they're integrated with each other and how they are performing in a workflow manner.""What I found most valuable in Appian is that it lets you drill down on multiple things through the structure of the reporting and UI side. It's also low-code, yet it results in quick deliverables.""The process models provide self-documenting systems.""The solution's most valuable features are the regular periodic and quarterly updates, they are very useful updates. They keep improving the solution more often, and that helps the platform or code always be up to date with the latest features.""Appian's most valuable features are the quick time it takes to develop for the market. It's easy and faster than other BPM solutions.""The product's most valuable feature is the low code aspect of development. We can develop an end-to-end VPN solution using a single platform.""The initial setup is easy.""Process culture is making noise inside the organization because now, everybody knows that their time is being monitored."

More Appian Pros →

"We use it for automating certain processes which previously took a lot of time for agents to set up different products for customers. They would have to enter a lot of different systems. This has now mostly been automated.""It helps maintain, and in many instances, lower costs, as well as to maintain those costs, keeping them stable.""The most valuable feature of IBM BPM is the low code design, and ease of maintenance. Additionally, the integration is good and easy to do.""Previously, our company's business automation process was slow. IBM BPM's schedule and response functionalities are excellent...There are countless use cases in which IBM BPM proves to be a valuable tool for my clients.""Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.""This solution is very stable.""We use the solution to develop and deliver products.""This is one of the best tools to support the business and the way we work, and the numerous processes we need to implement."

More IBM BPM Pros →

Cons
"The solution needs more features. For example, a way to connect to our viewing database, to record, and more interface and component design.""They should provide more flexibility so designers can create a more picture perfect device.""One room for improvement is the ease of UI UX development, like in OutSystems and Mendix.""If we could calculate the amount of data that will be realized, it would help us a lot.""Appian could be improved by making it a strict, no-code platform with free-built process packs.""It has it's own built-in UI components and doesn't provide much flexibility to customize or extend those components.""The product’s pricing could be improved from the developers' perspective.""There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases."

More Appian Cons →

"The configuration is not that easy, and the initial deployment took three months.""There needs to be better documentation for IBM BPM in a central place. There is not any standard documentation for each component available and has been a barrier for developers.""From the testing perspective and minor enhancements perspective, customization is something that is a little tedious as compared to new tools. In addition, various open-source tools that are available are not working with IBM BPM.""IBM BPM lacks openness, that is, the ability to become open for new options in terms of APIs, front-end development, and ecosystem. IBM BPM has been quite closed. One of the main improvements would be to somehow embed the rules engine into IBM BPM. Merging IBM BRMS and the rules engine with IBM BPM would be helpful. If there was some simpler way to define rules without having to put IBM BRMS on top of it, it would be good. It's something that we can get out of Camunda but not out of IBM BPM.""Performance in the development environment space. I know that they have been taking it off the desktop version and putting on the web, and it is not 100% yet.""IBM BPM's UI is an area with shortcomings where improvements are required.""We had a weird problem that whenever the database would go down, even for a few seconds, it broke the connection. It would not come back up as it was supposed to. However, working with IBM, we were able to figure out a fix, then it came back up, even after an interruption of the database.""IBM BPM needs to have a better and modified interface."

More IBM BPM Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "BPM done right is a huge value proposition for almost any company, and with Appian's low code rapid development model, the ROI can be huge, while the break-even point should be accelerated tremendously."
  • "It is expensive, but powerful. I would recommend comparing against cheaper licensing products and open source."
  • "Product pricing compared to some of the earlier vendors, like IBM, CA, and Oracle, is quite well-priced. Although, we do feel that as we increase the number of users and the workload increases, we will have to spend more."
  • "We will have to have a dialogue or negotiate a price for future use. To start with, it is a reasonable price. As we go ahead, we will have to make sure the costs are inline with our expectations as we grow our user base and workloads."
  • "It's good value for the price."
  • "I think that if somebody is really serious at looking at business value, then by all means, the product is well worth the value. You get representative business value for the price that you pay for the product, and for the implementation of the product."
  • "The cost depends on the number of users, although I recommend taking an unlimited license."
  • "The solution offers a monthly subscription model. That's what we use. I recall it being about $90 a month. They do have different tiers."
  • More Appian Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It may be cheaper for organizations to pay for the Viewer licenses that are immediately up and running in the cloud, rather than paying for someone to administer publishing to an intranet."
  • "Starting out with Express can also help reduce the cost for adopting the product."
  • "​We have definitely seen ROI. When we first kicked it off, we said it had to pay for itself within three years, and it did."
  • "It gives us a good return on investment."
  • "We chose to purchase IBM BPM because it was bundled with the actual RPA program/solution that we decided to purchase. We decided to use Automation Anywhere tool (RPA), and it is was bundled with IBM BPM."
  • "Our customers do see ROI. They'll identify some particularly painful or uncoordinated processes to start with, then build out from there, picking off low hanging fruit."
  • "It has a low cost to implement. You'll get your money back in the same year that you complete the project."
  • "The cloud and license of the subscription model for IBM BPM can be complex. There are a lot of alternatives to choose from."
  • More IBM BPM Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Management (BPM) solutions are best for your needs.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Appian is fast when building simple to medium solutions. This solution offers simple drag-and-drop functionality with easy plug-and-play options. The initial setup was seamless and very easy to… more »
    Top Answer:Appian is actually pretty big on educating its users, including with courses that reward you with certifications. There is a whole section on their company’s website where you can check out the… more »
    Top Answer:We had some issues when we were setting up Appian. It was quite surprising, since this is a low-code tool which, in its essence, means it is meant for business users and inexperienced beginners. So… more »
    Top Answer:We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing… more »
    Top Answer:The case management and its integration with process design are good features.
    Ranking
    Views
    8,844
    Comparisons
    5,864
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    475
    Rating
    8.3
    Views
    9,798
    Comparisons
    7,620
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    418
    Rating
    7.7
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
    WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
    Learn More
    Overview

    Appian is a unified low-code platform and solution used by businesses to build enterprise applications and workflows. This product adapts to the needs of clients and the technologies they are already using to combine their data in a single workflow and maximize resources. The platform has four main components through which it transforms the work process for companies of various sizes. They are:

    • Complete automation: Through complete automation, companies are able to coordinate and manage employees, existing systems, bots, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in a single workflow. The solution offers a way to centrally manage all third-party automation vendors as well.

    • Low-code applications: Appian offers the ability to build applications faster with visual development and low-code tools. All applications are ready-made to be suitable for mobile.

    • Low-code data: Appian lets companies source data from multiple types of sources, eliminating the need for data migration. Through no-code and low-code solutions and industry-standard connectors, the platform also eliminates the need for data silos.

    • Enterprise ready: The platform offers options for companies to scale their businesses to an enterprise level without complications.

    Appian is utilized across a diverse set of industries, including automotive and manufacturing, energy and utilities, education, financial services, telecom and media, transportation, retail, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. The most frequent use cases of Appian are customer journey, governance, risk and compliance, operational efficiency, supply chain, distributed order management, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management.

    Appian Features

    Appian has various features that allow users to create solutions for their businesses. These features can be separated into a few groups according to function, including automation, low-code application development, and integrations and data. Some of the most frequently used features of Appian include:

    • Robotic process automation (RPA): Users of Appian can assign software bots to perform rules-based tasks that need to be repeated over a set course of time. This can improve efficiency and performance within an organization while saving human resources.

    • Intelligent document processing: The tool offers a feature for quick and accurate extraction and structuring of data. This can reduce time and costs for organizations because it eliminates the need for outsourcing such services.

    • AI: Appian utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance applications, workflows, and automation. AI is also used to address complex processes and unique situations.

    • Business rules: Organizations can automate and simplify work processes while adhering to their operating procedures.

    • Application development: Appian provides a low-code development feature that allows users to deploy applications over ten times faster than through conventional approaches. This feature not only allows for quick application building, but also applications that run on multiple types of platforms, seamless data integration, and business scalability.

    • Integrations and data: Appian allows for data integration from a wide array of sources without the need for migration. This contributes to easy access to data across systems, real-time data insights, improved user experience, and accelerated development.

    Appian Benefits

    The benefits of using Appian include:

    • The solution ensures seamless organization growth, as it supports various UX patterns, common data schemes, and upgrades, used to facilitate application development on a bigger scale.

    • Appian can increase process speed and deliver applications considerably faster compared to conventional development.

    • The platform is easy to use and suitable for complete beginners to build applications and workflows.

    • Appian offers a variety of design tools that facilitate development and deployment.

    • Appian offers detailed real-time data insight which allows organizations to access relevant information about their processes as they are developing.

    • The solution offers clients the ability to move data between the cloud, on-premise, and hybrid configurations.

    • The platform is easy to optimize, which allows businesses to utilize it according to their personal needs.

    • Appian offers connectivity across web, mobile, email, voice, and chat, providing a multi-channel experience for companies and their clients.

    Reviews from Real Users

    A practice leader - digital process automation at a computer software company values Appian highly because the product is easy to develop, low-code, and has a good user interface.

    Alan G., an advisory board member at Codecon VR, Appian offers a clear application life cycle, easy to learn documentation, and comes with a fundamentals course.

    IBM BPM is a business process management tool that provides a robust set of tools to author, test, and deploy business processes, as well as full visibility and insight to managing those business processes. The solution provides tooling and run time for process design, execution, monitoring, and optimization, along with basic system integration support. To support various levels of complexity and involvement with business process management, there are two different editions of the product: IBM BPM and IBM BPM Express.

    IBM BPM Features

    IBM BPM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Process designer authoring tool
    • Collaborative editing and immediate playback of processes
    • Interactive user interfaces
    • Process rules based on IBM Operational Decision Manager
    • IBM Integration Designer (BPEL and SOA)
    • Designing and building case management systems
    • Process portal
    • Real-time monitoring and reporting
    • Performance analytics and optimizer
    • Performance data warehouse
    • IBM Process Center with a shared asset repository
    • IBM Process Federation Server
    • Built-in enterprise service bus (ESB)
    • Transaction support
    • Integration adapters
    • Network deployment support
    • High availability: clustering and unlimited cores

    IBM BPM Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing IBM BPM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Increased efficiency and cost savings: IBM BPM can help you optimize existing processes and incorporate more structure into the development of new processes by removing process redundancies and bottlenecks.
    • More scalable processes: The solution enables better process execution and workflow automation, which transfers well when scaling processes.
    • Greater transparency: Because IBM BPM’s process automation clearly defines owners for tasks along the process, it provides more transparency and accountability throughout a given process. In turn, this fosters more communication among teams.
    • Less dependency on development teams: IBM BPM offers low-code features which remove potential dependencies on development. Business users can be onboarded onto these tools quickly and easily, thereby increasing process automation across the company.

    Reviews from Real Users

    IBM BPM is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are that it’s good for developing complex apps, is robust, and has helpful team management and process performance features.

    Zoran C., Owner/CEO at IT SPHERE, says, “It is perfect if you have to develop complex apps without much coding (only java script). It is also good if you don't have much IT resources in your company and would like to involve business analysts in the process of developing apps. My opinion is that it can do about 50% of all developers' work.”

    Suhas V., BPM Architect at GBM, mentions, “Overall the solution is robust and has the ability to integrate with any product for complex workflows."

    A BPM Consultant at a financial services firm comments, "Some of the features that I like the most are team management and process performance. They are both very useful and very powerful with regard to the workflow."

    A Digital Banking & Innovation Director at a financial services firm expresses, “The processing functionality makes it easy to change processes and workflows easily.”

    Sample Customers
    Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee
    Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Financial Services Firm30%
    University6%
    Healthcare Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization24%
    Financial Services Firm17%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm57%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Insurance Company10%
    Real Estate/Law Firm3%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm29%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise60%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise31%
    Large Enterprise54%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise59%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise71%
    Buyer's Guide
    Appian vs. IBM BPM
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. IBM BPM and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Appian is ranked 4th in Business Process Management (BPM) with 25 reviews while IBM BPM is ranked 6th in Business Process Management (BPM) with 26 reviews. Appian is rated 8.4, while IBM BPM is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Appian writes "Stands out with its integration capabilities, but the backend modeling can be streamlined a little bit". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM BPM writes "A reasonably priced tool that is helpful for the automation of business processes ". Appian is most compared with Microsoft Power Apps, OutSystems, Camunda, ServiceNow and Bizagi, whereas IBM BPM is most compared with Camunda, IBM Business Automation Workflow, Pega BPM, Apache Airflow and AWS Step Functions. See our Appian vs. IBM BPM report.

    See our list of best Business Process Management (BPM) vendors and best Process Automation vendors.

    We monitor all Business Process Management (BPM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.