Automation Anywhere Reviews

Our primary functionality is built around screen scraping applications. We collect data from one application and either generate reports or use it to complete a user transaction or a customer transaction. For example, I have automation that handles bill pay. A request comes in, we verify it, and then we execute a bill payment transaction.

When we first started, the motivation was not wanting to be left behind in the latest and greatest opportunity for automating desktop applications that are boring and time-consuming but are still very important for the company's business operations.

We were able to see its benefits immediately during our proof of concept five years ago. We were able to take five users of daily work and reduce it to one user of support work. It was very significant.

Prior to implementation, these processes were done by the business units manually. Post implementation, the solutions are IT-based. As a result, IT now has additional responsibility for the business automation, just supporting the business function. It is one thing to build the software. It is another thing to maintain it and keep it running in production. There is a pretty significant lift or burden on the IT side that was not there during the manual executions.

I like the diversity. Every year, maybe even every six months, new modules are introduced to the program, and module enhancements are added to the toolbox to make automating various applications or situations easier. For example, the email module has been enhanced over the years to support all the latest authentication technologies. That is very important as we move away from username and password and embrace multi-factor authentication. Without the ability for these modules to stay in sync and up to date, we would not be able to use them. 

On the document automation side, the document learning features are not as robust as one would expect them to be. When I am doing document automation and a document fails due to low confidence in populating a field, it requires manual correction. Automation Anywhere states that if I correct enough documents, over time, the automation tools will learn where those error situations are and automatically fix them. We have not seen that feature work as advertised.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for roughly five years.

We have not had any issues. I am very impressed with its availability.

It scales quite well. I have not found an application that has exhausted the capacity of the system to execute. If we need to handle more transactions, we simply need to add additional bot runners. We currently have three bot runners in production. If we needed five or ten, I could have five or ten in a couple of days.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rank their technical support group a nine.

We have two other solutions in-house other than Automation Anywhere. They are very specific to the tasks they are handling.

It was pretty easy. I took a proof of concept that took nine months to build. Since I could not copy it from the proof of concept environment to our brand-new tenant or control room, we had to reprogram it. The reprogramming and testing took three months. Now, if you put all those numbers together, you probably could say it took us a year to build that first application.

It requires operation execution maintenance by my company and my IT group, but it does not take any Automation Anywhere resources to maintain it now. They maintain it at the cloud level and do a good job.

Two people were involved in the implementation.

The pricing is fair. My company is part of a big organization, so the pricing is very advantageous.

Five years ago, we evaluated four products, and Automation Anywhere emerged as the top choice. It offered the best cloud solution compared to the other vendors or providers. Now, if I took those same four vendors and evaluated them today, I might come up with a different answer. The industry has changed drastically just in the last three or four years, and if we did a reevaluation and could start over, chances are everyone, including Automation Anywhere, is on much better footing today than they were five years ago.

In terms of our AI approach, we are very cautious with AI. We are a Microsoft shop, so we are limiting our AI exposure to an Azure tenant-based AI resource. We are probably building our own LLMs to manage the intelligence or the exposure of intelligence to the AI engine. I do not see us ever using external AI modules.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine. 

I utilize Automation Anywhere for automation purposes. Recently, I completed a project for a client in the telecom sector. The project involved automating their monthly bill review system for customers. Previously, this system required on-site employees to check millions of invoices each month manually. A dedicated department then verified these invoices, sent them to customers, and verified payment status after payment. This process was time-consuming. We used Automation Anywhere's RPA and OCR capabilities and the AI document processing module to analyze document structures and verify tabs. We then automated various steps like accessing the portal, applying checks, and sending invoices via email. Now, the entire process is automated, triggered by a robot each month.

The main challenge which organizations want to address through any implemented RPA solution is the repetitive nature of their tasks. Instead of having ten employees perform the same monotonous task from nine to five every day, a single RPA robot can handle the workload, freeing those employees to focus on tasks that require human intervention. Automation is ideal for repetitive tasks, such as processing millions of invoices monthly, which can now be managed by a few RPA robots working around the clock. This allows employees to explore new opportunities, which is the primary goal of automation and the main reason for using RPA or any automation technology. Most automation technologies have features that enable this shift. However, automation is not suitable for all tasks; tasks requiring approvals or human judgment cannot be automated.

The deployment model varies depending on the client. In Pakistan, I worked with several clients using ABL who opted for cloud deployment. However, clients dealing with highly confidential and sensitive data, such as banks and telecommunications companies, prefer on-premises solutions. In contrast, clients in sectors like healthcare might be more open to utilizing cloud infrastructure.

Automation Anywhere has enabled repetitive tasks previously done manually to be automated.

Regarding RPA, ever since generative AI was introduced, we have ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The advent of these generative AI models has shifted the automation landscape. Automation has moved from Robotic Process Automation towards Intelligent Process Automation. The difference between RPA and IPA lies in their ability to handle changes. For example, if a website form changes its layout, a traditional RPA bot might fail because it can't identify the fields or buttons in their new positions. However, with IPA, the bot is intelligent enough to understand the fields' requests and can still process the data regardless of UI changes. Besides this, numerous other IPA use cases leverage Large Language Models and generative AI. For instance, a company could have a trained dataset monitored by an RPA bot, which then uses generative AI to create and send daily reports to top management, analyzing current numbers concerning past performance. This is a fascinating area that I've been exploring and working on lately.

For business users without technical skills, automation is achievable depending on the complexity of the task. Simple processes like sending custom emails from an Excel list can be easily automated with basic tutorials. While time and practice are necessary for mastery, basic automation can be initiated with just a few introductory videos.

We recently started using Automation Anywhere Copilot, so we haven't had the opportunity to integrate it with many of our automations. However, we have integrated it with SAP, where the bot reviews SAP data and provides the user with the required information at runtime. I have utilized this feature, and it's quite interesting. They also offer integrations with many other software, so the integration level is relatively high. Regardless of the type of features the business uses, whether they are using Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, or even AWS, integrations are available. They provide custom APIs that can be used for integration.

Automation Copilot helped increase our productivity by 60 percent.

Copilot has enabled staff to focus on other tasks by automating processes. For instance, the business department aimed to automate 350 processes this year, but by September, they had already surpassed that goal with 370 automations. Similarly, last year's target of 250 automations was exceeded, reaching 300. This increased efficiency has significantly improved workflows.

Our primary application of Generative AI for our telecom client is to detect service outages, such as when an area experiences a loss of service. We've been strategically planning our Generative AI approach for this year and the next, focusing on utilizing RPA to identify potential solutions and valuable insights within our data. For instance, in the context of outages, we aim to pinpoint the areas with the highest outage frequency, understand the reasons behind those outages, and correlate that information with customer complaint data. By analyzing metrics like complaint resolution times and outage resolution times, we can create a benchmark that helps us identify areas where we can enhance our customer service.

The amount of time Automation Anywhere helps save is dependent on the automated task. For example, the bill review task we automated helped save 10,000 hours per month.

We have several custom ERPs used internally but primarily rely on Microsoft Dynamics. We have a BCRM portal built on the Dynamics portal, hosting both our BCRM business-facing and CRM customer-facing systems. We also utilize Excel with VBA macros and other platforms, including Kofax for OCR. Kofax's Arabic language detection capabilities are crucial for processing UAE ID cards containing Arabic text. Kofax is our organization-wide OCR solution, integrated with Automation Anywhere. Overall, we have integrated Automation Anywhere with various software solutions.

Integrating Automation Anywhere into our workflows, APIs, and business automation is simple. RPA functions like a digital employee, and we can instruct them to perform tasks. Any activity currently done by a human employee can be done via RPA. However, the crucial question is whether it should be automated. If a task is performed infrequently, such as once every six months, creating an automation is inefficient. The time spent developing the automation could be better used to complete the task manually. Automation is ideal for repetitive tasks performed frequently. If a task isn't repetitive, automating it might not be beneficial. Regarding the capabilities of automation, nearly any work an employee performs on an organization's system has the potential to be automated.

Automation Anywhere has a persistent click-related issue that can make automation difficult, particularly in unattended environments. Even the Automation Anywhere team is aware of this problem, which has existed for several years. When automating tasks on a website, clicks may not work as expected in an unattended environment despite functioning correctly otherwise. The Automation Anywhere team has had numerous meetings to address this issue, but a solution remains elusive.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for almost four years.

Automation Anywhere's ability to provide automation at scales is dependent on how well it can integrate with every platform. I would rate the scalability seven out of ten.

I compare all other RPA tools to UiPath, which has excellent support—I'd rate it ten out of ten. In contrast, I'd rate Automation Anywhere's support six out of ten.

Neutral

In addition to Automation Anywhere, we also use UiPath, and Power Automate.

It ultimately depends on the client's preference for an RPA solution. In my opinion, UiPath remains the leading option in the market, unmatched by any competitor. Automation Anywhere currently holds the second position, but I anticipate Power Automate surpassing it in the future. However, UiPath is considerably ahead of the competition, leaving Automation Anywhere as a distant second. While Automation Anywhere is a suitable alternative, UiPath's high pricing can be a factor in the decision-making process. A lot of our clients choose Automation Anywhere because it is cheaper than UiPath to implement. Power Automate is the solution often chosen by businesses that already have other Microsoft solutions integrated into their environment.

The primary distinction among these RPA tools lies in the connectors and capabilities offered by Power Automate. Many businesses already utilize Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics, with most BI-related software relying on Tableau or Power BI. While some smaller-scale operations may still use Excel for dashboards, it's becoming increasingly uncommon. Power Automate's built-in custom connectors for Microsoft products provide a significant advantage. Overall, Power Automate has proven to be a game-changer, exceeding expectations with its features, custom connections, and level of support. While not currently the case, it's conceivable that with further enhancements, Power Automate could eventually surpass Automation Anywhere in the market.

While I wasn't involved in the initial deployment, I contributed to the migration from version A11 to A360. This was a major undertaking, spanning six months and presenting numerous challenges. Despite encountering various issues, we ultimately achieved a successful migration.

Cloud deployment is straightforward, while on-premises setup requiring server configuration can be challenging. A cloud deployment typically takes no more than one business day.

We have two teams: the operations team and the development team. The operations team handles deployment and typically consists of one or two people. The development team's size varies depending on the number of processes requiring automation. For fewer processes, one developer may suffice; however, we may engage five or even six developers for numerous processes.

Automation Anywhere provides good cost savings.

Automation Anywhere's price is considerably better than UiPath's.

I evaluated Robocorp from a POC point of view.

I rate Automation Anywhere eight out of ten.

Challenges in implementing Automation Anywhere depend on the process being automated. For instance, if your organization adopts Automation Anywhere, infrastructure won't be the primary concern as their cloud setup is straightforward. The real challenges lie in the processes themselves. RPA automates processes, so if, for example, in bill review, some invoices are unclear due to being scanned images, the robot might struggle to process them correctly. This is a process-related challenge, not an RPA implementation issue. To address this, instead of incorrect automation, we set a confidence threshold, say 80 percent, below which invoices are flagged for manual review. Thus, RPA implementation focuses on the process itself. Businesses have numerous processes across operations, products, clients, and consultations. The key is to identify these processes and determine suitable solutions. RPA involves instructing the robot on the required steps, which it follows diligently. However, even if ten employees perform the same task, each might have their own approach. Therefore, understanding the process from the user's perspective is crucial to identifying the optimal workflow. This ideal process is then programmed into the robot, ensuring consistent execution. It's important to remember that RPA, including Automation Anywhere, has limitations and cannot deviate from its instructions or make independent decisions.

Automating more complex processes requires a deeper understanding of coding concepts like loops, regardless of the automation scale. I teach UiPath Studio X, which is designed for business users without a coding background. It is a good starting point. Training in Studio X includes teaching basic coding concepts, emphasizing their connection to familiar Excel functions. This approach helps users understand the logic behind automation and bridge the gap between their existing skills and new concepts.

The learning curve for RPA automation, depending on your desired level of mastery, is manageable. It is key to understand all the features and how they work, including the AI-powered ones. Basic RPA automation can be learned in about four to five months, allowing someone to start working as an RPA developer. However, working on an actual project for a year or a year and a half is recommended to become a true expert. This provides ample time to learn the ins and outs of Automation Anywhere, understand the challenges, and develop solutions.

Upgrading Automation Anywhere to a newer version on the same platform is straightforward, but our migration from the obsolete on-premise A11 to the cloud-based A360 required moving every single business process, which was time-consuming. Apart from that specific migration, version upgrades are generally not complex.

Bots running on a cloud platform require continuous maintenance. While the cloud platform can monitor the bots, human oversight is essential to identify and troubleshoot issues like crashes. Large clients may necessitate a dedicated maintenance team working shifts to provide 24/7 monitoring and support. These teams typically monitor the bots' control room on a separate screen while performing other tasks. In the event of a crash, they investigate the cause and, if unable to resolve it, escalate the issue to the development team for further assistance.

I started in the other company with the manufacturing processes for logistics and finance. Now, I am implementing processes for finance and human resources. 

My challenge is to use Automation Anywhere for automatic manufacturing and services. I always push my finance team first, and they have to improve the financial processes before we use Automation Anywhere.

Automation Anywhere is helping us improve processes, as it can handle specific improvements. As we can execute the same processes, it is now easy and fast. With the APA, we can improve more processes. As the processes are more automated and easier to use, it is faster to gain value. Automation Anywhere is helping me overcome these challenges.

Comparing Automation Anywhere with other tools for RPA, in my opinion, it is better because it is easier to use for both the final user and the developer. This gives us many benefits because we can automate the processes more easily. 

APA has helped me achieve my automation goals. It's helped us achieve some of our automation goals. It's made things a lot easier. We have integrated the APA and RPAs with SAP, with Salesforce, and with many data sources. 

I'm using the AI agent studio in the automation process.

I utilize document automation in my current processes. We introduced automation, and where we previously had to use many letters, we now use only documentation.

AI governance is very important in my company, and we are implementing it now. I discovered this company three years ago when I studied the RPA tools. AI governance and data governance are not currently implemented.

There is no need for improvement right now. The AI is very important, and they are starting to use AI. They could continue to develop it out. Innovation is very important.

I started to use Automation Anywhere five years ago when I was working in another company. 

The deployment depends on the processes being put in place. Normally, it is straightforward. 

I do not have the correct numbers to calculate ROI, however, overall, it has been very efficient. The time saved in document processing is good.

The pricing is a little bit high compared with other tools. Of course, some tools may be much cheaper, however, the offering isn't as robust.

For our internal policy, before implementing a new project or new tools, we have to evaluate technical skills and make a comparison with other tools. We did evaluate Automation Anywhere and UiPath. Between Automation Anywhere and UiPath, there are pros and cons. Automation Anywhere is easier to use for final users and developers.

I am utilizing the AI Agent Studio in my automation process. My impression of the AI governance features in maintaining compliance and data integrity in my company is that all the automatic processes are similar to processes made by humans. Only in specific cases do we have to use the compliance process with government; in most cases, enterprises would have to accomplish specific requirements. It is not usual in these kinds of processes to have compliance.  

I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten. If the price were a bit less maybe I would give it a ten.

As a consultant, I have worked with various clients, including banks, insurance companies, healthcare providers, and different tech companies. Each company has distinct use cases. RPA tools are capable of automating any task. We usually automate processes that are repetitive. Automation is always rule-based.

Co-pilot certainly makes the job easier if the client has a subscription. It allows me to analyze desktop flows and activities and create flows using natural language. Natural language processing using LLMs has become an integral part of IT. This tool lets me create flows using natural language, repair automation errors, and answer product-related questions. It is there to assist us in creating automation tests, CI pipelines, etc.

There are many areas for improvement, especially in the developer environment. Providing a desktop version rather than focusing on the cloud is essential. Only UiPath offers a studio environment for desktop application development. Automation Anywhere lacks a desktop version and is solely web-based and cloud-based.

Automation Anywhere is not so easy for business users who are not technical. It is at the medium level. UiPath also provides UiPath StudioX to enable business users to automate easily.

I have used Automation Anywhere for four years. I have also used UiPath for four years.

The support is good. I have faced difficulties with every RPA tool. Automation Anywhere has a good support system but has room for improvement. UiPath has a huge online community for support. They have a lot of active users.

Neutral

The solution we use depends on the client and their budget. 

UiPath is exceptionally more expensive than Automation Anywhere. UiPath is far ahead of its competition, but in terms of finances, Automation Anywhere offers better value and is more effective for organizations seeking cost-effective solutions. Small clients tend to go for Power Automate or Automation Anywhere, whereas large clients go for UiPath.

RPA solutions like UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Power Automate, and Blue Prism can be learned through their academies. When I graduated, I did not know what RPA was. I joined as an intern and was told to go to the academies for these solutions and do the courses. They have developer fundamental and RPA fundamental courses. They also have advanced-level courses of 30 hours, which are free of cost. It took me about two months to learn these solutions. I might have had an edge because of my technical background. For a non-technical person who is willing to put in two or three hours every day into learning, three to four months would be good to take themselves to a level where they can start developing automation at a medium scale. Complex automations happen from experience when you are working with different types of clients. Generally, two to four months is a good period for someone to get a grasp of RPA.

The focus is shifting from RPA to IPA or Intelligent Process Automation. For example, I have done automation for a website task. Previously, when the website changed, such as when a button was shifted, the automation would fail. With Intelligent Process Automation, the bot is intelligent enough to realize the changes that have occurred. It understands what my flow is and what I am trying to achieve. It is then able to modify itself in such a manner that it still works. This is something that RPA has been transitioning toward.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a seven out of ten.

As a financial services company, we have a variety of use cases for different areas of our business, as well as some of our IT partners. We have automations that help perform payment extensions on customer accounts. We have automations that track email communications on accounts that are in collections. For our IT partners, we have bots that perform password resets for applications that our IT team supports, as well as the provisioning automations that we use to grant access or change access for team members at our company.

They have been informative in terms of new features, components, and capabilities that are available to us as their customer. We have a regular cadence set up with our account manager and our support manager to ensure that we are able to leverage some of those new components. We have had the opportunity to test or play around with some of the new features being rolled out to see if it is something that we would be able to introduce into any of our use cases at GM Financial.

During the development and the discovery phase for the use cases, while walking through a use case with the process owner, we were able to identify some opportunities that could have helped them before the process was automated. By seeing where they were struggling with manually performing the process and automating the process, we have been able to give them a lot of time back with the use of some of the features.

It is fairly easy to understand. The courses that Automation Anywhere University offers, especially for citizen development, and even for those who are getting into development, have pretty simple course content. It is not overly complex or too technical where somebody could get lost in the instruction. It is fairly easy for anybody who does not have that technical background to pick up and use. If anything, it would probably give them an opportunity in terms of what background they want to understand more to supplement or complement what they learn from Automation Anywhere University.

For a first-time user of Automation Anywhere, there is not a huge learning curve. The content and the instructions through Automation Anywhere University are comprehensible. It is easy for somebody to practice, learn, and build on top of what they have learned. As different use cases come around, there are different opportunities to use some of the different features or variables in development. It will help strengthen how they learn or map out how to use the tool.

We have dependent environments that our automation will log into or interact with. There are applications that our automations interact with or are integrated with. We have automations that are using Salesforce and SharePoint. We have an FIS platform for automations servicing customer accounts. We have various applications and third-party websites that our automations interact with daily.

We have automated processes that were heavy with human interaction. Through automation, we have been able to allow those human resources to be reallocated to other areas of the company, doing different processes manually. These automations are working daily beyond normal business hours, on weekends and holidays. Business partners that are benefiting from the automations have been able to distribute those resources to other areas.

Automation Anywhere has most definitely saved us time and costs through automation. Our business partners are able to receive the benefits of automation and distribute those human resources to other areas of their business. By saving time and costs associated with those human resources, less overtime is being paid. Especially for processes that are dependent and have time-sensitive SLAs, we are not accruing any penalties or anything like that. We are able to leverage automation to avoid those costs. It is not only from a time and cost perspective but also risk avoidance. Risk avoidance is something that is not necessarily highlighted when it comes to automation, but I feel that we have also been able to avoid risk.

We are looking at the different programs that Automation Anywhere offers. We are engaged with our account manager on Pathfinder, and we are able to leverage the ability to map where our program currently is and where we want it to go. We are putting some key ideas, thoughts, and time frames around where we want to be when it comes to building our automation program at GM Financial.

Right now, when I look at the platform for Automation Anywhere, the ease of use for the control room from a production support standpoint for our L1 and L2 team members has been amazing. With our conversion from v11 to A360, there has been better ease of development of components within the control room for our development teams. Obviously, it is apples to oranges, but the experience since going to A360 has been amazing. We have been able to establish some reasonable components, which has made our delivery efforts a lot easier since we have been in A360. From a support perspective, the ease of use with the control room and being able to manage those devices in the control room has been easy for us as well. 

If I look across the use cases that we have, there is more opportunity for us to collaborate with Automation Anywhere to see or maybe explore some potential opportunities for new capabilities within the platform. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything that they would need to improve on, but there are probably opportunities to explore some potential use cases where maybe there is a feature that is not yet available. We can discover and pioneer something together.

At GM Financial, our journey began in January of 2020. I have been supporting the development team that has been building bots in Automation Anywhere since 2020.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate my experience with the support of Automation Anywhere a ten.

They are very responsive when our platform admins or our developers need to open up any cases. We have a weekly support cadence with them as well as an account cadence with them. In the different areas that we receive support from Automation Anywhere, they are very responsive and very attentive to our needs.

Positive

When we started our RPA journey in 2018, we had a third party. It was outsourced to a third party that had a proprietary tool. We managed to do that for a few years, but being able to host, support, and build internally was a key factor for us. When the company decided to look at possible solutions to deliver these services, Automation Anywhere was what they selected. When we moved to A360, we took those automations that were hosted externally and brought them into our portfolio as well.

Deploying Automation Anywhere was definitely a learning experience for us, especially when we stood up the platform and tried to understand the deployment flow internally for the team. Our platform admins who do the actual deployment got their system before the support team that helps with the checklist of activities before the deployment takes place. That is where we had to learn and set up our framework to get it deployed.

Prior to actual automation deployments and getting the environment set up, we had to work with our infrastructure team. We had to make sure that we had the right resources in place and that those resources were working adequately before we launched our first automation onto the platform. Internally, we learned some lessons along the way. That is a part of the course for anybody who is deploying a new solution in their infrastructure. Overall, it did help us learn the importance of having a good framework in place so that if we need to build, expand, or change anything, we would be able to accommodate that appropriately.

We have most definitely seen an ROI internally with our development and production support teams. Even our business partners are receiving that return on investment because we have been able to help them realize the benefits that they are getting by automating their business processes. That return is not only to the IT team; that return is tenfold to the business.

I am not engaged in that portion of it; my leader is, which is good because then I do not have to have many discussions.

During the exploration phase for finding the tool for GM Financial, we looked at other tools like UiPath. I believe Blue Prism was another one that was being evaluated. Automation Anywhere was also in the mix. They were also trying to determine if they wanted to continue to host externally, but all in all, Automation Anywhere was where they went.

We are starting to get into an Automation Co-Pilot use case where we can showcase or pilot that with the business. One of the things with technology is that it is a journey, especially for an older financial services company like GM Financial. It involves adapting, understanding, and educating on new technologies and features. Before we can deploy things, we have to prove them. We have to show them. We have to help them understand what the benefit of using it is going to be. We are getting ready to pilot our first co-pilot using Automation Anywhere, and that is for our customer service or customer experience department.

My favorite aspect of the Imagine event is the opportunity to network and also to see Automation Anywhere showcase any new capabilities and enablements that are available to Automation Anywhere customers. At the keynote session yesterday, it was really nice to see how somebody is recognizing that a lot of times, departments within IT are siloed. They are working through challenges to be more collaborative and engaging to improve the services that we deliver when it comes to automation. Learning and hearing those things and listening to different breakout sessions confirms that we are not alone on our journey when it comes to our RPA program and other things because Automation Anywhere is not just RPA. It is good to know that we are not alone, and it is good to network with people who are experiencing the same challenges or opportunities that we have. All the information and the networking are my favorite things of all the Imagine conferences.

The Imagine experience is fun. It is exciting just because of the fact that we all have these opportunities within our grasp. It is just how we choose to go after it or how we choose to engage. There is the excitement of brainstorming or sharing ideas with people across different companies or services. You feed on that energy, take it back home, and work with your teams to continue to deliver and support.

Three reasons that I would highlight for colleagues and fellow team members to come to an Imagine event are:

• The content that Automation Anywhere shares about upcoming enablement and capabilities that are going to be made available to them.
• The information shared and networking is done with people from other companies across the globe.
• The events in breakout sessions are hosted at different times during the day.

I would rate Automation Anywhere a ten out of ten. I have not had any negative experiences with Automation Anywhere.

I have been using Automation Anywhere since last year. I have used Automation Anywhere in several automations. For one of my precious clients, we had to trigger the bot when a mail arrived with PDFs, and there was a web portal where we needed to store the data from PDF. I use many Excel automations with Automation Anywhere and web automation majorly, and sometimes I use it with API integration as well.

Document automation is really helpful, even for a developer who is using the tool. I have used Automation Anywhere in several automations.

In Automation Anywhere, they could improve certain aspects. I also used Microsoft Power Automate where we have one initialization of variable that can be used anywhere in any subflow. If there are 10 subflows, we can use one variable everywhere without creating a new one. However, in Automation Anywhere, if you have created a flow, subflow, or subtask, you will create one variable STR name. Every time you have to use input-output scope for that variable to use in other subtasks as well. Automation Anywhere should implement this feature. They should also decrease their cost. Automation Anywhere is good, but Microsoft Power Automate offers unattended machines at a very competitive cost.

I have been using Automation Anywhere since last year.

I have never come across any lagging, crashing, downtime, or any sort of instability with Automation Anywhere.

Regarding scalability, I have used Automation Anywhere for many small clients as well as complex bots. It is scalable as we can work for small and complex bots, and we can run attended and unattended processes.

Support for Automation Anywhere is wonderful. I had an issue related to Chrome not working with the latest update. Automation Anywhere released a patch or updated version. When Chrome was not working properly, I contacted support and they were really good. They helped me extensively and even came on call to support me.

When comparing Automation Anywhere with Power Automate, it is sometimes a client need or developer choice which tool is used because both tools have their own pros and cons for a particular project. I appreciate both tools as they provide similar capabilities.

For the initial deployment of Automation Anywhere, it was a new thing to learn. For about a month, I found it difficult because I did not know about the various actions available in Automation Anywhere or other RPA tools. Now most things are clear. Whether using Power Automate or Automation Anywhere, I know which actions to use for specific tasks.

Automation Anywhere does not require any maintenance on my end.

I do not know the exact numbers regarding the pricing of Automation Anywhere, but through discussions with leads and higher management, I learned there is a vast difference in pricing.

Automation Anywhere is good, but Microsoft Power Automate offers unattended machines at a very competitive cost.

When developing automation or software bots, it is sometimes a client need or developer choice which tool is used because both tools have their own pros and cons for a particular project. Both tools provide similar capabilities.

I started my professional career in the RPA field using Automation Anywhere. When I entered this field, I was completely new and came across various RPA tools, with Automation Anywhere being one of them. When developing automation or software bots, the choice between tools often depends on client needs or developer preferences, as each tool has its own advantages for specific projects. I rate Automation Anywhere 9 out of 10.

The main use cases for Automation Anywhere are customized bots for customers, and lately, we are working with AI through Agentic.

With Automation Anywhere, we have been able to streamline processes for our customers in the logistics industry. Currently, we are increasing efficiency for logistics agents or logistics operators and increasing their productivity.

Running a business with a lot of people is expensive. Agentic AI is going to help us have the same level of productivity but with lower costs. The biggest challenge for the models is to keep track of the context. Whenever the context is too large, it tends to hallucinate. That's something that we're working on right now. Automation Anywhere helps me overcome these challenges through its well-structured knowledge base. We're still looking for ways to improve the context window. The support they provide in helping through every step is beneficial.

Document automation impacts our efficiency and productivity significantly. A part of our key processes is reviewing invoices. It helps us in terms of people who process invoices, allowing them to focus on what really matters, which is approving or denying the actual changes, as opposed to doing data extraction and data entry.

What I appreciate most about Automation Anywhere is the ease of use. Everything is easy to set up. I also appreciate the extensibility that it has.

Automation Anywhere can be improved with better documentation. We would benefit from having better technical documentation that is more readily available.

Having better documentation that is more openly available would help. Often, it feels necessary to contact someone or search for documentation that is stored behind a login or in another location. It would be beneficial to have one centralized place for everything.

We have been using Automation Anywhere for approximately five years.

I have not used another product before choosing Automation Anywhere. We have been using it from the beginning.

The deployment experience with Automation Anywhere was great. It was smooth, and it was helpful that we had somebody already set up the way.

It's fine. However, I'm concerned with the credits in terms of the pricing for the AI models. It is understandable that the new ones are more expensive, but the base models, after doing the pricing conversion, cost about four to ten times as much as paying directly.

Initially, we were considering UiPath, but since we started with Automation Anywhere, we have remained with it.

APA has not yet helped to achieve our automation goals because it hasn't been rolled into production, but it looks promising.

AI Governance is pretty important because we handle customer data. We need to make sure that what we're building is not open to any exposure. We need to ensure that AI is not doing things that are not part of the plan, and there is data confidentiality, and keeping track of information.

I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten. 

My basic use case for Automation Anywhere is to ensure that the automation is taking place, and we are also using it for UI development. Additionally, we are using it for bot deployments, which is the main use case.

After implementing Automation Anywhere, we have felt a significant improvement in our processes, especially regarding scaling in the cloud environment we are working in. The cloud feature works effectively after implementing it, along with data manipulation automation for bots and intuitive designing.

We can use AI with Automation Anywhere whenever we are deploying a bot or performing a function. We can integrate multiple AI channels such as ChatGPT, GPT-4, and cloud services, which is the main benefit I love the most. It is a competitor to UiPath, which is a big company. Compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere is working effectively with its AI compatibility.

For non-technical users, which includes business users, Automation Anywhere is easy to use because it does not require heavy coding knowledge or prior experience. The learning curve is easy, and someone with basic technical skills can easily learn and use it without needing to manually deploy codes or engage in complex tasks.

Our organization uses Co-Pilot with AI integration. Co-Pilot helps us give commands to the automation channel, resulting in outputs that make the job easier. It is a very good game changer in this category, and I would definitely give a good rating to Co-Pilot.

We could see the benefits of Automation Anywhere within 2 weeks of deployment.

We have integrated several tools with Automation Anywhere, including Zoom, Google Drive, third-party channels, and data management tools, ensuring we can easily connect everything needed within our cloud-based network.

There are several things I would highlight about Automation Anywhere, including the AI integration which is exceptional. It has several Generative AI agents that enhance automation capabilities and process orchestration. Since it is based on the cloud, it is a highly scalable product. It is easy to deploy, has a very good UI, and the bots can be easily deployed with no issues. 

Additionally, the cost is really good. If we compare it to UiPath, Automation Anywhere stands out significantly.

The learning curve for Automation Anywhere is quite good, as it does not require heavy learning or extensive training for technical and non-technical users.

If I were to mention one area for improvement, it would be on advanced AI commands, such as advanced coding. While this is not critically needed since Automation Anywhere is doing great, improving in that area could be beneficial.

Other than that, Automation Anywhere is working effectively for me. I currently do not have any complaints and wish them all the luck, as they are excelling in the automation sector.

My organization has been using Automation Anywhere for 2.5 years.

We have not faced any kind of instability, lagging, or downtime with Automation Anywhere after implementation; it runs smoothly and is based off the cloud with a good UI, so there is no issue to report.

I feel that Automation Anywhere is definitely a scalable product, and it has the potential to be even better in the future, especially given its good pricing compared to UiPath and similar products.

While I have not needed to reach out for support much. I did interact with their technical support during the implementation. They resolved our issue within 2 to 3 hours, which was not a major problem. I would rate their support positively.

Positive

I have used UiPath as an alternative to Automation Anywhere; however, we made a switch because it was not cost-effective for our organization. During our growth phase, we transitioned and found that Automation Anywhere is better and more cost-effective.

The initial deployment of Automation Anywhere was easy. Our team, which included eight to nine people, assisted with the implementation and deployment process. It took about 1.5 weeks to complete everything.

Automation Anywhere does not require any maintenance on my end.

For the deployment of Automation Anywhere, my team consisted of eight to nine people, including myself.

The current pricing of Automation Anywhere is fairly priced and has provided us with a good ROI on investment. UiPath and other similar options would typically cost 2X the price, which is why we have chosen Automation Anywhere.

Its cost is good.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere a nine out of ten. It is a good product.

I work for a company, and we mainly automate tasks that we deem necessary, which are often repetitive and mundane. Anything that can be automated to save costs, from the finance and manufacturing perspective, is automated.

We are currently considering how to use it for document automation so that we can read unstructured data, such as invoices, that is a little bit messy and hard for a standard rule-based OCR to understand. We are also looking at an AI solution that could do that for us.

In terms of integration, we use tools like SAP. That is a big one. We have integrated Python scripting a lot. We also use Active Directory.

The advantage of Automation Anywhere is that it automates the mundane jobs that are brainless or take up time out of people's day that they could use to do other tasks. That was the main challenge that we wanted to address by implementing Automation Anywhere. We wanted to free up time in other areas by automating jobs that would make good candidates to do so.

It is built keeping business users in mind. Every single human being who uses a computer uses a UI, so automating those clicks is not a very complicated thing. You are just telling the computer what to do. In that respect, they try to make it as simple as possible to use things like Excel, send emails with Outlook, and automate clicks on a computer. That part is done well.

Allowing business users to trigger the bot means that I do not have to worry about scheduling or triggering the bots. I can just give them the keys to the car and let them do whatever they want to do. It saves time. We spend less time micromanaging and more time developing.

I have heard from people who are using these bots that it is saving them hours every week, every day, or so. They start to see those time savings instantly.

AARI allows business users to trigger the bot, so I do not have to schedule everything. This convenience allows users to utilize it as they need. I can set it up to provide users with a form to fill in all required information, and then the bot operates based on those specifications. AARI is very convenient, and that is their biggest selling point.

I have found that Automation Anywhere is prone to bugs in handling Excel. It breaks and gives vague error messages. I have had a lot of experience with that and learned that it is better to write a Python script instead of using Automation Anywhere's package when dealing with Excel because it is buggy and tends to break, unfortunately.

I have only been using it for about seven months.

I do not remember having any problems. It usually does not lag or crash. Some packages, like Excel, can behave unpredictably, but I have never had any issues with the application itself.

I do not have much information about scalability. When use cases come, I just build them and move on.

Before Automation Anywhere, I used Power Automate by Microsoft. I prefer Automation Anywhere because it is more robust. It allows us to build more powerful applications. Power Automate was great for small-scale things, but it had its limitations.

It was already deployed when I got here.

In terms of maintenance, the updates happen monthly. I do not have to do anything, but there is some maintenance when users want to get connected to run bots. There is a little bit of upkeep that happens there. Other developers sometimes do not have the necessary permissions. That process is not particularly painstaking. It is usually painless. There are two or three of us involved in the maintenance. We spend very little time on maintenance. It does not happen too often.

In our organization, there is a fairly steep learning curve because we have a very particular framework in terms of the way that we handle our bots and our processes. This is likely not the case with other organizations that do not have a similar framework. We like to break down our bots in a very particular way, and we like to control our bots' inputs with configuration files and use Python scripting to handle a lot of work rather than using Automation Anywhere's packages because it is more effective, but then there is a little bit of a steeper learning curve.

I never had to train somebody who is not technical on how to use Automation Anywhere, but you could teach someone how to make something super simple in 30 minutes, and then give them an hour. You can quickly teach them how to send themselves email reminders or do something similar, so you could get going pretty quickly.

Overall, I would rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten. It does what it does well.

Automation Anywhere is a leading global RPA solution provider. Its platform is used by companies worldwide, including many Fortune 500 enterprises. Automation Anywhere is known for its innovative approach to automation, offering both cloud-based and on-premises solutions. It specializes in developing bots to streamline operational and business processes, making it a prominent player in the RPA market.

Automation Anywhere can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid platform.

We implemented Automation Anywhere to streamline our operational processes and automate repetitive, mundane tasks. Our bots operate in both attended and unattended modes. In attended mode, bots collaborate with human operators; in unattended mode, they autonomously execute tasks from start to finish. These bots work 24/7 without human intervention. Automation Anywhere is particularly valuable in the BFSI and IT operations sectors, where it can significantly automate business processes. Our enterprise currently utilizes over 5,000 bots daily, resulting in substantial cost savings and improved efficiency. The cloud-based platform's seamless integration capabilities and regular product updates ensure its continued leadership in the automation market.

Due to data protection concerns, the financial services industry has not fully embraced cloud technology. However, the retail and healthcare sectors have migrated to the cloud and identified significant opportunities. Real estate, vertical healthcare, and smart city transportation are well-suited for cloud adoption. These industries often face a high risk of human error. Automating processes end-to-end with RPA bots can mitigate errors, enhance company value, and streamline human work. Cloud-based RPA allows for easy scaling of bots to meet fluctuating workloads, ensuring efficient and cost-effective operations, even during peak demand.

Automation Anywhere makes it easy for business users without coding skills. It offers a low-code product that allows citizen developers to create bots without writing a single line of code. These developers can drag and drop information to automate activities, streamlining tasks like financial operations and daily routines. By providing basic details about the properties they need to operate, citizen developers can quickly build bots that can be deployed to production and triggered manually or automatically. This technology empowers individuals to create multiple bots tailored to specific needs, such as HR bots or onboarding processes. In the financial industry, it facilitates daily validation activities and data transfers between servers.

The learning curve for creating basic bots is approximately one week for non-technical users. However, complex bot creation requires coding knowledge, typically in Python, C#, or DLL. For those with a background in backend coding, such as C# or Python, an additional month may be needed to understand the intricacies of RPA or Automation Anywhere fully. The learning time ranges from one week to one month, depending on the individual's skill level. 

Automation Anywhere's new version introduces Copilot, a feature that allows users to create a basic bot for a specific task. These bots can be deployed into a production environment with minimal adjustments, leveraging AI capabilities.

Copilot's seamless integration with our organization's daily applications will be valuable as we transition to an AI platform. This integration will significantly enhance productivity, accelerate our automation efforts, and reduce time to market. Additionally, Copilot will enable us to create a multitude of bots more efficiently.

Copilot can significantly reduce our staff's workload by generating templates for bots. These templates require only input parameters to be specified, saving up to 30 percent of their time.

AI currently offers a variety of APIs that can be combined to create customized strategies tailored to specific customer needs for service provision and operations. By leveraging generative AI and advanced tools like generative AI bots or Copilots, businesses can develop and deploy automated processes to streamline daily activities. By carefully identifying non-automatable processes, generative AI can assist in addressing these challenges and improving overall efficiency.

Automation Anywhere's versatility allows for seamless integration with various tools and applications. It can effectively communicate with any system, and APIs can be developed to facilitate communication with any desired tool. There are no limitations to its integration capabilities. Its user-friendly interface and well-maintained documentation make it easy to follow and create bots for automation on any platform. CI/CD pipelines can be used to deploy these bots efficiently.

Automation Anywhere offers packages that can seamlessly integrate automation into our workflows, APIs, business applications, and documents. By extracting operational activities and pushing them to databases, we can enhance bot productivity and improve overall business efficiency.

Cognitive services and PDF file automation should be refined. The integration process should be simplified, perhaps using API-based activities. If a response comes in JSON format, these features should be readily available, allowing for easy information extension. This will enable developers to perform tasks and view accurate results quickly.

I have been using Automation Anywhere for almost six years.

The stability of Automation Anywhere is not a concern when deployed on the cloud. 

Automation Anywhere's ability to scale automation is impressive. We will begin by identifying business processes and then involve subject matter experts to determine the number of bots required and their priorities. This will guide our automation journey, which can commence immediately. Licensing and deployment will be swift, especially if cloud-based. On-premises deployment depends on our infrastructure. The entire bot facility can be ready within a week. For development, a dedicated center of excellence team can prioritize bots and commence activities accordingly.

The deployment complexity largely depends on the integration process. If integration is straightforward, a citizen developer can acquire the necessary skills within one to seven days and begin developing. For complex analyses, prior knowledge of external environments, such as C# or Python programming languages, can significantly reduce the required code length within the Automation Anywhere platform. While Automation Anywhere doesn't offer a traditional coding structure, it supports integrating other languages and components, enabling activities with fewer lines of code.

Automation Anywhere offers a subscription-based licensing model for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid deployments. A single license allows for 24/7 bot execution, whether performing a single task or multiple tasks at various times on a single machine.

I rate Automation Anywhere an eight out of ten. It is one of the top three RPA solutions.

Users need at least two years of experience in a specific coding language for complex automation scenarios. This is a requirement. They will primarily work on integration, as Automation Anywhere bots do not handle this completely. Writing code to call external APIs or web services requires thorough knowledge. Users can create Python code to add to bots for triggers. For complex bots, at least four years of experience is needed, not just in automation but also in other areas. This knowledge helps with architecture, bot execution, and future scaling. To create reusable structures and portions, users should start by drilling down and identifying them. These reusable components can be used in multiple bots or processes. This approach can simplify complex scenarios by breaking them down into smaller, repeatable tasks. To handle such complexity, users should have at least four years of experience in a typical development environment.

There are two distinct approaches to upgrading Automation Anywhere. Automation Anywhere handles the upgrade process for its cloud-based solution whenever a new release becomes available. However, on-premises upgrades require scheduling a call with Automation Anywhere to plan the process. It's crucial to have a well-defined disaster recovery plan in place for on-premises upgrades. This plan allows Automation Anywhere to maintain a single active platform for upgrades while ensuring the other platform remains available for production. Once the upgrade is complete, the other platform can then be upgraded. In contrast, cloud-based customers can rely on Automation Anywhere to manage the upgrade process without additional effort.

Every day, technology evolves. Maintenance is necessary when components change, or new versions are released because specific code segments may become obsolete. We must closely monitor the entire ecosystem for errors and swiftly resolve them. Bugs can sometimes arise due to technical coding, so we must address these issues or share detailed platform information with Automation Anywhere for their analysis. If a core issue is identified, they will take the necessary steps to resolve it. They may request that clients modify their environment, application, or component handling for technology or third-party matters.

The maintenance requirements for Automation Anywhere vary depending on the situation. Minor issues can be quickly identified and reported to Automation Anywhere, who will respond within 24-48 hours based on the purchased services. Our system administrator can resolve minor issues. Audits may be conducted in a development environment, where estimates for time and effort can be determined. Cost and time estimates are not fixed and depend on the specific issue.

The bots are maintained daily.