Blue Prism OverviewUNIXBusinessApplication

Blue Prism is the #4 ranked solution in best RPA tools. PeerSpot users give Blue Prism an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. Blue Prism is most commonly compared to Microsoft Power Automate: Blue Prism vs Microsoft Power Automate. Blue Prism is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 70% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 19% of all views.
Blue Prism Buyer's Guide

Download the Blue Prism Buyer's Guide including reviews and more. Updated: June 2023

What is Blue Prism?

Blue Prism is an intelligent, business-developed, no-code automation platform for SaaS deployments as well as for on-premises, public cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. Unlike other automation technology, Blue Prism combines robotic process automation with expanded artificial intelligence and cognitive capabilities. Blue Prism gives users instant access to the tools you need for building and delegating automations, as well as a digital workforce that is already AI-equipped.

With Blue Prism’s code-free RPA, deployed through use of their Robotic Operating Model, your business can scale efficiently, improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and augment its talent to take on new responsibilities. Blue Prism helps to accelerate operational agility and efficiency by making it easy to automate the most important processes. Allocating everyday tasks to your Digital Workforce gives you immediate increased capacity and allows your teams to focus on their strategic goals. In addition, it delivers a return on investment, increases efficiency gains, and can even introduce new revenue streams.

“Workforce of the Future”

Blue Prism’s all-in-one intelligent automation platform consists of:

  • Design Studio with drag-and-drop process automation building, reusable “objects” across your business, and updates to objects and processes saved throughout the process library.
  • Control Room where you can assign processes to digital workers, scale digital worker and task volume ondemand, and gain real-time transparency of process proficiencies.
  • Digital Workforce of autonomous software robots that can learn and mimic business processes like humans and are equipped with six intelligent automation skills:
    1. Knowledge and Insight - The ability to harvest, understand, and deliver insights from multiple disparate data sources.
    2. Visual Perception - The ability to read, understand, and contextualize visual information.
    3. Learning - The ability to derive contextual meaning and adapt to evolving process patterns.
    4. Planning and Sequencing - The ability to optimize workloads and identify opportunities for better outcomes.
    5. Problem-solving - The ability to autonomously solve system, logic, and business problems.
    6. Collaboration - The ability to seamlessly work with both people and systems.

Reviews from Real Users

Blue Prism stands out for its enterprise-level functionality, which is why many companies choose it over its competitors. PeerSpot users note that the solution is easy to use, stable, and robust scalability-wise. The security is also top-notch. One user pointed out that "One of the most powerful features in Blue Prism is exception handling. It's one of the features that really differentiates it from other platforms." Blue Prism helps businesses with everything from compliance to quality control and error-avoidance.

Blue Prism Customers

Coca-Cola, Walgreens, American Express, Royal Bank of Canada, Pfizer, Shop Direct, O2, Siemens, Ascension Healthcare, Jaguar Land Rover

Blue Prism Video

Blue Prism Pricing Advice

What users are saying about Blue Prism pricing:
  • "Blue Prism is a bit higher priced compared to other payment-related or investment-related solutions. At the same time, it also provides more security than those solutions, specifically for the banking and insurance sectors."
  • "Due to our financial structure, we need fixed costs. So, a license based on the usage would not be feasible. If we have a license model that is based on tasks per year or something else, it could create a very dynamic range of costs. Due to our public financial input, we have to know what it will cost. So, we have licenses per server. This helps us in planning, and we know exactly when we need additional servers. We can then request additional money for them."
  • "Blue Prism has a higher cost with respect to RPA enablement, particularly if you are trying to start with RPA."
  • Blue Prism Reviews

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    Department Chief at IBA Group
    MSP
    Top 20
    Easy to use, low -code platform that is highly scalable
    Pros and Cons
    • "I find Blue Prism's debugging functionality to be quite useful."
    • "Occasionally, there may be stability issues where certain nodes begin to behave erratically and produce errors."

    What is our primary use case?

    As integrators, we specialize in developing solutions on various platforms, with a focus on WorkFusion, UIPath, Blue Prism, and Automation Anywhere. Additionally, we have developed our own RPA solution.

    To clarify, we don't handle the deployment process. Typically, the environment is already set up by the time we arrive. Our role is to automate the business processes.

    I believe the situation with our client is quite complicated. They were attempting to upgrade from version 6.7 to 6.10 but encountered various challenges during testing. 

    Although we made migration efforts, other teams faced issues, and the upgrade had to be postponed. 

    Currently, the production version remains at 6.7 or 6.6, while the development version is at 6.7.

    Blue Prism is primarily used for invoice and document processing. 

    We use a basic capture function within the platform to extract information from various types of documents, including PDFs. 

    If the documents are consistent, we can work with them efficiently.

    What is most valuable?

    It's hard to make a definitive statement as we work with the tools available to us. While I haven't had much exposure to the latest version of WorkFusion, I've heard good things about it. 

    I switched from another RPA platform to Blue Prism, and I personally appreciate the way they handle queues and their overall approach.

    Blue Prism is a typical RPA platform that uses a low-code approach with its own strengths and weaknesses. I don't have any specific details to share about Blue Prism at the moment.

    I find Blue Prism's debugging functionality to be quite useful.

    What needs improvement?

    The tasks we use it for performed well, although there may be some minor issues with the 6.10 version. However, like every software, it is possible for it to have its own shortcomings that will eventually be addressed.

    In our business processes, we encountered an issue with a selector that stopped working, but we were able to create a workaround for it since it was only affecting one selector in one area. I don't think it's fair to place all the blame on Blue Prism because the application we were automating was heavily reliant on JavaScript, which caused difficulties in building the user interface. 

    In my opinion, every platform would have faced similar challenges when automating such an application. However, we were able to resolve the issue and move forward with upgrading the system.

    I am not aware of any problems that other teams may have encountered, so I can't say for sure. I can't immediately think of any specific features either. I would need to take some time to consider it and discuss it with our team before making any definitive statements.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have experience working with Blue Prism as a developer and have obtained certification as a developer. As such, I am quite familiar with the platform.

    I have been working with Blue Prism for two and a half years.

    Buyer's Guide
    Blue Prism
    June 2023
    Learn what your peers think about Blue Prism. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2023.
    710,326 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Occasionally, there may be stability issues where certain nodes begin to behave erratically and produce errors. 

    However, this is typically resolved by restarting the nodes. While I am not personally involved in monitoring and addressing such issues, we have had this problem before and have even developed monitoring tools to detect these issues early and automatically restart nodes when necessary.

    I would not say that this issue happens very often, I would rate the stability a seven or eight out of ten.

    If the servers are stable then it's an issue with the nodes, which has a workaround.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    In terms of scalability, I think that Blue Prism has the capability to work with a sufficient number of robots, which should be adequate for most enterprises. I haven't encountered any issues with scalability, although we have worked with organizations that have a varying number of robots, ranging from seven to twenty-one. While twenty-one might be considered a medium to large-sized organization, I don't believe that it's necessarily a small number in this context.

    Scalability is good, I would rate the scalability of Blue Prism a nine out of ten.

    In our organization, we don't use Blue Prism for automation. Instead, we assist other organizations with their automation needs. 

    We have a team of about ten developers, which includes DevOps and other personnel who work on automation projects.

    Our clients typically range from medium-sized to enterprise-level businesses. It's rare for us to work with small clients as it can be challenging to find tasks that are financially feasible to automate due to the initial investment required for setting up the robots. However, I cannot say that small clients wouldn't need RPA.

    How are customer service and support?

    We have never needed assistance from technical support.

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

    Previously, we worked with WorkFusion.

    If we compare Blue Prism and WorkFusion, Blue Prism is typically considered a low-code platform, while WorkFusion is a coding platform. However, it's worth noting that both platforms offer varying degrees of low-code and coding capabilities, and the exact level of coding required will depend on the specific use case and implementation.

    Although you can program in Java or a specific XML-like language, it still involves writing code. I wouldn't say that this is a bad thing. 

    As a developer myself, I actually prefer writing code. When using Blue Prism, I often find myself having to rearrange blocks in order to create more space for additional blocks I need to add. However, if you're writing code, you don't have to worry about that issue.

    Perhaps for an average business user, Blue Prism would be easier to learn. However, Blue Prism requires more planning and preparation compared to Automation Anywhere before starting to code. It's more similar to regular development rather than ad-hoc development.

    To give an example, in Automation Anywhere, you could start developing a robot without any prior planning in the tool. You could simply throw in 10 or 12 blocks, and that would do the job. It would be a simple robot. However, with Blue Prism, you need to do some planning and preparation before you start coding. 

    It's more like regular development, unlike Automation Anywhere which is more like at-home development. Blue Prism may be easier for business users to work with as it has a more visual system, whereas WorkFusion is more code-based and deployable. 

    I stopped working with WorkFusion about three years ago, so my information may be obsolete.

    How was the initial setup?

    I was not involved in the initial setup process. It was actually done by our dev ops team for one of our clients, and from what I know, there were no issues. They were able to successfully set up the environment and get it running without any problems.

    I would rate the initial setup a six out of ten.

    What about the implementation team?

    I was not involved in the deployment.

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

    I am unable to compare pricing because I usually do not have access to the information.

    In some cases, the client already has licenses and we assist them in installing the environment, while in other cases, they already have both the licenses and the environment set up.

    What other advice do I have?

    Blue Prism provides a comprehensive set of resources, including a university with numerous courses, to help users develop their skills. 

    The courses are very clear and provide step-by-step instructions on how to use the platform. 

    With these resources, one can learn Blue Prism on their own without any external assistance.

    I would rate Blue Prism a nine out of ten.

    Blue Prism is a great enterprise platform. Although it started with version six which had many user interaction tools, I recently read about new features that allow for interaction between robots and users to complete tasks. Overall, I think Blue Prism is a reliable platform for enterprises.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    Flag as inappropriate
    PeerSpot user
    Lead RPA at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    Good for automating repetitive tasks but bots sometimes don't work as expected
    Pros and Cons
    • "All of the processes that we've automated have been completed successfully, and the bots are able to process them as expected."
    • "All of the processes that we've automated have been completed successfully, and the bots are able to process them as expected."

    What is our primary use case?

    We've implemented Blue Prism for various banking operations for HSBC. It's used to provide support for various areas of business like mortgages, screening teams, and payment processing. So based on the process requirement, we prepare best cases and use cases, then we cater to the requirements of the business. There are around a hundred people at HSBC divided up among four digital operations center teams. These are spread across the globe in India, China, Europe, and Hong Kong.

    How has it helped my organization?

    For payment processing, our department needs to handle all inbound and outbound payments. Each transaction has to be reviewed and screened at two levels. This entire process takes around 40 minutes of uptime. So that is the time actually, whenever we initiate any NEFT or IMPS payments. So it takes generally 20 to 40 minutes time to deposit the funds. So in this scenario, RPA helps this particular department to reduce that processing time. 

    So earlier it was taking around 30 to 40 minutes to complete this entire cycle. Now the first level has been automated, and the robots are processing this payment. 
    Level one is completed within a few minutes, so the payment automatically goes to the level two team. This has cut the processing time by around 30%. Now it takes less than 20 minutes to process. That's just how it helped in this particular department. There are other examples of similar time savings in other departments of HSBC.

    What is most valuable?

    We use Blue Prism's automation features for any activity that is repetitive and has to be done repeatedly.  We have implemented this solution for our existing processes where the management transformation team has conducted a proper investigation and proper methodology.  All of the processes that we've automated have been completed successfully, and the bots are able to process them as expected.

    What needs improvement?

    There are a couple of challenges in Blue Prism's latest version. So the main difficulty is when the bots are in a run state. If the schedule calls that, then the schedule information is not being received by bots in the right way. It means the bot is already running, and there is a schedule in place that is not functioning as expected. Also, there is a scenario where the bots are not handling volume as expected, especially when there are challenges with other environments. So there are a couple of areas where we have found that bots are not working as expected, especially in version 6.4.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have a total of four years of experience with Blue Prism, two of which I spent working for digital worker management where we were specifically responsible for run activities. I know how to react to any situation where the bots are not working. I know what action needs to be taken, who to contact, and how to prioritize each action. In these areas, I'm very strong. So based on my experience, my efforts, and my inputs, I have had the opportunity to move to as a configurator or a developer. So for the last two years, again, I've been part of this development team.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We have been working with the bots for the last two years, and they're working as expected as of now. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    There are a couple of projects where data science using the R language has been integrated into the Blue Prism solution. The R language data science specialists have designed a solution that helped us to process the payments based on previous investigations or previous decisions. So looking at previous decisions and creating models about the probability of approving or denying payments helps the bots process decisions quicker. So in this way, R language has been integrated with Blue Prism. This particular solution has been producing good results. It's able to make better decisions than a human and faster.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Most technical issues are handled in-house. There are two teams. One is the configurator or development team. The other is the worker-management team or digital workforce management team, which is nothing but the run team. If they find any issues, they create an incident ticket and send this to the program team or development team. So these teams will actually add that work on it to resolve the issue. That's how it happens.

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

    Four years ago, the bank did not have a specialized team for this RPA solution, so they started taking support from Accenture or Ernst & Young teams. So the initial processeswere automated by these teams. Two years ago, HSBC started its own teams to develop the solutions using Blue Prism. Blue prism is the only automation solution HSBC has used so far. 

    How was the initial setup?

    It depends on the types of applications and processes being automated as well as the number of applications being used for that particular process. As the number of applications increases, so will the complexity depending on the situation.

    What was our ROI?

    When the DOC team shares our stats with the operations department, we quantify the potential cost savings of using a particular automation solution. Generally, we speak in terms of the number of full-time employees used for a particular process. So, if there are 10 people working to complete a particular task, how many people do we need after implementing Blue Prism? If the remaining work is being completed by seven people after the implementation of RPA, then we have saved 30% using Blue Prism.

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

    We are on a yearly license. There are two types of licenses. One is for the VDI license and the other one is for the Blue Prism license. For HSBC we have yearly licenses. Altogether, I think $750 per annum needs to be paid for this VDI license and the Blue Prism license is different. 

    Blue Prism is a bit higher priced compared to other payment-related or investment-related solutions. At the same time, it also provides more security than those solutions, specifically for the banking and insurance sectors. Moreover, this Blue Prism provides the flexibility to automate daily banking-related activities. 

    So that's how Blue Prism is being used for the banking sector. Senior management team is looking into alternatives. For example, Alteryx is the one tool that is being introduced to HSBC. Currently, we are undergoing training for Alteryx and are exploring ways to cut down on costs.

    What other advice do I have?

    If you are looking to automate repetitive standard activities that need to be done by a human investigator or any manual process involved, Blue Prism will help. But when you need to automate other types of activity UiPath can offer better results than Blue Prism. In terms of cost, UiPath is a bit cheaper when compared to Blue Prism.

    There are pros and cons to this particular application, Blue Prism helps us complete a particular process in a better way. It may give us better results or produce the same result faster. But there are many unknown challenges, like application latencies. Maybe Blue Prism or automated processes might not be able to handle those situations properly or it might not be able to deliver the expected results sometimes.


    I would rate Blue Prism a seven out of 10. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Blue Prism
    June 2023
    Learn what your peers think about Blue Prism. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2023.
    710,326 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Zameer Shaik - PeerSpot reviewer
    RPA Lead at Aithinkers
    Real User
    Top 10
    Highly secure and reliable RPA tool but doesn't have a web orchestration
    Pros and Cons
    • "Blue Prism is highly scalable and reliable."
    • "Blue Prism is not very flexible when it comes to integrations."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use cases are mostly for device processing, such as extracting data from PDFs and reporting it into ERP applications.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We have a customer who used to perform certain tasks manually. They no longer have to do that as the bot performs the tasks. They only need to review whether the bot is working as expected or not. It has significantly improved their process time, and Blue Prism has proven to be time-saving and resource-saving.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature is that it is more secure and reliable. It is also why big companies such as banks mainly use Blue Prism.

    What needs improvement?

    Blue Prism doesn't have a web orchestration or control room where businesses can directly check the trends or carry out the process directly from the URL without downloading additional software like Nextiva on their machine.

    Some other features are also missing in Blue Prism. For example, the record and play feature makes development faster, but it is not there in Blue Prism. When you start the recording and do the activity, it automatically generates the steps. So that feature needs to be included.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have about four years of experience with Blue Prism. We're working with the previous update.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Blue Prism is a stable product. But it's not very flexible when it comes to integrations. Blue Prism's forum is smaller, unlike some other RPA tools, where there is a large forum with a wide range of integrations readily available in the marketplace. If you want to integrate any solution from the Digital Exchange, you may not find as many options as compared to other tools. So, while Blue Prism is stable and secure, it may not be as flexible as other RPA tools.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    When compared to other RPA tools, Blue Prism is highly scalable and reliable. I have deployed Blue Prism processes that required deployment for up to fifteen users per process. Due to other factors, deployment permission is needed if the workload exceeds the system's capacity. Typically, it runs smoothly without issues, but in cases where the workload surpasses our support team's capabilities, we can deploy up to fifteen percent of the portal's resources, and the system continues to function effectively even at that scale.

    How are customer service and support?

    In the beginning, when we were working with Blue Prism version 5, there were some issues after installing the latest update. So we decided not to install the latest version and only update after some time. Eventually, it became stable without any issues. When we needed to contact support for updates, we had to reach out to group parameters.

    Most of the time, they say it is a known issue and will fix it with the next update. When we faced challenges, like setting up a load-balancing server, the support was good, and we could set it up without any issues. They provide good support for known issues but may not be able to fix some problems.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup process is easy compared to other applications. Our customers use the on-prem version because they are old customers; at that time, the cloud version was unavailable.

    To deploy the solution, it is advisable to deploy it in an environment that closely resembles the development environment. It includes having similar desktop resolution, applications, and access. In case of any changes in common objects, thorough end-to-end testing of use cases is necessary to ensure that the existing solutions are not affected. It can be a time-consuming process due to the increased amount of testing required.

    What about the implementation team?

    For the deployment team, it would be best if we have a separate chain management process to ensure security and prevent developers from accessing the production environment. Having dedicated resources for chain management would be beneficial not only for Blue Prism but also for other sectors. We can recommend tools to ensure coding standards are being maintained and submit them to the chain management team.

    For maintenance, we should have a separate support model in place. Like in any other support model, it would include a support team with levels 0, 1, 2, and 3. The support team would be responsible for automated processes that provide information on the version, system improvements, and high memory usage alerts. This way, the support team can act accordingly and increase the model size if needed.

    Having these measures in place would make maintenance easier. Otherwise, if the process runs at its peak level, it may not run as smoothly as needed. Without automated alerts, maintenance becomes more difficult, and the process may not function properly. Implementing these setups could be useful and can be delivered through email.

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

    The pricing or licensing costs of Blue Prism are around $15,000 per year, primarily based on the number of processors run in parallel.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice would be first to assess your requirements. If you prioritize reliable security, Blue Prism could be a good choice for you, but it may come with a higher development cost than other vendors. Additionally, if you choose Blue Prism, you should ensure that integration is streamlined by developing your own code.

    When it comes to business, the process assessment should be critical in finding the right solution. Not all processes are suitable for automation, and there is a risk that ROI may not meet expectations if the process is not suitable. It's important to consider the required equipment and ensure the solution is designed to handle potential issues, such as offline support. The solution should also be designed with the expectation of needing support once deployed. During development, it's important to follow best practices to ensure the solution is efficient and has a high ROI. It's also important to ensure that the solution is reliable and does not break. Manual intervention may be necessary if there are any issues, so it's important to have a plan in place for business continuity.

    Overall, I would rate Blue Prism a seven out of ten because it has stability issues.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
    Flag as inappropriate
    PeerSpot user
    ROM Architect at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
    Reseller
    Top 20
    Easy to set up and configure but not very user-friendly
    Pros and Cons
    • "It's fast to get up and running if you use a cloud deployment."
    • "From a monitoring perspective, the way the screens are set up, or the reporting within Blue Prism, is not really user-friendly. You need a technical person to basically put that up. It's not necessarily easily viewable."

    What is most valuable?

    The product is pretty good so far.

    The initial setup is not complex.

    It's not too difficult to configure everything.

    It's fast to get up and running if you use a cloud deployment.

    What needs improvement?

    We haven't really used it extensively. I can say that even though it feels like a good product, there are some things that are completely missing the mark for me in Blue Prism.

    The solution isn't complete. There are items that you have to pay extra for, such as the Interact. Those things should be part and parcel of the Blue Prism solution. I can't see it as a standalone separate service, therefore, why do I have to buy this separately? It should be part of the base offering.

    From a monitoring perspective, the way the screens are set up, or the reporting within Blue Prism, is not really user-friendly. You need a technical person to basically put that up. It's not necessarily easily viewable.

    As far as the assessment is concerned, the assessment tools need to be refined as it is really difficult for one to just use it out of the box. The cloud offering basically says that you can start right away, and you don't have to wait for all of these configurations and things. However, we have purchased the on-premise solution and not the cloud solution. For me, I just need a better experience on that deployment, even though it should have been the more mature solution.

    From a Blue Prism perspective, user-friendliness is really an issue. The components that I now have to buy extra to do automation, things that, if I look at a tool like UiPath, that is already part of their toolset. You don't have to buy any user integration with other solutions. I can't understand why Blue Prism doesn't do the same.

    They are not really very innovative. There's nothing that wows me if I would compare them to the newer tools that are coming out that's got the cognitive automation tools that are built into the product.

    Within Blue Prism it's very difficult to manage a team of coders, for instance, or a team of developers developing on the same application. That is not in Blue Prism. You can't do that. It's one developer at a time working with one thing. The source code management within the toolset really needs to improve. They don't seem so managed and packaged well, and integration to maybe other repositories where one can store that information would be better. That is where it's lacking at the moment. The configuration, as I said, of the reporting, of the dashboard, out-of-the-box, should actually be easy to configure and not so challenging.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using this solution for about six months.

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

    I've worked with UiPath in the past.

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution's initial setup has a sort of medium level of difficulty. I won't say it was complex per se. I would definitely not say it was complex to do it or to configure it. 

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

    The price is low and it's reasonable, however, I expected more to be included in the product. Now, if I have to go and buy all these other extras, that price is going to go up. For instance, if I use OCR capability and I'm not using their product, the Decipher product, I have to go and buy an ABBYY license separately. That means I have to manage more licenses. It's not included in the package where I have a good OCR solution that works with it, I must now go and buy and manage separate licenses. It is just a nightmare.

    If you look at the supply chain, you now need to get a separate license from another company if you want to buy licenses to OCR with Blue Prism. And that is where the cost increases and then the investment becomes a little bit more difficult to justify. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I'm a customer and an end-user.

    I'm in a position within our company where people are saying to me, "We've got Power Automate from Microsoft, why should I use Blue Prism?" And with the Microsoft suite, Power Automate, and all of the cognitive automation is already included as part of Azure. And here I sit with Blue Prism, and now I need new gateways to integrate with that. It's going to be a little bit more work to make it work with Microsoft Azure than the product that is already there in Microsoft Azure. I must now basically justify to the business why do I need Blue Prism.

    It makes it very difficult in terms of their strategy if all the extra products that we want, we have to buy additionally. Whereas, if I compare it to the Microsoft Azure Suite of things, you get all of these features without having to buy them separately as you would need to with Blue Prism. It's a very difficult sell to the business.

    I would advise others to go straight to the cloud and not mess around with the on-premise solution. The reason is the on-premise solution will take you six months before you can start to show anything. Going to the cloud is probably a better option to get the results out faster.

    I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
    PeerSpot user

    Is US$ 1,100 per year the licensing cost?

    Senior IT Architekt at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    Straightforward installation, stable, and helpful in closing the technical gaps between applications and saving time
    Pros and Cons
    • "RPA processes are helpful when we need interaction with different applications and close the technical gaps between them. In one of the use cases that we evaluated, there was a single Excel template from a vendor. The Excel file has 7,000 objects, and it included information about the part numbers, prices, and some of the details about each object of the aircraft. This file had to be input to SAP, so a human had to enter these 7,000 objects one by one, which is a pretty mechanical and uninteresting task. The RPA bot was easily able to import this file. Without RPA, this import had to be done by a person who had to do the same task 7,000 times just to import one contract."
    • "There are some security issues in Blue Prism. The German vendor Servicetrace is way better. This is also reflected in the Gartner report where Servicetrace is mentioned as the tool of choice in high-security environments. So, security, particularly in terms of administration, needs to be improved. We must have the possibility to prevent the administration from taking a look at the ongoing process. When we have restricted data flow, the operations team should not be able to take a look at the data that is processed."

    What is our primary use case?

    In one of the use cases, we import Excel tables. We extract the Excel data from the output of a proprietary application. This application produces Excel tables as an output, and we then create PDFs for certificates for the people who are flying. They have to do training, flying hours, and things like this. In this project, we closed the gap between the proprietary application, provided by a different team, and the HR application.

    It is deployed on-premises. Due to security issues, we are not allowed to use cloud services. We only have centralized application servers that are operated by the central operations team. It is not on users' desktops, which is possible, but it is not our focus.

    What is most valuable?

    RPA processes are helpful when we need interaction with different applications and close the technical gaps between them. In one of the use cases that we evaluated, there was a single Excel template from a vendor. The Excel file has 7,000 objects, and it included information about the part numbers, prices, and some of the details about each object of a complex maschine. This file had to be input to SAP, so a human had to enter these 7,000 objects one by one, which is a pretty mechanical and uninteresting task. The RPA bot was easily able to import this file. Without RPA, this import had to be done by a person who had to do the same task 7,000 times just to import one contract. This is where RPA processes and RPA tools are very helpful. RPA tools have the possibility to close media gaps. RPA tools are like macros on steroids. They now have got the maturity level for big data centers.

    What needs improvement?

    We see some security issues in Blue Prism. The German vendor Servicetrace is better at this point. This is also reflected in the Gartner report where Servicetrace is mentioned as the tool of choice in high-security environments. So, security, particularly in terms of administration, needs to be improved. We must have the possibility to prevent the administration from taking a look at the ongoing process. When we have restricted data flow, the operations team should not be able to take a look at the data that is processed.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for about three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It has been pretty stable. Most errors are human errors in the input files. When we have issues, they are usually because of the content of the input file. There are no technical issues with the product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is not currently an issue on our side because the company has pretty strong and fast machines. Because these machines do only RPA and nothing else, they can handle the work of a lot of employees and do a great job with that.

    How are customer service and support?

    I'm not sure if our contractor has many tasks to handle with the vendor itself. During the software evaluation, we had discussions with the vendor about product details, but the support is taken care of by the contractors, and I'm not sure how often it is required.

    How was the initial setup?

    The installation itself was pretty straightforward. The installation of the software is pretty easy, but it can get tricky when you go into bot development and have to close the gaps between different applications. The most complex use case took us about two and a half years.

    What about the implementation team?

    We have a project team of five to six people for implementation. Operations are handled by three people. The project team is extended by external persons or contractors. The basic operations are done internally.

    What was our ROI?

    We definitely save money by using RPA.

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

    Due to our financial structure, we need fixed costs. So, a license based on the usage would not be feasible. If we have a license model that is based on tasks per year or something else, it could create a very dynamic range of costs. Due to our public financial input, we have to know what it will cost. So, we have licenses per server. This helps us in planning, and we know exactly when we need additional servers. We can then request additional money for them.

    What other advice do I have?

    It is a pretty good solution. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Tech Manager at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    Is reliable and robust, but accessibility needs to be improved
    Pros and Cons
    • "The object design way of implementing things actually brings a lot of reusability for us because you can design your objects once and leverage them in multiple automations."
    • "The control room is still the desktop version, which restricts access. You can't really access it from anywhere."

    What is most valuable?

    We like the reliability and robustness of Blue Prism. The object design way of implementing things actually brings a lot of reusability for us because you can design your objects once and leverage them in multiple automations. So, we use this extensively.

    What needs improvement?

    There are a lot of things that could be improved. The very first thing is their control room, and they are still sticking to the desktop version, which restricts access. You can't really access it from anywhere. The entire industry is moving towards cloud-based solutions. Blue Prism should make it RPA-as-a-Service cloud version. I would definitely like to see how they could really make it more accessible, going beyond desktop applications.

    They have recently launched their web version, but that is still a read-only version of the control room. The web version of their control room could be accessible from anywhere so that I don't have to go and log into a specific machine.

    Additionally, we tried integrating some of the applications to Blue Prism, and there was no REST API. It is still following the older mechanism using SOAP API, which again restricted quite a number of the integrations that we wanted to do. Exposing their artifacts through web APIs, REST APIs, would be good, which is normal nowadays.

    It would be good to build more objects; they have very limited objects available, that is, implicit objects. If I need to connect to ServiceNow, I would need to build all those things. So they could really step up and create customized objects as an implicit feature that they could include.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been working with it for two years. We've been using versions 6.4, 6.9, and 6.10 and are currently evaluating 7 as well.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I think Blue Prism has the capability to scale its automations. In terms of handling a load, as well as extending the digital workforce for a single process, it supports multi-bot architecture.

    However, as far as robustness in terms of when we scale robots, that is, when we want to extend the robots for a process where multiple bots are working, I think Blue Prism has a certain edge because of the maturity this tool has gained over the years.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I work very closely with the support team and their professional services teams, and I think that Blue Prism provides very good support.

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

    I worked with Automation Anywhere before Blue Prism.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is fairly okay in comparison. With Blue Prism, I could configure all of the types of configuration that Blue Prism supports. Whether it is single sign-on, app server-based, database, or single login, it was all quite simple.

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

    Blue Prism has a higher cost with respect to RPA enablement, particularly if you are trying to start with RPA. If you are a middle-scale company, then the cost of robots and their overall infrastructure can become really huge. You would feel like this is really a costly affair to start with RPA.

    So, Blue Prism has a higher cost if you are talking about middle-scale companies. However, if you're thinking of having more than 50 bots or 100 bots, perhaps this will have a lower impact on your cost. In general, Blue Prism is costly.

    What other advice do I have?

    If an organization is more focused on internal automations which belong to their own infrastructure and they want to comply with their security requirements, then I would recommend Blue Prism.

    If, however, an organization wants to really move forward towards the cloud and towards intelligent automation and integrations, then I would definitely recommend UiPath.

    If you want to build your team, look for a person who has development background because of Blue Prism's implementation. It follows object-oriented concepts, where you create your object, which is like a reusable class or reusable artifact.

    Even with regard to processes, you have to really think of developing them or writing your automation in such a way that it complies with what has been designed in the objects. I think a developer mindset is very much required for developing automation through Blue Prism.

    Overall, I would rate Blue Prism at six on a scale from one to ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
    PeerSpot user
    Dinesh  P - PeerSpot reviewer
    Technical Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Reseller
    Top 10
    Supports structured data but could be improved by including a reporting section
    Pros and Cons
    • "Blue Prism currently supports SQL Servers and structured data."
    • "The solution can be improved by switching off data DB and including a report section."

    What is our primary use case?

    We have various use cases for the solution and deploy it on AWS Cloud.

    How has it helped my organization?

    When we need specific reports, the default reports posted in the interactive clients are not helpful but can be useful. However, this means we can utilize only the minimum level, but we want to use more input data from the Blue Prism tool, which means we need to fetch more of the data from the table side, and for this, we need to integrate many tables for this integrating of data. So it becomes difficult to get a BP database onwards.

    We are additionally migrating the Blue Prism database to different clouds. Blue Prism currently supports SQL Servers, and structured data, it is stored as an income performer. When we migrate to a process from a different environment, we either need to go with the complete restoration of the GP or we need to lose the data. This is because if you have ten processes, five processes may complete the testing. Other processes may still depend on the current environment when we move to live production. So since it can take weeks or months, we may lose the data while waiting, and we cannot integrate both from different clouds. 

    Hence, the solution can be improved by enhancing the process's data storage and by including a common check. Sometimes, if the developer fails to identify a timetable directly, it will impact other processes. Currently, all processes are stored on the various tables in the Blue Prism, and the pre-check can ensure the developer is notified.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution can be improved by switching off data DB and including a report section with a morphing feature, like more reporting waste.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using the solution for a year and a half, and we are recently migrated to version 6.10.2.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable. I rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I rate scalability an eight out of ten, but when we interact with different environments, it is difficult to communicate, and DB synchronization is problematic. We currently have approximately 50 people utilizing the solution in our organization.

    How are customer service and support?

    Technical support is often delayed as it takes four to five days to resolve issues since some people work across different time zones under constraints. Additionally, they are not traceable when we need to forward the case to a high level, and it takes another week to escalate to a higher level, which is unacceptable.

    How was the initial setup?

    Deployment depends on the process' complexity level. It depends on if you want a straightforward process or gradual deployment over two weeks. For example, one week for the UIT testing and another week for SIT testing, four days for UIT testing and working at the QI level, and the following week for production, and in one month, we can take up hyper care. This is the best practice.

    We did light scale mode for the deployment process, so when one process came into the picture, we ensured that the production environment would be ready for that process. So far from size, without any delays in the project deadlines and once the process is developed and code reviews are completed, we take internal approval to move the code to the following environments. So we can use duplicate and use different tools for pushing this code in the CIPD environment level or move this cycle management, like import and export processes.

    What about the implementation team?

    We implemented it in-house.

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

    The license is expensive, however, I cannot share the exact cost.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
    Flag as inappropriate
    PeerSpot user
    Ops Innovation Platform Manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
    Real User
    Good UI, impressive ROI, and able to expand
    Pros and Cons
    • "We have integrated the product with our centralized infra-monitoring tool, which gives us real-time insights into BOT health and also the health of the underlying resources."
    • "Emerging technologies adoption is a challenge for every organization, especially the products which address productivity/automation."

    What is our primary use case?

    Predominantly, this platform is used for Robotic Process Automation. It's a low-code tool that doesn't require much technical knowledge and is easy to introduce to your business users in order to make them citizen developers. 

    Most of the manual operations and administrative work are low-hanging candidates for automation using this tool. 

    It can be used for your infrastructure or application monitoring use case.  

    The tool has an extended feature of integration with different databases which can be further extended for analytics/visualization tools. These include Tableau, PowerBI, QlikView, and Splunk.  

    How has it helped my organization?

    The product has impressively increased the productivity and digital transformation effort within the company. The product's USP which makes it different from its competitor is the robust enterprise implementation and the maturity of this product. Its core design works towards building an Object Library. The product has enormous potential which customers can take advantage of thanks to the overall product maturity. The product is available in both the cloud and on-premise.

    What is most valuable?

    The core strength of the product is the database schema, reflected in its UI behavior and strength. 

    From a leadership point of view, integrating the DB into any of your analytics/visualization tools can give you every insight into your program's health in terms of license utilization, ROI, support landscape, current scope, and future backlog capacity. 

    We have integrated the product with our centralized infra-monitoring tool, which gives us real-time insights into BOT health and also the health of the underlying resources.

    What needs improvement?

    Emerging technologies adoption is a challenge for every organization, especially the products which address productivity/automation. 

    The unstructured data, decision-making through machine learning, building data mining repos, and building smart contracts using blockchain will bed needed in the future. 

    Any product that can make itself sustainable with its clients has to make sure they are making the right effort to integrate or upgrade its toolsets to cope with future needs.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this product for the last six years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The product stability allows me to work on value-adding work rather than doing maintenance.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The product is fully scalable based on your capacity and automation needs.

    How are customer service and support?

    We are at the top support tier and have had a good experience so far.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I have worked on most RPA tools. The company had already selected this product.

    How was the initial setup?

    It is not complex to set up if your IT team has basic 3-tier application set up knowledge in the case of enterprise-level set-ups. Anyone can do single-machine set-ups by just following the instructions.

    What about the implementation team?

    We handled the implementation in-house.

    What was our ROI?

    The ROI is a combination of soft and hard benefits. This is our 5th year using the product and we are easily getting close to 65% ROI.

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

    I am aware of the pricing. When compared to most of its competition, it's almost near the same in terms of cost.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I have worked on most of the RPA tools. 

    What other advice do I have?

    The rush to implement RPA is normalizing now. I hope that more companies will invest more time in process evaluation, design, and re-engineering, rather than starting to develop BOTs just to be in the rat race.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Blue Prism Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: June 2023
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Blue Prism Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.