VP RPA Delivery at Genpact
Video Review
MSP
One of the coolest features is AI Sense. I see immense potential there.
Pros and Cons
  • "I think that one of the coolest features that what Automation Anywhere has come up with is AI Sense. I see an immense potential there. Using AI Sense, we can automate outside Citrix. That's going to remove the client dependency or overall automation journey, and that can give lot of optimization, cost saving, and the time to market."
  • "Improvement areas will be there for everybody. I think one area which I would like to see improvement is in IQ Bot. Maybe it has improved a lot in version 11 X but I think that that's one area which definitely scope to improve."

What is our primary use case?

Cost savings.

Cost savings to the client and business transformation makes life easy. 

What is most valuable?

We have the Bot Store, and also we have contributed a lot of things into Bot Store. We have about 40 different bots in your Bot Store.

I think that one of the coolest features that what Automation Anywhere has come up with is AI Sense. I see an immense potential there. Using AI Sense, we can automate outside Citrix. That's going to remove the client dependency or overall automation journey, and that can give lot of optimization, cost saving, and the time to market.

What needs improvement?

Improvement areas will be there for everybody. I think one area which I would like to see improvement is in IQ Bot. Maybe it has improved a lot in version 11 X but I think that that's one area which definitely scope to improve.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Thumbs up both sides. Stability and scalability. I think these are the least spoken things with Automation Anywhere. It's been in the market for long and they have been proving this right from the start.

Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere (AA)
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere (AA). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward, easy going. Anybody can start that. Only thing is that the people should have common sense.

What was our ROI?

The first one is the FT savings. That's directly proportional to the cost, what client is going to spend. The second thing is, once again, time to market or the optimization and process delivery.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
RPA Developer at Verizon Communications
Real User
The scalability is good. However, when it comes to stability, complex bots always have issues.
Pros and Cons
  • "The OCR is the most valuable feature, though this is a third party feature that we have integrated. It is quite easy to integrate with other solutions."
  • "We tried Citrix six months ago, but the solution that they gave us did not work in our environment."

What is our primary use case?

We have automated a lot of back-end processes. We started with easier tasks and are moving onto more complex tasks now.

How has it helped my organization?

We have a use case where we need to digitize documents, and we will be using the IQ Bot going forward. We are excited to work with Automation Anywhere on this in the future.

What is most valuable?

The OCR is the most valuable feature, though this is a third party feature that we have integrated. It is quite easy to integrate with other solutions.

What needs improvement?

The commands are not working 100 percent as the developers thought that they would.

We tried Citrix six months ago, but the solution that they gave us did not work in our environment.

I would like the IQ Bot to have plug and play functionality.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When it comes to stability, complex bots always have issues.

The stability needs improvement.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good.

How are customer service and technical support?

Sometimes, it takes 24 hours to get a response from the technical support.

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

We decided to pursue an RPA software because we had a lot of error prone legacy systems.

How was the initial setup?

It took six months for us to start our bot process because of issues, like security and setting up servers.

What about the implementation team?

We deployed it in-house.

What was our ROI?

We have automated over 2000 man-hours.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at UiPath.

What other advice do I have?

The Automation Anywhere University courses are very good.

The bot creation process depends on your use case, e.g., the simpler the use case, the simpler the creation process.

I would rate the tool as a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Automation Anywhere (AA)
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Automation Anywhere (AA). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Product Manager at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
The tool enables employees to work on other value-added projects
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup was straightforward. It is a very guided experience: out-of-the-box with Automation Anywhere University training."
  • "I would like to see more complex use cases coming out for our industry."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case has been for automatic service transformation. 

We have automated back office and customer services.

How has it helped my organization?

The tool enables employees to work on other value-added projects.

What is most valuable?

IQ Bot is its most valuable feature.

The user experience is easy. Anyone can work on it.

What needs improvement?

  • I would like to see more complex use cases coming out for our industry.
  • I would like to know how it can scale using enterprise data, especially for back office.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product can scale.

It took us six months to scale to our current number of bots.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is critical for this product, but we have found them a challenge to work with.

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

Our decision to move to RPA was driven by market analysis and ROI.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It is a very guided experience: out-of-the-box with Automation Anywhere University training.

What was our ROI?

Our ROI has been cost and time savings.

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

The Community Edition is also a good offering from the company.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated UiPath and Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

Adding Automation Anywhere is a tremendous value-add in the long-term.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
RPA Developer at Verizon Communications
Real User
Reduced headcount by eliminating manual, repetitive work
Pros and Cons
  • "We can integration with other APIs, which is a good thing. This helps us with our database integration. For example, we have done an SAP integration, which is great, since SAP has a lot of manual work."
  • "With Citrix, we need a dedicated server to work with it. This has become complicated, as it is not easy to pull all the systems together into one place. It would be better if the Automation Anywhere team could make this easy and simple."

What is our primary use case?

We have done a few use cases for the business, IT, and financials. The primary use case is for the business client.

How has it helped my organization?

It has provided our organization a lot of benefits. We have reduced our headcount, approximately 200 to 300 employees, by eliminating manual, repetitive work. It provides profit to the business. 

It is also good to incorporate new technology into our business and systems.

What is most valuable?

The MetaBot is a valuable feature.

We can integration with other APIs, which is a good thing. This helps us with our database integration. For example, we have done an SAP integration, which is great, since SAP has a lot of manual work.

IQ Bot is great for invoices. It helps a lot for retail and on the SAP side.

Ease of use:

  • For developers, the Control Room components are very popular. They are easy to use, along with the Repository Manager, Schedule Manager, and maintenance of the bots.
  • For people from nontechnical backgrounds, the product is simple from them to use. Everyone can learn it. It takes about two weeks on the tool.

What needs improvement?

With Citrix, we need a dedicated server to work with it. This has become complicated, as it is not easy to pull all the systems together into one place. It would be better if the Automation Anywhere team could make this easy and simple.

We would like to see AI incorporated into the tool. With the cognitive capabilities, they need to be improved to handle unstructured data.

The screen scrapping needs to be improved.

Some of the commands, like object cloning and OCR, are not so reliable when we are automating five to ten websites into the same task. Also, when we autofill fields, the comments are not so reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have built many bots. It is good to use the best practices when developing them. For example, we add logs and error handling to each bot, so if it is not working, then we can see why. This helps our developers a lot.

It took us two to three months to scale up from our pilot to the number of bots that we are currently using. What took time was our business people needed to be educated on bots and their capabilities.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have faced some of the problems with the Automation Anywhere tool. The technical support is quick and very responsive. They make sure the problem is completely resolved, which is good.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it in-house.

What other advice do I have?

Go directly to the Automation Anywhere University site. There is some hands-on usage for the tool, and you can also download a trial there.

I have taken some classes from the Automation Anywhere University. I did three types of certifications, as well. The Automation Anywhere University site provides a lot of information, along with certifications. It gives an overview of what is the tool is and how the developers can code the product, which is a good thing.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Finance Head of BSO Senior Group Division at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
The customer engagement is really deep. They work with operations very closely.
Pros and Cons
  • "The customer engagement is really deep, and they work with the “gemba”. They work with operations very closely. I also believe they have a good product roadmap."
  • "They will need much more support, because it is a new thing and it’ll never fail because of productive partners. It will fail if people on the “gemba” don’t adopt it."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to automate all the back-end processes, which are accounts receivables, accounts payable, automatic settlement, and a lot of processes in the supply chains. Afterwards, we move onto the front-end transactions.

How has it helped my organization?

It provides, not only hard benefits, but also soft benefits. This means to leave the human capital (which they are required to do); leave the human mind free of all voluminous repetitive tasks. Let the workers do the work that they are intended to do, which is thinking. The bot can work for you. There is no comparison to the human mind. 

What is most valuable?

The customer engagement is really deep, and they work with the “gemba”. They work with operations very closely. I also believe they have a good product roadmap. 

What needs improvement?

I’ve already mentioned the future of our human mind and thinking are limited. We only think in arithmetical progression, not GP.  So, I have no answer for this.

When you scale up, like on Proof of Value (PoV), it’s okay. You can have one full, dedicated person working on the site. However, when you scale up, and imagine there are 150 people including bots in an organization of 20,000 people, then they need to be loved and cared for (every single one of them). They will need much more support, because it is a new thing and it’ll never fail because of productive partners. It will fail if people on the “gemba” don’t adopt it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We are in the Proof of Value stage, not proof of concept. Like any business, production lines, or bots, there will be outtakes that you’ll have to deal with and build up.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If you ask me, my personal belief is you can’t even begin to imagine what you can do.  You can imagine, but you are limited by your own imagination and thinking, so you can go exponentially. 

How are customer service and technical support?

On a scale of one to ten, Automation Anywhere would be a seven to eight.  

From my point of view working in the market and examining at it, this market needs more skill sets. This market needs more bilingual people and some more process-oriented people who can understand the business processes and help the customers grow.

Every industry has its own unique business processes, but this market is short on labor, even in skills, and also in terms of people who can articulate the value of process automation. That is a value piece from Automation Anywhere’s side. These guys need to build a good team.  

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

There were five big criteria:

  1. Cost. 
  2. Features and functions. 
  3. Global and local support. 
  4. Customer service. 
  5. Technical support. 

In our office, there was a full team with a full process and close to 10 to 15 people from procurement, technology, business, and also “gemba”, as I keep calling operations. They went into the evaluation and had a very scientific way of doing so. 

There was another partner who we felt was very close, but the edge was the customer service and the support. That was the edge.

How was the initial setup?

It was very easy and simple.

What about the implementation team?

We brought in a partner. However, it was very easy the way things, and if someone has moved in the industry and business processes, they can do it. It was not that difficult at all.

What was our ROI?

Of course, yes, we have seen ROI. Especially in this market, human capital is valued in an ageing society. If you don’t find skilled people, who’s going to do the job? If you remove the neutrality of people and build it through the bots, that is the best way to do.

What other advice do I have?

For my company and me, we come from a good technology company. Every company is a technology company. Without technology, you cannot live. When you are building up your back-end processes, especially in the shared services, what next?

In the Asian markets, they have come to a point of maturity where labor is the normal average. Looking at China, the Philippines, Malaysia, or even India, these markets are becoming more exponentially expensive. Therefore, what is our next wave of forward industrial evolution? To me, these digital automation RPAs going into artificial intelligence and machine learning are the areas of industry that we’ll need to move into very quickly. We need to take a very conscious call in preparing ourselves for the future.

Did we try some other solutions, to that extent, of automating the right business processes? I don’t know. 

Was the solution good or bad? I don’t know. 

But the perceived value of it, either in terms of real value or dollar value, or in terms of releasing the sources to do better thinking work, those are the areas where personally I was not convinced. So, let’s try something which has a more futuristic outlook. I call it glocalization, globally present and locally present. That was the whole idea behind our inception into reality.

The moment you say you are a vendor and looking at your contract, your relationship is over. You want business partners who can help the industry. We know how to make beverages, and for example, we make the best. I hope so, and I’m confident. We need some partners who know their stuff as well, and who understand the pain points of the industry and can help with them. Those are a couple of criteria which can make you successful partnerships and business relationships, not a vendor.

I would rate this product an eight.  

If I fast forward two to three years. At that point in time, how would it look like? Maybe we have the same amount of enthusiasm, or if it we become very big, then we may become less agile. If you are small, you are more agile. The moment you become big, it goes into its own dimensions.

I’d would advise, first of all, if you are an end user like me, don’t think of yourself as a customer. You have to see your customer as your “gemba”, as the people in operations. Your product partners, implementation partners, and you are responsible for servicing the customer. Thus, it will always be a win-win game for everyone. Don’t try to put a blame on the product or the partner. You are all equally responsible, and need to put your skin in the game. Just go ahead for it. 

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか?

我が社の場合の主なユースケースはまず、自動バックエンド業務全般です。これは通常APつまり未払金と売掛金、それにサプライチェーンの多くがあります。後はフロントエンドコミッションです。

Automation Anywhereのどんなところに満足していますか?

顧客関与が非常に深く、彼らは現場でよく働くと思います。 業務部と密接に協働してくれます。それに製品ロードマップが良いと思います。

では、彼らと築いた関係に満足しているということですね。

当ソリューションを使用するとどのようなメリットがありますか?御社が機能する上でどのような改善をもたらしましたか?

はい、後で話しますが、大きな点の1つはハードメリットだけでなく、ソフトメリットでもあります。つまり、実際にすべき仕事に人的資本を使うことです。それは少なくとも人間の精神を大量の反復作業から解放することにつながります。彼らがやるべき仕事をする。ボットは私達のために仕事をしますが、人間の頭には及ばないと確信しています。

 には考える力を発揮させる。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

それはまだです。まだ価値実証の段階で。実証実験を多く行っています。でもどんなビジネス、どんな生産ライン、どんなボットでも同じように対処して構築しなければならない支障はあります。

当ソリューションの拡張性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

それはまだです。まだ価値実証の段階で。実証実験を多く行っています。でもどんなビジネス、どんな生産ライン、どんなボットでも同じように対処して構築しなければならない支障はあります。

Automation Anywhereのテクニカルサポートを利用しなければいけなかった経験はありますか?ある場合は、サポートをどのように評価しますか?

はい。 10が最高の評価とすれば、彼らは7から8ですね。

10に達するには、何が必要ですか?さらなるサポートですか?

私の見解では、この市場は-私はこれまで様々な市場で働いてきましたが-この市場にはさらなるスキルセットが必要です。より多くのバイリンガルの人々、そしてビジネスプロセスを理解して顧客の成長を助けるプロセス指向の人々が必要ですね。

具体的な例を挙げると? ビジネスプロセスやスキルセットについて?

どんな業界にも独自のビジネスプロセスがありますが、この市場は明らかに労働力が足りません。労働力が足りない上、スキル、それにプロセスの自動化の価値を明確に表現できる人がいません。ですから、Automation Anywhere側からの価値観で言うと、彼らは良いチームを確立させる必要があると言います。もっともっと。

もちろんです、はい。でも 拡大の余地はあります。急激に進めるための余地、そして急激に進めるなら、パートナーも同時に成長する必要があります。生態系全体が成長する必要があるので、ビジネスが成長するだけでなく、生態系が成長しなければサポートも難しくなります。

Automation Anywhereからのサポートを直接受けていますか?

そうです。直接…名前は言いませんが、製品部で指導を受けたパートナーがいました。というのは、製品を最大限に活用するためには、全機能を探索する必要がありますので。

初期セットアップはどうでしたか?簡単、それとも複雑でしたか?

とても簡単でシンプルだったと思います。

自分達で、それともパートナーを使って?

パートナーを連れてきましたが、そのままでもとても簡単だし、ビジネスプロセスで移動したことのある人になら誰にでもできます。全く難しくはありません。

当ソリューションの次のリリースに含まれていたらいいなと思うのはどのような機能ですか?

すでに言いましたが、人間の思考の将来は限られています。私達はGPではなく、自動化の進歩で考える。だからこの質問への答えはありません。

現在のバージョンで改善されると思いますか?

まだ完全に見れていないので、改善に関して答えるのは難しいです。

スケールアップをすると、価値実証でのように、現場で働く専任スタッフを1人増員することはできますが、その場合、規模を拡大して2万人の組織内でボットを含む150人がいるとします。その一人一人が親身なケアを受ける必要があります。そうすると、もっともっと沢山のサポートが必要となります。というのもこれは新しいものであり、失敗すれば、これは生産パートナーのせいではなく、現場の人間がそれに適応しないからなのです。

ROIは出ていますか?

もちろんです、はい。言うまでもなく。この市場では特に人的資本が少ないです。高齢化社会で熟練した人がいない。なら誰がその仕事をするのでしょうか? そこで人の中立性を取り除いて、ボットを使って構築するのです。それが最善の方法でしょう。

新しいソリューションに投資をする必要があると思ったのはどうしてですか?

私自身そして我が社は素晴らしいテクノロジー会社を経て来ています。先ほど申し上げたように、このテクノロジーについては後でお話しますが、会社はすべてテクノロジー会社です。テクノロジーなしでは生存はできないし、特に共有サービスにおいてバックエンドプロセスを構築するなら、必要なものは何でしょうか?アジアにおけるこれらの市場では、労働が通常平均という成熟の地点に実際に達しています。中国、フィリピン、マレーシア、もしくはインドを見てください。これらの市場は急速に高価になってきています。では今後の産業革命の波は何か?私の思うには、これらのデジタルオートメーションRPは、人工知能、機械学習へと移行します。これらは非常に迅速な移行が必要となる分野です。 そこで私たちは未来に向けて意識的に自分達自身を準備する行動を取ったのです。

以前に別のソリューションを使っていましたか?その場合はどうして変更しましたか?

これまでにいくつかのソリューションを試しましたが、適切なビジネスプロセスを自動化したかどうかは分かりません。そのソリューションが良かったか悪かったかも分かりません。でも、本当の価値、あるいはドル価値のどちらかの観点で認識した価値、またはより良い働き方をするために情報源をリリースするという観点から言えば、私個人的にはあまり納得していませんでした。なので、より未来的な見通しのあるものを試そうと思ったのです。私はそれをグローバリゼーションと呼んでいます。グローバルに存在し、ローカルに存在することなので、これが発端から現実までの背景の全体像です。

他のベンダーも検討しましたか、それともAutomation Anywhereだけでしたか?

12のパートナーから選出されたプロセスから始めました。

ベンダーを選ぶ際、決め手となる、その他の条件は何ですか?5つのうちトップの2つはどれですか?

違う答えをしたいと思います。まず彼らはベンダーではなく、ビジネスパートナーです。なのでその定義は違うと思います。彼らが、自分達はベンダーだと言い、契約を見始める瞬間、私達の関係は終わりだと思います。欲しいのは業界に役立つことのできるビジネスパートナーなんです。例えば、私達は飲み物を作る方法を知ってるとします。最高の製品を作っている。私はそう思うし、確信もしています。ここで必要なのは自分達の製品に精通していて、業界の支払いポイントを理解し、助けてくれるパートナーです。こういったことがベンダーではなく、成功するパートナーシップやビジネス関係を作るための2つの条件でしょう。

Automation Anywhereを選んだわけは何ですか?

条件を決めていました。5つの大きな条件が。もちろん、コスト。まず、特徴と機能。 グローバルおよびローカルサポート。3つ目はもちろんカスタマーサービスです。そしてもちろん、テクニカルサポート。私たちのオフィスは完全なチームがあり、完全なプロセスがありました。 調達、技術、ビジネス、そして私が「現場」と呼び続けている運営からの10〜15人近くが非常に科学的な方法で評価を行っています。 非常に密接だと感じていたパートナーがいましたが、決め手は明らかにカスタマーサービスとサポートです。それが最重要です。

Automation Anywhereについて、その他に付け足すことはありますか?

いいえ、何もありません。皆さんのご清栄をお祈りすると同時に、Imagineを東京デビューさせてくれた彼らに感謝します。彼らはロンドンへ行き、ニューヨークに行き、今ではインドにも進出したことを知っているので、うまくいけば私たちの市場はこれから持つべく相互作用から恩恵を受けることでしょう。

製品、サポート、環境の全体に1から10の評価(10=最高)を付けるとしたら、どのように評価しますか?

8

特定したものではないです。2、3年時間を早送りしたとしたら、どうなっているでしょうか?同じだけの情熱を持っているか、もしかしたらとても大きくなっているかもしれない。だとしたらアジャイル性を失います。小さければもっとアジャイル性があります。大きくなった瞬間に自分だけの次元に入ってしまうんですね。

このソリューションあるいは同様なソリューションを探している、同社あるいは他社の同僚の方に、どんなアドバイスをなさいますか?

まず、私のようなエンドユーザーであれば、自分を顧客とは考えないことです。自分の顧客を現場の人として、運営の人として見る必要があります。 製品パートナー、実装パートナー、そしてあなたは内部にいる顧客にサービスを提供する責任があります。だから、これは皆が勝つことのできるゲームです。製品やパートナーに責任を被せてはいけません。皆で同時に責任を負い、ゲームを進めるべきです。

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
it_user178536 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Test Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
The IDE is simple and easy to use but if you come from a coding background, it's a little too simplistic.

What is most valuable?

There are several features that are very valuable to me, and these are the main reasons I was attracted to it.

  1. It has a very wide array of built in functionality. I am able to test against SNMP (v1 and v2), Telnet, SSH, Command Line, Web Browsers (IE, Google, FireFox), email, Microsoft Office, Windows integration, etc… On top of all that I can write other apps in other languages and have Testing Anywhere control them when necessary.
  2. The scripting language is easy to learn and very quick to build on.
  3. The server side allows for multiple developers to be involved and all their work is saved to a single repository.

How has it helped my organization?

We chose this product because we had an extremely aggressive timetable to develop automation from scratch. In a traditional setting it would have taken several developers months to develop a full of suite of tests for just one feature set. Using Testing Anywhere we were able to leverage the built in capabilities such as Telnet and product a quick turnaround in developing a Telnet menu test that took a matter of weeks to develop.

What needs improvement?

There are a few areas that this product really needs to bring to the next level. First, the server is good but very basic. It does a great job of storing all the test files in a central location for all developers to use. However, it lacks all the standard features a normal “code” repository has such as Check In/Check Out, Branching, Version Control, etc…

Second, the IDE – or development interface is simple and easy to use. But if you come from a coding background such as myself you’ll find that it is a little too simplistic. I've become accustomed to the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE where it is very functional and helpful in developing your code. The Testing Anywhere IDE lacks all the bells and whistles you get in a full features IDE such as Visual Studios.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about 1 ½ - 2 years now.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Testing Anywhere offers two licenses for deployment – a runtime license and an EXE license.

The EXE license is such that I can create “executable” files from the developer machine and deploy it. In creating the EXE you include all of your scripts necessary for it to run. However, there is no control on how or when those are created and the file that you created can only be deployed to one system. SO if you wanted to deploy this test file to say 10 test systems you would need 10 licenses.

The runtime license is basically the same as a developers license without the ability to edit. I've come to believe this is very useless as I have to manually put in all my scripts and manually check them every time I run (because there is no way to verify what is running is the latest). One of our tests involved 200 scripts, so this can be a rather tiresome venture. To Testing Anywheres' credit, there is supposedly a different server than I am using, and that allows you to update the scripts on a remote machine but we are not using that nor have I seen it so I cannot comment on its abilities.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have encountered a few. My company was one of the early users (if not the earliest) of the Testing Anywhere product. I'm told we used the product in ways that was not anticipated and pushed the boundaries of the product and development teams at Testing Anywhere. Because of this we uncovered a number of bugs that we were able to work with the developers at Testing Anywhere to get resolved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have run into a few. First, the server we purchased is limited to just a handful of licenses - six I believe. This includes developers and runtimes. This may seem like a lot but if you include all your test machines (the run times) that quickly dissipates. We are currently discussing evaluating the next level of server offered called Test Lab which is supposed to resolve this issue.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I would rate them as 5/10, and only because I have had most of my interaction with technical support and our product manager. I have not had to contact customer support much at all – Which is a good thing!

Technical Support:

I would rate them as 8/10. They are always responsive. I am often in contact with someone on their team ensuring that they can re-produce the issues and working with them to find a solution.

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

I come from a background where we developed all of our test tools internally. I’ve used mainly Visual Studio. The only reason I entertained and then chose this solution was because of the time table and resources made available by my management.

How was the initial setup?

I found the initial setup rather easy and straight forward. I think coming from a programming background made it that much easier but others that I have worked with that did not have a programming background have not had much difficulty either.

What about the implementation team?

This was done through an in-house team.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we did look into several other options. We looked at an internal team of developers developing in some type programming language. We also looked at Selenium, Squish, and a few others.

What other advice do I have?

If you are looking for a fast solution using minimal resources not requiring an advanced programming skill set this is your product. It’s easy to learn and quick to deploy.

While it has some really great features and is extremely easy to use it is still fairly new to the market and has its bugs. (Not that other solutions do not).

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user

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See all 3 comments
Solution Architect | RPA at Sutherland Global Services
MSP
Good security and integration, and the process discovery helps to determine requirements and process flow
Pros and Cons
  • "The CyberArk integration and setup are really amazing and it helps us to win deals for new projects."
  • "Instead of depending on other open-source BPM products, AA should provide their own BPM for attended automations."

What is our primary use case?

We have been using RPA for the past seven years and have dealt with a lot of other RPA vendors. We have many use cases across all of the verticals like technology, HR, Finance, Mortgage, Insurance, etc.

The current one, on which we are focusing is Mortgage use cases. We have proven experience in all of the verticals with different use cases. Especially when it comes to the environment, there are no restrictions in that regard because it's all based on the client's requirements and their expectations as well. There are a few clients that came with a Citrix gateway, others use the VDI based approach, and still, others bring their own operating systems.

How has it helped my organization?

One thing that I want to highlight AA for is their security standards. It's an easy win situation when we present this to our clients. The CyberArk integration and setup are really amazing and it helps us to win deals for new projects.

Especially on the Cognitive capabilities, AA enables us to adopt third-party extensions and products, which is very useful to accommodate more use cases and push the RPA practice to the next level.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the IQ Bot and Process Discovery.

  1. IQ Bot - In earlier days, everyone started with RPA by mimicking the users' actions and achieved some automation expectations. But nowadays, apart from the basic action, there is a need for intelligence like Machine earning, Deep learning, and Artificial Intelligence. The IQ Bot accommodates such expectations. There are a lot of pre-trained workflows available and a lot of capabilities to involve users to train the model.
  2. Process Discovery - The next trend is Process discovery and it involves automating the identification of process requirements for activities and then automatically developing the workflow.

What needs improvement?

The dedicated BPM from AA should help to cover more use cases. I would strongly say that AA should have a more advanced BPM tool to support the process/use cases attempted in the project. Instead of depending on other open-source BPM products, AA should provide their own BPM for attended automations.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Automation Anywhere for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, this product is excellent.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of AA is excellent.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is excellent.

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

We have more than seven years of experience in RPA and with different vendors and a lot of different tools. We used the same approach but the recent updates and growth of AA have helped us decide to make use of it

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented in-house, with the help of vendor support documents.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is implementing Automation Anywhere is that 

It's not always necessary to tie up or utilize unattended bots or achieve 100 % automation. A lot of opportunities are there with the ratio of 80:20 (80% automation and 20% manual intervention) or 70:30.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1468983 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at Accenture
Real User
User-friendly, Bot Store offers helpful utilities for free, and we have realized FTE savings for our tasks
Pros and Cons
  • "AA has good coverage in terms of out-of-the-box functionality for bot development and management."
  • "The Control room audit logs should be moved to an archive for those that are more than six months old."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case starts with downloading an inventory file in IE and then storing it in the database. This uses DB variables that interact with the banking application.

Through its automating system of generating quotations, it is much easier for us to track back the same customer data. It is giving us a real-time capability for generating reports.

Automation anywhere has equipped us with amazing tools including Bot Insight, IQ Bot, Discovery Bot, etc. The Discovery Bot is used to search the entire task in the system that can be automated. It keeps much value in our organization.

Extracting PDFs is very easy using Automation Anywhere. Its strong points are that it is easy to use, easy to deploy, easy to share, and has multi-user support. Different devices can be used to execute the bot.

The Bot Store provides some utilities for free, which can then be integrated into my workflows easily.

How has it helped my organization?

Using automation has reduced between five and eight FTE in our inventory download and update task. This is more generic to the RPA space than AA specifically, but we tried to automate a large, high FTE, end-to-end process as a POC.

What is most valuable?

AA is user friendly.

The most valuable features are the web recorder, which is used to extract structured table data, the Metabot to handle smart process automation (SPA), Object Cloning, variable assignment, and Message boxes.

IQ Bot is a unique offering from AA that allows you to extract information from semi-structured documents like PDF invoices, using built-in ML. The ability to train documents and easily review any that fall outside of the model is excellent.

AA has good coverage in terms of out-of-the-box functionality for bot development and management. A2019 has some great new features that take this further, such as the ability to create custom commands for your organization, which helps code reuse and development.

What needs improvement?

Comparing the code from dev to QA or production should be in some easier way.

Pausing the bot and resuming it in Metabot should be easier.

The Control room audit logs should be moved to an archive for those that are more than six months old.

The error handling capability is good but we are facing difficulties when there are multiple tasks in the same project. I want to be able to handle errors that occur in sub-tasks and it would be better to introduce a global error handler so that we can debug all of the relevant tasks.

I would like to have a project sharing hub like GitHub, inside of the tool, which will help to consolidate project files post-deployment.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Automation Anywhere for the past four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We experienced continuous bot disconnections in our environment. Once we validated it with the AA support team, they suggest for version upgrade and it solved our problem.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support team has good knowledge of the product. They understand problems well and then provide solutions. 

What other advice do I have?

My recommendation would be to start with some simpler processes. This will build your capability and understanding far more quickly. Automating processes that utilize a lot of different web applications can be tricky without additional input/error checking. Be sure that your code is resilient enough to ensure inputs get transcribed accurately and pages/content are loaded before executing more lines of code.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Automation Anywhere (AA) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Automation Anywhere (AA) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.