We performed a comparison between IBM BPM and Zend PHP Engine based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Application Infrastructure solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."I would say that I like its GUI designer the best."
"We are receiving good assistance from the technical support."
"Good user interface and good add option."
"I like the APIs and the BPM coach is a good tool. But if I had to pick one, it would be the API."
"IBM BPM is a stable solution."
"The solution offers great notifications."
"Enabled us to convert most of the paper-based work into an automated workflow process, and some of them were converted into straight-through processing, with no human interaction involved whatsoever."
"It is a stale solution."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier."
"Zend Engine gives the flexibility to use external modules to easily expand the functionalities you need for your web project."
"This solution is really easy for me to use."
"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."
"We have not encountered issues with scalability as long as we effectively use caching to optimize performance of our web applications as well as a proper use of database connectivity."
"The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."
"IBM BPM uses JavaScript as a programming language for the server-side. I don’t know why it’s not Java, as it’s more powerful and the JavaScript part is translated into Java anyway."
"Initial setup is very complex. Too many steps need to be done at the database and server levels, and complex configurations. From what I see, a lot of these steps can be and should be automated."
"I'm hearing things might be improving, to really deliver on BPM as opposed to simply workflow. That really should be emphasized a lot more than it has been, because a lot of customers will simply implement the process and leave it there, because the product maybe doesn't emphasize BPM as much as it should, as much as maybe they talk about it in the sales process. The whole idea of BPM, is to iteratively improve the process, and in order to do that you have to have the analytics tool with it. A lot of times that doesn't go as far as it should simply because there's a lot more work to be done for that to happen, and just some sort of technical limitations that don't make that as easy as it should be."
"The business would like to use the product with a lot less IT and equipment involvement."
"The coaches and the user interface are the areas that can be improved a lot. It is good in terms of data processing, but the UI, scripting, and coaches are not very user-friendly and developer-friendly. Performance is always an issue. The scripting and the pattern that it uses are very tedious for new developers to understand, and it takes time to master it in depth. When comparing IBM BPM with IBM APN, a lot of things are provided out of the box in IBM APN. We don't have to write code or a Java connector to make a functionality work. It would be very helpful and time-saving for developers if IBM BPM is improved in this area to provide many functionalities or drag-and-drop options so that the developers don't have to write the code."
"The setup was quite complex because the solution was cutting-edge at that time and IBM invested considerably in the implementation, likely at a loss to themselves."
"It can definitely be improved in terms of performance and stability."
"Needs better reporting. I do not think that we are fully taking advantage of what it already has yet."
"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."
"A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it."
"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."
"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."
"SQL queries have always been an issue with PHP, especially if you use large tables, which require caution from the side of the developer."
"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."
"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM."
"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."
IBM BPM is ranked 7th in Application Infrastructure with 105 reviews while Zend PHP Engine is ranked 15th in Application Infrastructure with 10 reviews. IBM BPM is rated 7.8, while Zend PHP Engine is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of IBM BPM writes "Offers good case management and its integration with process design but there's a learning curve". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Zend PHP Engine writes "An affordable and secure framework solution that can be used for big applications". IBM BPM is most compared with Camunda, IBM Business Automation Workflow, Pega BPM, Appian and Apache Airflow, whereas Zend PHP Engine is most compared with Apache Web Server and NGINX Plus. See our IBM BPM vs. Zend PHP Engine report.
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