IBM BPM vs Microsoft .NET Framework comparison

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.”

Microsoft .NET Framework is a software development framework for building and running applications for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows servers, XML Web services, and Microsoft Azure. The software is made up of two major components: Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework Class Library. The CLR is the execution engine that handles running apps and the Class Library is a library of tested, reusable code that developers can call from their own apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Features

Microsoft .NET Framework has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Memory management: With Microsoft .NET Framework apps, the CLR allocates and releases memory and handles object lifetimes in many programming languages, so programmers are not responsible to do it.

• Multitargeting: Microsoft .NET Framework targets .NET Standard, allowing developers to create class libraries that work on multiple Microsoft .NET Framework platforms.

• A common type system: When using Microsoft .NET Framework, basic types are defined by the .NET Framework type system and are common to all languages that target Microsoft .NET Framework as opposed to traditional programming languages where basic types are defined by the compiler.

• Side-by-side execution: By allowing multiple versions of the common language runtime to exist on the same computer, Microsoft .NET Framework helps resolve version conflicts. In addition, an app can run on the version of Microsoft .NET Framework with which it was built and multiple versions of apps can coexist.

• Development frameworks and technologies: Microsoft .NET Framework provides libraries for specific areas of app development, such as ASP.NET for web apps, ADO.NET for data access, Windows Communication Foundation for service-oriented apps, and Windows Presentation Foundation for Windows desktop apps.

Microsoft .NET Framework Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft .NET Framework. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

• Language interoperability: With this Microsoft .NET Framework feature, routines written in one language are accessible to other languages, enabling programmers to focus on creating apps in their preferred languages.

• Version compatibility: Microsoft .NET Framework offers version compatibility for rare occasions when apps that are developed by using a particular version of Microsoft .NET Framework happen to run without modification on a later version.

• Extensive class library: With Microsoft .NET Framework, programmers have the ability to use a readily accessible Microsoft .NET Framework class library instead of having to write vast amounts of code to handle common low-level programming operations.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Microsoft .NET Framework solution.

PeerSpot user, Syed A., Principal System Developer at a government, says the solution is a “Great all in one framework with extensive stack for web applications, windows applications and mobile applications.”

A QA Supervisor at a manufacturing company mentions, “It comes with many features that you can interact with and has all of the libraries readily available, which is not available in the RPA platforms. You can create your own SSIS package. You can integrate with all of the Windows objects, which is not available in Automation Anywhere, and you need to rely on their Object Cloning technologies to interact with them.”

Brennan G., IS Technical Architect at Avara Foods Holdings Limited, comments, “It is easy to use, and it runs on a Windows platform. The .NET Framework is a very good framework. It does what I need it to do.”