AWS Step Functions vs IBM Business Automation Workflow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Step Functions
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Workload Automation (15th)
IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2024, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of AWS Step Functions is 2.5%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 2.3%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Unique Categories:
Workload Automation
0.7%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Hamza Iqbal - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 18, 2024
A solution for workflow automation with easy integration capability
The major feature of AWS Step Functions is interdependency. Step Functions can determine what action to take next if one step returns a false status based on predefined logic. Step Functions aims to ensure that pipelines or workflows run smoothly by providing a backup function to execute in case of…
EP
Jan 13, 2023
A stable, scalable solution to help digitize business processes
The modularity of processes can make them more complex, but it depends more on the architecture approach than on the product itself. This makes maintenance more difficult, especially when code is written in JavaScript or a similar script. Improvements could be made in debugging and troubleshooting. If we have a lot of business processes, it's very important how we organize them so that we have as little influence on other processes when we change some code or change one process. This could be better organized, but I think it's really more on the architectural approach of the solutions, that we cannot expect the product to help us a lot with this. But on the other hand, this can be an issue. Sometimes it can be difficult to get the help we need. Specialists with different backgrounds are required to understand the problem. And sometimes it's helpful to have design guidelines to prevent process dependencies.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is a scalable solution."
"What I like the most about Amazon Step Functions is how easy it is to use."
"AWS Step Functions acts as a high-level layer, allowing us to seamlessly integrate with microservices."
"It's a general solution that you can adapt to your own needs and is simple to use. We like that it can be integrated with everything in the AWS suite, and that the creation of the pipeline can be done using the graphical user interface."
"One can rate all the calls and that is a good feature."
"The solution is stable...The solution is easy to scale."
"It's Amazon, it's scalable."
"The number of historical events is great."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow is stable because the different infrastructure elements, such as the OS and middleware have been used for a long time."
"The business process modeling is the most valuable feature."
"One of the most valuable features is the way that they are adapting to the market. Initially, it was doing only workflow. Now it has started bringing all the other components like rules within the workflow and then the integration with RPA."
"It's a flexible solution."
"The most valuable feature is automation, which is quite strong and we are quite happy with it."
"The tool streamlines operations, especially from an operational perspective, by facilitating decision-making and ensuring timely approvals. This helps prevent delays in the approval process, where business process management adds significant value for us."
"The dashboards are helpful because you can display reports directly on your screen."
"This is a low-code software where you can just drag and drop on the user interface. There are also a lot of quality integrations such as TMS."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more data transformation features in Amazon Step Functions like additional operators and logic."
"The price and support are areas with shortcomings where the solution needs to improve."
"The pricing of the solution can be improved."
"It is hard to coordinate the declaratory language."
"Setup took about one day. We had some errors to understand in the beginning, but now everything is working good."
"It wasn't easy to understand the licensing model. It's like if you use just a little, it's cheap, but it becomes more expensive as you use more. It's like a hook that ties you inside the Amazon ecosystem. So, it creates a dependency."
"The solution's pricing could be cheaper. It is cheaper than Airflow."
"The solution's data size limit can be improved."
"Requires a lot of customization code writing which could be reduced."
"One significant challenge is the lack of accessible forums or resources to seek help or information when problems arise."
"Sometimes, we feel like we are not getting the full features of the content management capabilities."
"The development UI is sometimes a little slow."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow is not a very user-friendly solution."
"The main improvement would be to make it easier to implement and deploy so that customers can kick it off and run quickly."
"I feel that the features are not user-friendly."
"The SCADA Systems are very sophisticated and have a hard time integrating with our older scales. The technical support in regards to the partner side needs some improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's price is reasonable."
"The solution is expensive."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive. The price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high. The technical support is an additional cost."
"Nowadays, clients are looking at pricing as one of the major factors. For IBM products, they always think it is expensive for them. We are still educating our clients on the IBM FlexPoints licensing."
"Licensing varies by use-case."
"The product is expensive."
"The solution's pricing is a little bit expensive."
"Our license is on a three-year term."
"The solution has saved us time."
"There is still a relatively high total cost of ownership to actually implement, support, and stand up solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
35%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Step Functions?
The integration capability is easy, whereas building state machines is tricky.
What is your primary use case for Amazon Step Functions?
The major feature of AWS Step Functions is interdependency. Step Functions can determine what action to take next if one step returns a false status based on predefined logic. Step Functions aims t...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Step Functions?
For Step Functions error handling, one must use function calls and logging for error detection within state machines. Comparatively, AirFlow offers more room for improvement. It's like drag and dro...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?
The most valuable feature of IBM Business Automation Workflow is cost management.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Step Functions, Step Functions
Business Automation Workflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alpha Apps, The Guardian, SGK, Bigfinite
Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Step Functions vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
789,135 professionals have used our research since 2012.