Chargé de mission Transformation & Lean at Otis Elevator Company
Real User
Great for automating and monitoring processes; best when used with other Microsoft solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "We have a good overview of our processes now thanks to Power Automate."
  • "The integration of our system into Power Automate was a bit tricky. We had to put a data lake in place before automating anything because we were not very structured in terms of data. Our major issue was cleaning up the data."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft's Power Automate in two major fields. Our first use case is reducing the time it takes a user to repeat a task, like, for example, rewriting some physical information in our system. We used Power Automate to extract information from physical documents and to digitalize them. We also use it to put these documents in the correct system as soon as we receive them. We are using a robot agent to do that now for our finance department, for example. 

Our other use case with Power Automate is system reconfiguration. Before, users had to manually reconfigure the software to configure our project. When we had a major update, for example, we have to change it manually with the data for the software. Now we have a process for automatically changing that data.

What is most valuable?

We choose Power Automate because it allows us to monitor our process and know where we can gain some time. We have a cockpit that shows us all the workflow for all automated tasks in place. We have a good overview of our processes now thanks to Power Automate. This is cool because previously we organized our processes on either paper or in a Word document. This was not really an accurate reflection of the tasks taking place. Now, we can have an interactive mapping of our processes.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in the collaboration between the digital team and the business partners because Power Automate is not an easy tool to use. Our business partner does not have a clue about how to use Power Automate so it would be great to have an easy user interface that business partners can understand.

There are a few limitations to the tool. For example, you can't have 100,000 interactions in an hour. I would like to see that worked out. 

It would also be good if Microsoft contacted customers directly about building their own connectors. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been testing the solution since last summer, I think. We have just two solutions in production.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For now, it has been a good solution for us in terms of stability, but we don't know yet whether we will have mass production and who will use a lot of interactions per hour.

How are customer service and support?

We have not had any direct interactions with their tech support. We use their forum mostly. Microsoft has a good community.

How was the initial setup?

We ran into issues during the setup because our system is not entirely on the cloud or on major solutions. So we had a lot of information in a system we made. The integration of our system into Power Automate was a bit tricky. We had to put a data lake in place before automating anything because we were not very structured in terms of data. Our major issue was cleaning up the data.

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

We choose 10 premium licenses for our digital team. We do not have a license for everyone in the organization. That's why it would be good to have a free view-only interface for stakeholders. They don't need a premium license because they will never use it to build anything but they needed insight into what is going on to relay the information forward to other stakeholders or clients. 

I am not managing the pricing, but I think it is pretty standard for solutions of that type. However, there is always room for improvement. 

What other advice do I have?

I would not recommend Power Automate to all organizations because whether or not it will work out for them will depend on a number of factors. If the organization is all in one Microsoft environment or well-connected with the cloud, it can be really good. But, the organization will have quite some costs if in a Google or Amazon environment. 

If an organization uses Power Automate, it is best if they use Power Automate's other tools like Power BI and Power Apps. That's why I think the pricing could be lower as you should be able to get several solutions in a bundle. This should be an option during relicensing, for example. 

Someone using Power Automate should also have a basic understanding of databases, Power Apps, Power BI, and Azure. You have to know the full environment to get the most out of this tool. In other words, training is mandatory.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Associate Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easily integrates with other tools, but its licensing model is very complex
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is that it easily integrates with Azure DevOps."
  • "The solution's licensing model is very complex and not straightforward."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Power Automate has helped one of my clients to update a SharePoint list automatically. There was no need to open the SharePoint list every time and update it. Instead, a flow that runs and updates it.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it easily integrates with Azure DevOps.

What needs improvement?

We need to buy a premium license for Microsoft Power Automate because some features are only available for premium licenses. It would be really helpful if Microsoft offered some premium features in the standard version. Instead of bringing everything to the standard version, it would be really helpful if Microsoft classified one or two important things as standard, which are regularly worked upon.

The solution's licensing model is very complex and not straightforward. The licensing model needs to be reviewed and changed. Sometimes, Microsoft Power Automate's portal becomes a little bit slow.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution a six out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution a six out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support responds generically, but we would need some issue-specific responses.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a five out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

The solution's implementation takes only a few minutes.

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

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing two to three out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

We have benefits with Microsoft Power Automate, like automatically updating records when they pop up. I would recommend Microsoft Power Automate to other users because it easily integrates with other Microsoft products, which is one of the big benefits to us. Microsoft Power Automate is easily acquirable.

The solution's licensing model is very complex. Compared to other RPA tools, Microsoft Power Automate is easy to work with. Other RPA tools are bought at a higher price, but Microsoft Power Automate is not very expensive.

Overall, I rate Microsoft Power Automate a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
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Deepak Thomas - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Lead at Standard Bank South Africa
Real User
Top 20
Stable and scalable; third-party integrations are relatively easy
Pros and Cons
  • "Third-party integrations with third-party applications are quite easy."
  • "The speed of the application could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case is for presenting price regeneration. I'm the technical lead for robotics and we are customers of Microsoft. 

What is most valuable?

As a part of the Microsoft suite, this is a convenient product for us because it integrates well with other Microsoft products. We've also found third-party integrations with third-party applications is quite easy.

What needs improvement?

I think the speed of the application could be improved. If you're looking at Power BI dashboards, for example, the back-end processing is fine, but when you look at it from a UI point of view, which is what the client sees, the speed of execution could be improved. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using this product for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any issues with stability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good, we have around 25 users. 

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft provides very prompt support. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is relatively straightforward and takes a couple of weeks. There's not much maintenance involved because it's part of a larger solution. 

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI on investment although it's difficult to quantify. 

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

The product is fairly priced; the cost is part of the enterprise solution. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend doing a POC to ensure the product is fit for purpose. 

I rate this solution nine out of 10. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
General Manager at Consilio
Real User
Top 20
Intuitive, integrates well with other products, and doesn't require hard coding
Pros and Cons
  • "To me, what's most useful in WinAutomation by Softomotive is that it's quite intuitive, especially because most of the capabilities of the older WinAutomation remain. You also don't need to do or know hard coding, and this is another useful feature of the solution. I also like that WinAutomation by Softomotive integrates very well with Microsoft products, especially Microsoft Office, and this is great news because most companies use Microsoft Office. Having a very good integration with the Microsoft Office suite covers a lot of bases, and is one of the advantages of WinAutomation by Softomotive."
  • "What needs improvement in WinAutomation by Softomotive is its stability. Stability is quite important to me. Another area for improvement in the solution is robot scheduling because it's not 100% accurate, in particular, it's 90% accurate. The monitoring of the robot could also be improved because it's not very straightforward, and you have to look in a few places or at least two places which means that monitoring is not a one-glance process."

What is most valuable?

To me, what's most useful in WinAutomation by Softomotive is that it's quite intuitive, especially because most of the capabilities of the older WinAutomation remain. You also don't need to do or know hard coding, and this is another useful feature of the solution.

I also like that WinAutomation by Softomotive integrates very well with Microsoft products, especially Microsoft Office, and this is great news because most companies use Microsoft Office. Having a very good integration with the Microsoft Office suite covers a lot of bases, and is one of the advantages of WinAutomation by Softomotive.

What needs improvement?

What needs improvement in WinAutomation by Softomotive is its stability. Stability is quite important to me. Another area for improvement in the solution is robot scheduling because it's not 100% accurate, in particular, it's 90% accurate. The monitoring of the robot could also be improved because it's not very straightforward, and you have to look in a few places or at least two places which means that monitoring is not a one-glance process.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using WinAutomation by Softomotive for one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

WinAutomation by Softomotive is not a very stable product. It used to be a desktop application and was installed locally. It's a desktop application, but it's a cloud application at the same time, so the main problem is the integration with cloud services, the updates, and the refresh rate, plus its compatibility with other Microsoft applications. This means that WinAutomation by Softomotive requires frequent updates, and this is not bad. It's okay, but the point is that it's not very stable in the short run. The WinAutomation by Softomotive team usually addresses this issue, so if my company has a problem today, for example, within a few days, that issue will be solved, but in the short run, the solution is not very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

WinAutomation by Softomotive is a scalable product.

How are customer service and support?

I didn't use the technical support for WinAutomation by Softomotive much. At the very beginning, I used it because of the licensing requirement when I transferred my account from WinAutomation by Softomotive to Power Automate. Currently, the documentation is pretty good, so I didn't use the technical support even through chat, phone, or email correspondence, so I'm unable to evaluate support for the solution.

How was the initial setup?

In terms of the installation of WinAutomation by Softomotive, it wasn't as straightforward, specifically for the license administration because you have to be enrolled on the portal. I'm referring to the new version of WinAutomation which is now Power Automate, but the original WinAutomation by Softomotive only took ten minutes to install. The Power Automate version, on the other hand, wasn't impossible to install, but it wasn't straightforward.

What was our ROI?

I could say that my organization has ROI from WinAutomation by Softomotive.

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

My company switched to a monthly payment for the WinAutomation by Softomotive license. I don't have the exact figure, but it roughly amounts to 500 Euros a year which isn't bad.

What other advice do I have?

I use WinAutomation by Softomotive, but the solution was bought by Microsoft, so it's now a part of Power Automate.

In my company, about twenty people use WinAutomation by Softomotive daily. I belong to a small company.

My advice to people looking into implementing WinAutomation by Softomotive is that it's a good solution, and I would recommend it for small-scale operations, for example, to automate back office operations. I would not recommend it for large-scale or for critical operations because it returns quite a lot of errors, not only automation errors, but also errors when liaising with other applications, so in some cases, those applications may not run properly, resulting in errors. From my point of view, I will not recommend WinAutomation by Softomotive for critical operations, unless it's stabilized in the future, and at the moment, the "transformation" of WinAutomation into Power Automate is still ongoing.

My rating for WinAutomation by Softomotive is nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Senior Product Manager Data Science at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Comes with many capabilities and phenomenal support, and allows us to trigger a workflow at a certain time or when an event happens
Pros and Cons
  • "Different trigger events were most valuable. You could schedule a process on a recurring basis, at a certain time of day or week, or when something happens, which is huge."
  • "Their connector to Oracle or premium data sets that aren't Microsoft would often fail for me. The information given back about why it failed wasn't always robust to understand how to fix it and why it happened."

What is our primary use case?

We held a hiring event specifically for veterans. All the people who were registering were external to our organization, so we had them fill out a Microsoft form, which then triggered an email, took all their information, and stored it into a SharePoint list. This list fed a Power App, and we were able to:

  • Check members in whenever they arrived.
  • Capture extra details about them.
  • Pass the information onto hiring managers whenever a hiring manager was interested in an individual applicant or somebody who showed up.

In another use case, we used it to track the vaccination status of all employees. There were about 90,000 employees. If they scheduled it, it would trigger reminders whenever an employee's vaccination was coming up.

How has it helped my organization?

We set up a process to monitor Twitter so that whenever specific hashtags that we cared about were used, the whole record of what was tweeted out was captured and stored into a SharePoint list because it was free and easy to analyze as well. That has helped. Event triggers, several different connections, and what you can do with the information once you have it have been very helpful.

We also used it as a one-time solution in a scenario where records were captured in a Power App, and oftentimes, those records, which were almost like medical records, would need to go to another team one at a time. We used Power Automate to capture all the information that was stored in Oracle. From the record, it would put the information into a Word document, convert the Word document to a PDF, and then email the PDF off to the team. All that was done behind the scenes with the user clicking one button. It was great.

What is most valuable?

Different trigger events were most valuable. You could schedule a process on a recurring basis, at a certain time of day or week, or when something happens, which is huge. 

What needs improvement?

Their connector to Oracle or premium data sets that aren't Microsoft would often fail for me. The information given back about why it failed wasn't always robust to understand how to fix it and why it happened.

Sometimes, Power Automate's flow would turn off when it got fired incorrectly or misfired, but we didn't always get a notification of when it was turned off, and that was a problem.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution since October of 2019.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It can scale. We used it to track vaccinations for 90,000 employees.

How are customer service and support?

I did deal with their tech support, and they were phenomenal. Their support person taught us the whole process of how to take a record, put it into a Word document template that you can customize, turn it into a PDF, and then send that email off. He was phenomenal.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward for the most part. Once you do it a couple of times, it becomes more intuitive. There are so many different YouTube videos or resources on Google to be able to figure out how to do something, what are you doing wrong, or how you can work around an issue.

In terms of maintenance, everything that I did was more of a one-off solution. It was me and one other person who would maintain an individual Power Automate statement.

What other advice do I have?

There are so many different capabilities with it. I would advise mapping out your capability, usage, or whatever it is that you want it to do. After that, start to create and go from there.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head of business transformation and digitalization at Apple
MSP
Very reliable, very easy to use, and can be integrated with different platforms
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is very reliable and very easy to use."
  • "The product should improve its RPA capabilities."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for dashboard reporting, RPA, and account management.

How has it helped my organization?

The product has helped us with support generation. We supported a client who required 42 hours of manual work every month. The solution enabled us to automate the process and save time.

What is most valuable?

The solution is integrated with Microsoft. It can be integrated with different platforms. The product is very reliable and very easy to use. Anyone can learn to use it.

What needs improvement?

The product should improve its RPA capabilities.

The product should add AI capabilities.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for four to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. I rate the ease of setup a nine out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

The time taken for deployment depends on the project. A small project would take a week to deploy. RPA, on the other hand, takes two months.

What other advice do I have?

I use the latest version of the solution. We use the solution daily. People using the solution should maximize their usability to get a good return on investment. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid 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
Nilesh Gosavi - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Developer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Straightforward setup, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Power Automate offers over 200 connectors that enhance the user experience."
  • "Microsoft Power Automate is limited if we want to create a complex flow because we have to split the log into two flows."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Power Automate is used to automate tasks and schedule workflows.

How has it helped my organization?

Microsoft Power Automate has helped us automate tasks that have reduced human error and increased efficiency.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Power Automate offers over 200 connectors that enhance the user experience.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Power Automate is limited if we want to create a complex flow because we have to split the log into two flows.

The licensing cost is high and has room for improvement.

In a future release of Microsoft Power Automate, I would like to request the addition of a synchronous action, which would allow us to choose whether we want the solution to immediately synchronize any changes we make, for example, in an Excel document through SharePoint.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Power Automate for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I give the stability of Microsoft Power Automate an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I give the scalability of Microsoft Power Automate an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support was able to resolve my issue but their response was delayed.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

I previously used UiPath before switching to Microsoft Power Automate.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward and I give it a nine out of ten. We are working on a solution where each environment can have multiple solutions. Within each solution, we are creating a batch that includes Microsoft Power Automate, which can be easily deployed to higher environments. This allows for automated quality control of the pipeline, but data flow can also be manually imported and exported if necessary. There are several deployment possibilities, including importing it via pipeline or solution. One person is enough for the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

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

The licensing cost is expensive. I give the cost a three out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

I give Microsoft Power Automate an eight out of ten.

We have six developers that use the solution in our organization.

I recommend Microsoft Power Automate as an excellent automation tool. Our organization has successfully utilized this solution in various applications for automation, and it has proven to be highly effective.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Advisory Council Member at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A great solution for simple automation activities, but quite complex to use for advanced workflows or automation
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a great solution for simple automation activities or simple automation of simple tasks. It is also integrated with Office 365. Integration is an absolute breeze with any RPA software."
  • "We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Power Automate is a part of the Office 365 environment. Currently, 5% to 7% of our 19,000 employees use Microsoft Power Automate. It has already been connected to all the applications that our employees use, such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and the ecosystem of applications that come with Microsoft Office. This is one of the primary reasons for using this solution. We are also using it for workflow approval and automated signature use cases to deploy a digital signature solution for some documents. It is all automated, from the client all the way to signing and storing the documents. 

What is most valuable?

It is a great solution for simple automation activities or simple automation of simple tasks.

It is also integrated with Office 365. Integration is an absolute breeze with any RPA software.

What needs improvement?

We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. 

Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Power Automate for about a year or so now. We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is absolutely stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is definitely not scalable because we don't see this kind of use case. Scaling comes with the flexibility to use it everywhere, but we don't see that flexibility today. Therefore, scalability is definitely a question. We hope to see the product improve so that we can scale it, but today, we really can't do so. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't usually call Microsoft for anything. There is absolutely no need for technical support. It is relatively easy. 

How was the initial setup?

There is no installation because it is a part of our size offering purchase from Microsoft Office, so it was relatively straightforward to install. 

What about the implementation team?

Microsoft deployed it for us, and they had a fairly large team. It took a long time, but I don't think it generally takes a long time. We had a very large deployment for around 19,000 employees. When I say deploy, I specifically speak of Office 365, which is the installation of Microsoft Office on these 19,000 end-user computing devices at the same time by using a new Active Directory. If you are specifically talking about deploying in Office 365 or Power Automate alone, it can be done in a matter of hours. You would need only one person to deploy it.

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

There is zero licensing cost. It comes with our Microsoft Office subscription.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use both Automation Anywhere and Microsoft Power Automate.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution for simple automation. We plan to continue using this solution if it gets better in terms of use cases, features, and scalability. It needs a full check-up in terms of functionality to be a fully functional RPA. 

I would rate Microsoft Power Automate a six out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private 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 Microsoft Power Automate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power Automate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.