Director of Financial Systems & Data Warehouse Department at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Integration with Java is an advantage but a more user friendly interface is needed
Pros and Cons
  • "Compared to other products on the market, Bonita presents a pretty acceptable level of robustness."
  • "It would be nice to have a wizard to help walk through the development process and create a backbone."

What is most valuable?

The ability to integrate with Java modules and Java injections is an advantage over other products in the market.

What needs improvement?

Other products are much easier to get started with because they offer wizards. It would be nice to have a wizard to help walk through the development process and create a backbone. Then, after this, you can just develop and create additional features through Java injections, etc. It should be possible to develop at a higher level.

A more user-friendly interface, especially for beginners, would be a good improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not had any negative experience with regards to the stability of the platform. I use other products, especially for Beta integration purposes, and these are not as stable as Bonita. Compared to other products on the market, Bonita presents a pretty acceptable level of robustness.

Buyer's Guide
Bonita
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Bonita. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I do not have experience in scaling up the platform but I expect that it is similar to other products.

We have approximately fifty people using this solution, all of which are end users.

How are customer service and support?

I did not have occasion to speak with technical support.

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

The solution that I used prior to this was developed in-house and it is difficult to compare because it does not exist as a market product.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not easy compared to other products. To me, it is acceptable, but there are other vendors who provide much more guidance for the customer.

What other advice do I have?

Maybe for beginners, there are more friendly products, but for users who are a bit more experienced, and I'm not talking about experts, I think that Bonita is a pretty good choice.

I have not experienced any limitations that blocked our implementation that was agreed upon by the client.

My advice for people looking to implement this solution is to look at what Bonita can offer, and then review and compare other products. After this, gather some experience or review the market to search for experts who can facilitate or support the implementation. 

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Ricardo Camacho - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive Director at Pilares Consultores
Real User
Helpful features, effective processes management, and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "Bonita is user-friendly."
  • "Installation could be made easier."

What is our primary use case?

We use Bonita for business processes development.

What is most valuable?

Bonita is user-friendly.

The features are useful.

What needs improvement?

Installation could be made easier.

I would like to see more automated processes.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Bonita for two years, and last used it six months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Bonita is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I believe that it is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I have not contacted technical support.

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

I also use Visio and Bizagi.

Depending on my customers, I use a variety of programs for business projects. Some enterprise businesses use Bonita, while others use Visio and Excel.

Our clients use Bonita, Visio, and other programs. I need to use all of them because I'm creating a consultant system.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was not simple, but it was difficult.

What other advice do I have?

My company is a reseller and distributor of other software, both Canadian and American, but I would like to resell Bonita as well.

I would rate Bonita an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Bonita
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Bonita. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Partner with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Previously, we developed custom business systems. We switched to Bonita because it cut down development time and is easier to demo to prospective clients.

What is most valuable?

With our own processes, we have found the extensible connector system to be very useful (our processes can connect with legacy and 3rd party systems in a simple, well defined way).

When we interact with clients, the BPM workflows from Bonita BPM make defining processes and clarifying system flow much easier.  We used to draw system diagrams on whiteboards; now, we create simple models as functional demos. 

How has it helped my organization?

Our lead generation system involves both automated and human tasks. By centralizing the workflow to our internal Bonita BPM system, we have improved the conversion rate (leads to customers) and lowered the number of leads dropped. Things do not slip through the cracks any longer.

What needs improvement?

A number of the problem areas that we have run into in the past have been addressed in the newest version (7.0 beta). Things like custom app integration and human task forms have been greatly simplified.

That said, creating custom connectors for 3rd party applications and APIs is still a challenging task. Debugging, in particular, is difficult. I feel that when the development process for custom connectors becomes simpler, there will be many more available connectors.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this software internally and for our clients since 2011

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We have always deployed servers using Apache Tomcat. Our team is most familiar with this Java Application Server. Since our applications have always run as stand alone systems, this makes sense - if they required a full JEE stack, we would look at JBoss (with it's increased functionality and complexity).

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The deployed systems have been fairly stable. Most of the challenges we have run into have been as a result of the hardware and network infrastructures - not as a result of Bonita.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, we have not had to scale beyond a single server install. The software has scaled up to hundreds of concurrent processes and run well on the single server.

How are customer service and technical support?

Generally, the customer service has been great. I have interacted with a number of people at BonitaSoft (Jon Sanchez and Olivia Halaimi stand out in my memory as particularly nice to work with), all have been pleasant and helpful.

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

Previously, we developed custom business systems. We switched to Bonita because it cut down development time and is easier to demo to prospective clients.

How was the initial setup?

The initial install of Bonita Studio is very simple.

The jump from Bonita Studio to a full installation requires a solid understanding of IS and the resources to implement internal server deployments. It's quite a large jump from a demonstration with a desktop studio to even a simple deployment in a real world system.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented with our in-house team.

What was our ROI?

The return on investment is difficult to quantify because Bonita BPM has become tightly integrated in all our internal processes.

I can say that 2014 saw a 50% increase in staffing and an 80% increase in gross revenue over 2013 (when we first implemented Bonita BPM internally). 2015 is on track to show even more significant increases.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We took a look at a number of the open source BPM solutions (including Activiti, JBPM and Drools). We found that Bonita BPM provided the best balance of clarity for non-technical users and development flexibility.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Since the end of 2013, Geek Inc has been a registered Experto partner with BonitaSoft. We do BPM development (processes and connectors) for clients interested in using Bonita BPM.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Sr. Software Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It doesn't use any type of proprietary scripting language, like in some other BPMs. Documentation and examples could be enhanced.

Valuable Features:

I was tasked with evaluating three different BPM vendors for my organization. Of the 3 I evaluated, Bonita was the best in:

  • creating forms
  • ease of customization of forms
  • versatility of supported platforms (we have both Macs and Windows machines, and the Studio will work on both)
  • It is the only BPM platform that I've seen so far that allows for versioning of artifacts.
  • Though we'd like to have a totally non-programming implementation, Bonita facilitates scripts where needed. It doesn't use any type of proprietary scripting language, like I saw in some other BPM products.

Improvements to My Organization:

Our first use case is not in production yet, but our business users have expressed how they feel it will add the needed checks and reviews to an area where data was updated without any type of review process.

Room for Improvement:

The documentation and examples definitely could be enhanced.

Use of Solution:

6 months

Deployment Issues:

Not in production yet.

Stability Issues:

It has been very stable in our dev environment so far.

Initial Setup:

It was very easy to install both the studio and the server engine.

Implementation Team:

We installed it via our in-house team.

Other Solutions Considered:

BizAgi, Process Maker

Other Advice:

Before choosing any BPM product, definitely do a real world POC with and test ease of connectivity to external systems via REST or SOAP, evaluate ease of form development, and ease of custimization.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Partner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Beneficial low code platform, easy installation, but IoT connectivity needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features is you can create without coding, it is a low code platform."
  • "There could be an improvement in IoT connectivity."

What is our primary use case?

We are in the early stages of testing this solution. It is used for business process automation.

What is most valuable?

One of the most valuable features is you can create without coding, it is a low code platform.

What needs improvement?

There could be an improvement in IoT connectivity.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a couple of days.

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

We have used Novacura.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was easy.

What about the implementation team?

We have an internal team that does the implementation of Bonita.

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

The price of the solution is reasonable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated Pega.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Bonita seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Dueño at a tech services company
Real User
Java integration is powerful enough to solve any complex problems
Pros and Cons
  • "Process automation with Bonita BPM is really easy."
  • "Automation in vacation of a human resources replacement would be a good improvement in the product."

What is most valuable?

  • Process automation with Bonita BPM is really easy.
  • Price to service ratio with Bonita BPM is good.
  • Forms to interact with users are really good in Bonita BPM.
  • Integration with existing systems is easy with Bonita BPM connectors.
  • Java integration is powerful enough to solve any complex problems.

How has it helped my organization?

I have solved a lot of Banking problems using Bonita BPM, from customer hiring to credit evaluation.

We have developed more than 20 processes in banking industries using the Bonita BPM platform.

What needs improvement?

Automation in vacation of a human resources replacement would be a good improvement in the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Bonita BPM for five years.

I have used Bonita BPM since version 5.10. The current version is 7.5.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product runs steadily stable every time.

It is recommendable to use a stable version. This means do not use a new version. In example, if the last version is 7.6 it is recommendable to use the last update of 7.5. This is nothing different to other softwares.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I never had scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I rate technical support with a nine out of 10. They have two support centers and they can cover all the time zones. Depending on the level of contracted support they can answer in a day or hours.

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

I do not use a previous solution but I tested some others before I used Bonita BPM.

I chose Bonita because their price/service relation. You have a good value for your money invested in Bonita BPM.

How was the initial setup?

Initially with version 5, it was really simple to develop our first solution. We could to program our first solution without any training course. We used a consultant service just to configure our production server.

Now, I think that a training course is a good idea to apply the better practices using the product.

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

The price is good, but I do not like the process instance annual quantity pricing base used today.

Nowadays, I think the price would not be good for small companies. For medium and large companies, it could still be a really good option.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We considered ProcessMaker initially, but in those times (in the year 2012), Bonita was really the best option.

What other advice do I have?

If you are trying to use a BPM solution for a core business implementation, I would strongly consider to use a subscription version (a licensed one). Do not use a community edition for business core implementations: Just because of the support service. In the community edition, you will be quite alone because Bonita BPM community is not as active, like others.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partnership with Bonitasoft, SA.
PeerSpot user
it_user705708 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user705708Senior Technical Team Lead at Wipro
Real User

I totally agree with "In the community edition, you will be quite alone because Bonita BPM community is not as active, like others."

PeerSpot user
Product Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Studio provides an opportunity to get early feedback and quickly change the process and forms.

What is most valuable?

  • Ease of implementation
  • Reduced cycle time to implement a process
  • Studio provides an opportunity to get early feedback from real users and quickly change the process and forms

For how long have I used the solution?

7 months

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Good

Technical Support:

Excellent

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

No previous solutions.

What about the implementation team?

In-house

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
A BPM platform with a wide range of connectors

What is most valuable?

** Collaborative model based on a shared BPM repository ** Business process models and various integrated Look'n'feel Custom ** Assistance for queries creation, connectors and component services ** Java REST API + EJB2/EJB3 and Clustering ** Research data and processes + Error Handling ** Application server Tomcat, JOnAS, JBoss, and Weblogic and other ** Multiple connectors (ERP, CRM, Web Services, Social Networks, ECM, Google products, couriers ... etc..) for free use ** Mobile portal available (rendering and performance not tested yet) ** BPM engine used on platform or isolated ** Research modules on our implemented data and processes

How has it helped my organization?

N/A

What needs improvement?

* The support is mandatory to access all features (Subscription), may they can have a different business model * Requires programming knowledge for implementation and management of heterogeneous connectors. I'll advice to combine some features/connectors for internal offer without using an external editor * Rules engine recently added and with gaps, must be optimized

For how long have I used the solution?

I used Bonita for prototypes and small projects to demonstrate its functionnalities

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Yes, some because lack of knowledge on the product

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I didn't test the product in greater perimeter.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service: Very good, also the commercial team !Technical Support: Perfect ! and the community is a great help also

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

No

How was the initial setup?

A little complex for a non initiate person

What about the implementation team?

I was the vendor...

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

N/A

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, for the study. ACTIVITI, IBM BPM and BIZAGI

What other advice do I have?

It's a good product and a rich service behind that
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 Bonita Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Bonita Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.