Automation Anywhere (AA) Reviews

We deployed Automation Anywhere for our clients. It is used for tasks like HR, procurement, supply chain, visa processing, client onboarding, etc. 

Productivity increased when we implemented Automation Anywhere, but it did not meet the client's expectations regarding the number of human workers it replaced. We are currently trying to optimize it to use the maximum potential channels and identify ways to improve performance.

The clients are willing to use AI. They are conservative about it but still progressing in that direction.  The integration of Automation Anywhere into our clients' workflows, APIs, business applications, and documents was seamless, but it was a bit of a struggle until we realized that it has a built-in integration platform. Using the platform, we could define the process so that it also does downstream automation as well. 

Automation Anywhere's central command center is good. We've used Automation Anywhere's AI copilot. It can integrate with around 70 to 80 percent of our client's applications. There are still issues with the other 20 to 30 percent. 

We had some issues with screen-scaping and recording. Also, some of the components are not user-friendly enough compared to UiPath. The learning curve isn't very long if you come from a programming background, but it may be difficult for someone without a technical background to understand. 

We used Automation Anywhere for two years. 

Automation Anywhere is stable. 

Automation Anywhere is quite scalable.

I rate Automation Anywhere support eight out of ten. We get support from local partners. It's good. 

Positive

We also use UiPath. It depends on the client's preference.

The initial setup was complex, but upgrading the automations was easy. The bots require some monitoring. It isn't more than an hour daily. We check to see if there are any issues or whether a process has gotten stuck. That's rare. 

I rate Automation Anywhere seven out of ten. There are many more tools on the market that are much better than automation anywhere.

We use Automation Anywhere to automate all the repetitive tasks that was previously done manually by individuals and to reduce the risk of human-errors so we can save time and money, It's like creating a digital employee that will work more quickly and accurately than humans. We mainly use it for the service desk tasks and to handle requests and also to create invoices and approving bills in finance and accounting departments, And we're implementing it into all of our departments since we found the benefits of it.

We have solved many problems we had in the past before using Automation Anywhere, Mainly we saved a lot of time and money, We reduced and minimized the risk of human-errors and got rid of all the manual repetitive tasks so we can focus on the core of our business, All the people in charge of supervision are dedicated now to a more important tasks. We succeed to reduce the response time of our business processes and this increased our performance and effected on our overall, But then when we started implementing RPA solutions for our clients, We had to switch to another product with an easier implementation and more friendly interface.

The most valuable feature for me is the power of AI Technologies involved in Automation Anywhere's IQBot such as Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Fuzzy Logic, and Machine Learning to automatically classify, extract and validate information from business documents and emails, I also like the Bot Insight to analyze and optimize the processes, I also like the visual flow charts and the drag-and-drop actions, I like the cloud infrastructure and security and the lightweight web-based architecture. 

They need to improve the REST Api Documentation because its not well detailed or clear enough for beginners, They need to provide some out of the box AI and ML functions such as Image classification and Objection Identification, They also need to improve the real-time data and analytics,There is less support for various data types, The .NET Framework is not completely supported and they have to add more features to fully support the .NET, Last advice is to add an option for developers for Graphical View along with the Code View option.

It can be used for customer service support, data extraction, data migration, and software installation. There are so many ways that it can be put to use in a business.

I am still learning to develop it both on cloud and on-premises. I am using the community version of the solution. Our subsidiaries are also using this solution. They are still going through some training.

The data capture feature is very valuable. I know there are also some elements where you have to be able to incorporate AI, but I haven't gotten to that level yet.

The data migration could be better.

I have been using this solution for about three months.

The solution is stable.

It's scalable.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

I'm happy with the features I've used so far.

The installation is quite straightforward. At first I was having an issue with the password that was supposed to be sent to my email, but then it came in. Aside from that, I didn't have any issues with installing it.

The solution can be installed by yourself.

There is no technical team needed for deployment and maintenance.

I have also looked at UiPath and Blue Prism, but I am very comfortable with Automation Anywhere.

I am using IQ Bots for invoice indexing for many clients.

My primary use case is extracting invoice details from different vendors for validation purposes. We convert CSV files to Excel for formatting and before A2019, I used to do all validations with VBA script. Now, with AA A2019, it validation very easy using Python. It is also very fast and efficient.

I have created Task Bots for many finance-related clients and they are also working very well. Recently, I converted all of my bots to A2019.

Automation Anywhere has improved my organization, OMFYS Tech.

We have implemented many processes in the organisation with RPA, as we had done with HR bots for different HR processes. From these, we made most of the demo videos that we show to our clients. It helps to discover new processess to automate and use in new projects.

The A2019 version is very stable for the processes that we make. On the other platform, we have projects using Java, Oracle, Python, and HTML, where we had automated processes when required.

I found the new feature of integrating Python and HTML the most valuable. Using this, we can get the DOMXPath dynamic for every HTML property.

On the other hand, Python scripting is very helpful nowadays. We just create a Python script and integrate it with the bot, which makes the work very easy and fast.

I like the IQ Bot very much, as most of my projects use it for invoice indexing purposes.

The recorder in the A2019 version is way ahead, as it allows us to use Chrome and other browsers to capture the object properties. 

The UI can be improved a little bit to make it easier for beginners to understand.

There are many commands called Actions that are very good but sometimes, I feel that it should be more comfortable to find and search for specific commands. There should be some type of hint or notification system about what actions are useful, according to the situation or part of the process that it is in while creating the bot.

The speed of the bot processing on a whole can be improved so that the bot can run in less time than the task or processes.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for one year.

Stability-wise, it is a ten out of ten.

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

I did not use another RPA solution prior to this one. I started my RPA journey with automation anywhere only because it is the best available solution in the market.

This is a value for the money product.

I evaluated UiPath and Blue Prism but neither one had IQ Bot-like features. That's why I rejected them and choose AA.

My advice is not to think too much. Just compare the features then you will get to know why AA is the best solution of all.

Earlier, our payroll process required a lot of human intervention or human dependency as we have Biometric Application and Payroll Application separately. To complete the payroll, we first need to manually fetch the attendance from the Biometric application and manually upload it to the Payroll Application.

We have used it for an HR use case, wherein the BOT automatically fetched attendance from a Biometric application and it uploads it in the Payroll system, and calculates payroll automatically. It also sends emails to all respective employees with their respective payslips. 

It has saved our HR department time since this process automatically happens without anybody's intervention. Our HR department is able to devote their time to more productive work or activities. It has also saved a lot of costs since every employee in the HR department is involved in the attendance and payroll process. Second, the process is now no more human dependent.

Earlier, we used to all work manually and the chances of errors were higher since it was a sensitive process as it involves finance. However, this tool has helped us to automate our payroll process.

The most useful features of this tool are that this tool has less coding activity as compared to other tools, it has drag menus. Most Excel/VBA coding is automated in the AA tool, since, in Excel or VBA we need to do manual coding.

The following features are very valuable to us :

• Web Recorder
• Smart Recorder
• Work Bench Command Library
• Object Cloning Command
• Business Analytics
• Meta bot Designer
• File or Folder Command
• Error Handling Command
• Control Room Administrator
• Integrating PDF Using the PDF Command

As long as we are using this tool, it includes all features required from a process automation perspective. As of now, we are not looking for any additional features. 

However in IQ Bot if the following features can be added then I would be very grateful: The recognition of Voice /Audio

As of now IQ Bot only takes/fetches the record of the places that we have marked. e.g. Invoices fields that are dynamic in nature are very difficult to fetch the data from the scan copy. If this feature gets added, it will save a lot of time for developers.

We have been using AA 2019 for the last year and we have been using Version-11 for the last three years. 

It is an absolutely stable tool.

It is very scalable.

Support is good. We received timely support from AA.

No, we did not use a different solution, since we were doing the process manually.

The setup is straightforward.

It was implemented by our internal team members.

It has saved us a lot of time and money.

It is a very effective tool since it requires less coding and one can easily get trained on this tool with little knowledge of coding.

No, we have not evaluated any other tools.

Automation Anywhere is being used as a solution in creating robots, which imitates mundane tasks and simplifying business processes all across different divisions and departments that fit their process needs.

This solution greatly helps us reduce repetitive human effort and turn them into more productive resources for the company. Automation Anywhere also helped in turning complex processes into possible solutions, which greatly reduces production costs, also allowing employees to do more and enjoy more.

Automation Anywhere greatly improved our processing time since robots can execute process steps faster than human resources do. With this, we also reduced errors and mistakes in processing because robots don't get tired or worn out. It thus reduces the risk of misinformation and other human errors.

It also helped in making our resources more productive, given that repetitive tasks are now reduced. Simple processes such as tracking, logging, and data consolidation are now automated, which helps us focus more on doing tasks that are impactful and more important.

IQ Bot is one of the features I greatly value in Automation Anywhere, as it has helped me in creating bots that involve processes with unstructured data, thus making complex processes possible and attainable with this technology.

Their mobile application is a great feature for developers and project owners on the go, as they can monitor the status of the robot runs anywhere and anytime. This is an important feature because this world is running at a faster pace than before, and mobility is very important for everyone.

Automation Anywhere can be improved with respect to the user-friendliness of the interface because most of the competitors are now using a flowchart-like structure, thus making it easy for anyone to learn and study it. Essentially, it's as easy as connecting shapes for each action and process.

An area for improvement is their OCR reading for images since some competitors have an inbuilt OCR reader that recognizes various hand strokes much better, thus improving the time and resources needed for transcribing the documents.

I've been using Automation Anywhere for two years and six months.

This solution is very stable in terms of performance and after-sales support.

This solution is very scalable as they adapt to the different needs of their customers.

Customer Service is a breeze since they quickly respond to various issue request.

We've previously used Pega Robotics as an automation solution, but since we're improving our services and processes as well, we need to step-up our automation technology to keep up with the ever-changing business world.

The initial setup was pretty straight forward, and the installation is easy.

Implementation was done by an in-house expert who had knowledge of our systems and processes, thus reducing the time needed in acclimating our process with the product.

Based on our department's statistics, we've been able to recover our initial costing after two-plus years.

I advise users or prospective buyers of this product to know more about the features they offer before diving in with this solution, pricing-wise. It is one of the most affordable RPA solutions, and as for licensing, they offer a community edition that greatly helps anyone who aspires to learn about the product before buying the enterprise solution. It will give them an overview of the features and functionalities that they will encounter when using the robot.

We've evaluated different options such as UiPath and Blue Prism, but due to costing, we've selected Automation Anywhere as our provider.

This solution is worth considering for medium to large-scale companies looking to automate various processes.

We are discussed specifically the IQ Bot from Automation Anywhere which has excited me a lot because of the functions that it brings. They are really commendable because I have seen a lot of other software and solutions which are not giving that much accuracy in terms of the output. But, IQ Bot has been one of the top-notch solutions that I have seen in the OCR field, which covers a lot of the areas where we can transition unstructured data into structured data. This can be utilized in many use cases, like accounts payable, T&E processes, and so on and so forth. That's why I'm very excited to talk about IQ Bot.

One of the use cases of IQ Bot that I've seen is the claim processing in the insurance industry. There are tons of manual forms coming into the input files. Everyone has to work on those files manually to create a structured database out of them. It takes lot of time for them to really do it. Whereas in IQ Bot, if you run the engine, and have the scanned copies of these claims processing forms, they just get converted into very good structured data in a few seconds. Later on, you can utilize that database the way you want it. You can do a lot of analytics out of this, which would not only save time and create efficiencies, but it also brings in a lot of value for the organization whose data is being analyzed and structured.

The most valuable part is that it have the integrated OCR solution within it. All the other solutions do not have the right integration of the OCR solutions. You need to go to two different places to get one solution. Whereas, in IQ Bot, there is one area where you get all these solutions together in one area. That is the most important and beautiful point that I like about IQ Bot.

I didn't have anything as such in mind. After listening to the CEO of Automation Anywhere, he has given some very exciting features which are up and coming in the next few weeks or so. One of them is the integration with Microsoft. This will be a game changer forever. Because Microsoft Office 365 or Outlook, these are being used by every individual.

Integrating Automation Anywhere bots with these type of Microsoft solutions will give us so much flexibility. We can utilize so much reach or access to these bots in every type of work that we are doing. They will become like our personal assistants. That is where it's very exciting. I'm looking forward to look it. I believe that it will be a killer in this area.

It may sound a little funny or weird, but one thing that we are thinking is we have to go to various websites and pick up relevant data from various websites using the bot. That is something we have seen that none of the bots have been able to really do it because the back-end of those websites do not allow bots to scrap through all these websites and get the relevant data in one place. We would like to see how the bot companies would crack this idea. But, that's why I said, this look weird because of the legal reasons why this cannot be done. This is something that I am looking forward to.

As far as stability is concerned, it is pretty stable. We have seen how it is used in various use cases in the scenarios. It has very good stability. Because in the case of any claims processing, it creates a very defined database. In case it finds any anomalies, which it does not really solve, it red lines all those areas so someone can manually go and correct those. Then, later on, it learns from its own mistakes. Wherein, next time, you don't have to really fix those issues, which it has found in the first place. This means, as the IQ Bot gets more experience, it will learn on its own, and become a better, more stable product over a period of time.

We have seen results, and the results are good. But, it will take me another couple of quarters to answer on the overall scalability and consistency of this bot.

We did use technical support for troubleshooting and maintenance as well.

Our internal technical support team is not that very big. It's pretty small. One person does it on a very ad hoc basis, whenever it is required.

Wherever we find that our team does not have the right subject matter expertise, that is when we call our customer success manager. They are able to help us out with various automative solutions that bring the solution back in place from that angle.

My boss and I were both involved in bringing the RPA into our organization. We had been researching RPA for the last six to eight months to see what various functions RPA can work on, how to identify the better candidate in terms of processes, and how we can get the ROI out of the RPA.

We did all types research, reading articles, and talking to Automation Anywhere guys. These guys have been very helpful and flexible in talking to us. Anytime we have asked them for any sort of information. they were forthcoming. Giving the information on their own. They have explained their use cases. That intrigued us to go into this area and try more on the RPA side.

This was the first RPA project that we did.

When you are not aware of RPA solutions, it definitely looks more complex. But once you are done with your first implementation, then it becomes very straightforward. Going forward, this will be even more straight forward, because I learned from the Automation Anywhere guys that going forward all these bots or engines can be created with very user-friendly drag and drop functions. This would become more of a plug and play solution for everyone, maybe for the people who are non-technical as well. So, to begin with, it is really complex because of the knowledge that people do not have. But, later on, after the first implementation, it becomes very straightforward.

We did consider other RPA products as well. So, all the competitors of Automation Anywhere, we went through them. I personally looked into UiPath, Blue Prism, NICE, and AutomationEdge. These were a few which we've gone through.

There are lot of reasons why we went with Automation Anywhere, but I will tell you the more practical reasons on the basis of which we recommended and said, "Okay, Automation Anywhere would be the good choice for us." 

1. One of them was obviously IQ Bot, which I spoke about in the beginning. IQ Bot is one of the unique ideas of Automation Anywhere. When we want to use OCR, because we are a research company, we see that OCR will be the key for us. That is the reason. In all the others, they have outside integration of the AB and other tools. There is only one product with this. 
2. While working on these products, simultaneously, we have seen that in few cases, there was a duplication of inputs in some of the other ones. Whereas, in the Automation Anywhere, when we were putting inputs in one place, it will just getting replicated in the second place. This was saving a lot of time for us. That was from a modus operandi standpoint. It was much better than the others. 
3. We have talked to the teams of Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Blue Prism, etc. We found the team for Automation Anywhere was very flexible and forthcoming. They were forward looking and bringing more ideas. They are bringing more alternatives to us. They are actually standing right behind us, in case of any sort of inquiries or questions. Those things, we like a lot. That's the reason we chose Automation Anywhere. 

I can write a five-page differentiator on Automation Anywhere, but I think these are the most important ones.

To begin with, since my experience has been excellent with Automation Anywhere so far, I would not shy away from giving them a rating of eight (out of 10).

When we started Automation Anywhere, it was a rule-based automation. All the rule-based used cases we could automate. Now, with the upcoming version, it includes AI and Python, so we can go ahead in our roadmap and start automating dynamic used cases too.

We started on the 10.5 version of Automation Anywhere. The Control Room had some limitations. With version 11, they removed all those limitations. In version 11, we do not have the Python support or AI machine learning support. But, with the A2019 version, we will have the AI machine learning libraries in the support. So, we can easily use those libraries now.

The main thing is the simple UI, easy to use commands, and it's very easy to learn compared to other tools in the market.

With the upcoming version, they have addressed all the issues of the clients. They have AI and ML. The GUI is good. The cloud has been included. So, it's promising that they have now included these. We have to see how much we can get used to it.

Version 10.5 has been the most stable version that we have used. With version 11, we are still getting some updates, so it will take some time for version 11 to get stable.

It is scalable. In version 11, scalability has a limit, but with the upcoming version, it will be scalable because it is on the cloud now.

AA has good support. Suppose we have any queries, they are there to help us. They have a support portal where we can raise a request and they will immediately reply on the basis of the priority level that they have set. So, it's very good.

If we go through the client setup, its very easy. But, if we are going through the high availability in the IQ Bot setup, it's a bit complex.

We have more than 50 bots in the company. The FTE and ROI are very good. In the future, we have many projects in pipeline that we are about to implement. So, definitely there is a good ROI and FTE savings for us.

I will rate version 10.5 as a nine (out of 10) and version 11 as an eight (out of 10). Let us wait and see about the upcoming version.