Project Manager at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable with good automation capabilities and excellent features
Pros and Cons
  • "The new features that have come out have been great."
  • "If that bot is running 24/7, we have to allocate people 24/7, 24 hours a day. The cost of support can be quite high."

What is our primary use case?

We are primarily using the solution to automate the enterprise processes that are so widely used by many staff and where we want to reduce the specific deviation where FTE may be high. 

What is most valuable?

The solution has been quite stable so far.

The new features that have come out have been great.

So far, the solution has been faultless. We've been very happy with it.

The solution has been very good in terms of helping us automate processes.

What needs improvement?

If that bot is running 24/7, we have to allocate people 24/7, 24 hours a day. The cost of support can be quite high.

If there was a way that robots could self-heal if they stopped running for whatever reason, that would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about two years at this point. It's been a while.

Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Blue Prism. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've found the stability to be very good. there are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution might be scalable. It depends on the process that we want to automate, actually. It looks to be pretty scalable overall, however.

We only have about 50 users on the solution currently.

We do plan to continue usage.

How are customer service and support?

We don't really use support, It can be expensive. We need it to be 24/7 as our processes run 24/7 and if something goes wrong, we need to have access to them at any time, which means we need to pay more.

That also means we need to have our own staff on 24/7 to make sure the bots are working as they should.

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

We didn't previously use a different solution. This is our first and only product for the purpose of automation.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

The specific developer or team is doing the deployment. Then, we often go live, and after we stabilize, we hand it over to our support team to continue the operation. Overall, we have had around six to eight people for the support portion. It must match the size of the project. Typically, you need two to four people with different roles per project.

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

We tend to sign two or three-year contracts for licenses. Afterward, we may renew or tender a new company.

What other advice do I have?

We're using the latest version of the solution.

I'd recommend the solution to other companies. That said, companies should venture out and try other tools as well. You want to compare to ensure you're getting a comprehensive solution that covers your needs as an organization.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

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
Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Good developer interface, easy to work with and deploy, but the OCR feature needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The development interface is quite easy to work with."
  • "They have OCR technology, but it's not that great."

What is our primary use case?

We are an independent consulting group.

It is used in a lot of healthcare-related processes, and healthcare manufacturing.

How has it helped my organization?

There should be permanence across all of the automation technologies, such as UiPath, Blue Prism, and Automation Anywhere. It would allow the client to have automated processing of manual data work.

Currently, we are automating all of the manual processes. Once you have the bot built, you deploy it and it is obvious that it is going to help the client with reducing the man-hours, leaving them to focus on better quality work.

This is applicable for all RPA, not just Blue Prism.

What is most valuable?

The development interface is quite easy to work with.

The deployment is easy.

What needs improvement?

They have OCR technology, but it's not that great.

They need to come up with better OCR technology.

In the next release, the OCR features need to be improved. This is an area that I would love Blue Prism to work on.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Blue Prism for almost two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable and it doesn't break down easily. 

If it is deployed in the right server and based on the requirements, and the comments they have documented on the site, it's pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not scaled that high for any of our clients yet. We have four or five bots that have been running with no issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not reached out to technical support, but my teammate has.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to deploy.

If you are not doing any kind of smoke testing, it can be deployed in less than three days. You can just deploy to the production server minus the testing.

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

This is an area that I don't have any visibility to. I am not accountable for any kind of licensing and pricing. Our sales team takes care of this.

What other advice do I have?

It is very important that you have a good design in place because it gets tricky when you are building the bots, otherwise, there will be a lot of propping and changing. 

There are many flows needed to build in Blue Prism.

It is always advisable to have a good stable design in place before you build the bot in Blue Prism.

I would rate Blue Prism 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: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Blue Prism. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Partner Technology Consulting at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Overall good feature sets, reliable, and simple setup
Pros and Cons
  • "The overall package from Blue Prism is valuable. I cannot pinpoint one certain part."
  • "Blue Prism can improve on the ease of use of its graphic user interface(GUI)."

What is our primary use case?

We are mainly using Blue Prism for finance processes. Then slowly, we move into other processes, such as HR and IT.

What is most valuable?

The overall package from Blue Prism is valuable. I cannot pinpoint one certain part.

What needs improvement?

Blue Prism can improve on the ease of use of its graphic user interface(GUI).

In an upcoming release, it is important for Blue Prism to think about the future and not stay in the present. They should spend enough time on innovation.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Blue Prism for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of Blue Prism is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Blue Prism is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The support that Blue Prism offers is very good.

I rate the support from Blue Prism a four out of five.

How was the initial setup?

The setup of Blue Prism is very easy.

What about the implementation team?

The number of people we needed for the implementation of Blue Prism depends on the size of the project. However, typically within the assignments which we do, which is more at the strategic level when drilling down to the initial part of the start of implementation, we use between five to ten smart technicians and business personnel.

What was our ROI?

Over a one-year period, customers should receive a return on investment using Blue Prism.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Technical and ROM Architect at PROA IA
Real User
Easy to use, stable, scalable, and has powerful exception handling
Pros and Cons
  • "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 needs to work in a web-based account. I think that the Blue Prism will need to have the main features be web-based so that you can control the box in a web-based environment and not in a client's environment."

What is most valuable?

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.

It is really easy to use; it's user-friendly. 

Also, you only have one database and can consolidate everything, database per environment. I think that helps to have more control, to trace all the data and all the loss, and scale in an easier way.

It is stable and easy to scale.

It is easy to set up as well.

What needs improvement?

Blue Prism needs to work in a web-based account. I think that Blue Prism will need to have the main features be web-based so that you can control the box in a web-based environment and not in a client's environment.

You need to enter the machine and study the client in that machine to see what happened in the box. In other platforms, you can do that in a web-based environment, which is easier to access.

The OTR can be more powerful.

They also need to have an easy way to have more sessions for Telco machines. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using it five years ago as a developer. It is deployed in cloud and hybrid environments.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is really good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's really easy to scale.

How are customer service and technical support?

If you have problems in production, they have technical support 24/7. They respond quickly and help you resolve the issue that you have.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to set up. In a position setup, at most it can take eight hours. In a box environment, it can be set up in 10 minutes.

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend Blue Prism and rate it at nine on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Bank Employee at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Good at doing background processing and stable, but needs better integration with Excel and better pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "Blue Prism is very good at doing background processing."
  • "As a user, I cannot directly work with the bot. On a daily basis, I use and do some work in Microsoft Excel, which cannot be directly taken into Blue Prism. Our company majorly runs on Microsoft Excel. Everybody has Excel sheets as their working sheets. Therefore, we need a kind of automation to be able to do things with this program. This bot is almost like an invisible staff that works between the servers but not with the users. This bot works well with SAP and things like that, but it doesn't work with Excel sheets. It doesn't work with the bots that we have, and I cannot invoke an RPA right now as a user. It has to be done by an administrator who has better control than me. It needs better integration with Microsoft Excel. Its price can be improved. It is expensive for us. It should be cheaper for a market like ours. We are based in India."

What is our primary use case?

We have multiple systems here that are integrated. We have our SAP system, and then we have the vendor portals that are running on some web applications. If somebody puts an order in the portal, there used to be some kind of verifications for which we had employed some people, but now, the same verification is done by Blue Prism.  

We have also been using it for automation for invoice verification. We use Blue Prism to do the verification of the scanned invoices sent by people. We are using the latest minus one version of this solution.

What is most valuable?

Blue Prism is very good at doing background processing. 

What needs improvement?

As a user, I cannot directly work with the bot. On a daily basis, I use and do some work in Microsoft Excel, which cannot be directly taken into Blue Prism. Our company majorly runs on Microsoft Excel. Everybody has Excel sheets as their working sheets. Therefore, we need a kind of automation to be able to do things with this program. This bot is almost like an invisible staff that works between the servers but not with the users. This bot works well with SAP and things like that, but it doesn't work with Excel sheets. It doesn't work with the bots that we have, and I cannot invoke an RPA right now as a user. It has to be done by an administrator who has better control than me. It needs better integration with Microsoft Excel.

Its price can be improved. It is expensive for us. It should be cheaper for a market like ours. We are based in India.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution off and on for a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. On the stability front, we haven't found any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable, but scaling this product is a little bit expensive for us. We are based in India, and it is not fitting in the budget. To add more bots, we have to put in a lot more money. 

So far, we have automated almost 13 processes. In terms of the number of users, we have our partner and four to five technical people who are being led by a manager. I am from the client's side, and we have three people in our team. So, there are seven to eight people who are working on it.

How are customer service and technical support?

It is pretty good.

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

We weren't using any such product previously. We were new to RPA, and this was the product that was chosen by our team. This decision was taken one or two years ago. At that time, I wasn't with this organization.

How was the initial setup?

Blue Prism are our partners, and we did not face any challenges in installation. In a week's time, we were able to develop our first bot.

What about the implementation team?

Blue Prism helped us in installing this.

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

It is expensive for us. It should be cheaper for a market like ours. We are based in India.

What other advice do I have?

We will keep on using this solution in the near future because we have invested in this, but I wish to go for Automation Anywhere, and down the line, we might be exploring that. It is currently not a fully-grown application, whereas many features in the Automation Anywhere are full-grown automation features.

The Blue Prism sales team gave us a demonstration of the upcoming features a couple of weeks ago. They are coming up with a lot of features that are currently not there. I would recommend this solution only if the features they have planned in the upcoming version are there, and they are stable. Blue Prism currently cannot be compared with other products such as Automation Anywhere and UiPath. The full-grown kind of bot is something that is relevant for RPA use cases, but it is not there right now. It is there on the roadmap, but they have to take care of the stability. Right now, other products have definitely got an edge over this.

Without considering the roadmap and features that they have promised in the next version, I would rate Blue Prism a five out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technology Manager at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Good execution speed and object reusability, but it is expensive and they need a recording feature for developers
Pros and Cons
  • "The only good thing about Blue Prism is the execution speed."
  • "For developers, they should have some kind of recording feature."

What is our primary use case?

I'm an IT consultant and I implement Blue Prism for my clients.

What is most valuable?

The only good thing about Blue Prism is the execution speed.

The interface is okay; it is like drawing a workflow map, which some people prefer.

What needs improvement?

For developers, they should have some kind of recording feature. Their competitors have this capability, so it is a big thing.

If you execute too fast then your code dies.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability can be improved by building something on top of it, code-wise. When you are running the software, it needs to attach to whatever window you are on, and then you need to build it separately. This is where you get stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable because they have an object library, which others do not have. In terms of reusability, it's great.

My clients are enterprise-level organizations.

How are customer service and technical support?

In terms of support, they have almost everything for Blue Prism. They have tutorials and other such materials.

I haven't raised any tickets with them, so I do not know about their real support model.

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

I use UiPath for the most part.

I have some experience with Pega RPA but it's garbage, so I don't use it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. You just need SQL and then you can install it.

Ultimately, this should be set up on the cloud using Azure or another provider. however, there are lots of companies that haven't brought their automation off-site, so they are on-premises deployments.

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

This is a very expensive product and this is the reason that they're losing their market share.

What other advice do I have?

I know that Blue Prism is trying to improve because they have acquired some other vendors.

To summarize, I think that this product is good for business but it's terrible for developers.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Senior Business Analyst and Consultant at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Consultant
A valuable enterprise-level tool with the highest level of security, good scalability, and an option to code separately and write a script
Pros and Cons
  • "The entire tool is valuable because it is an enterprise tool. It is on par with other tools like Automation Anywhere or UiPath with the OCR/ICR facilities, analytics, and the entire package for enterprise-level security. It has the highest level of security as compared to any other tool."
  • "There are a lot of things coming up, such as Discovery Bot and Process Discovery. A lot of other aspects are also maturing. We have definitely started using it for our clients, and it is maturing as a solution, but it is all about how you integrate the enterprise with all the automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics. How they are integrated and talk to each other creates a very good business case with all three aspects. The next level should be about integrating it with other automation tools as well. It can have integration with other tools or automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics."

What is our primary use case?

Our use cases are account receivables and account payable. In insurance, our use cases are for vetting beneficiaries, upgrading client portfolios, and updating customer's policies.

What is most valuable?

The entire tool is valuable because it is an enterprise tool. It is on par with other tools like Automation Anywhere or UiPath with the OCR/ICR facilities, analytics, and the entire package for enterprise-level security. It has the highest level of security as compared to any other tool. 

What needs improvement?

There are a lot of things coming up, such as Discovery Bot and Process Discovery. A lot of other aspects are also maturing. We have definitely started using it for our clients, and it is maturing as a solution, but it is all about how you integrate the enterprise with all the automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics. How they are integrated and talk to each other creates a very good business case with all three aspects. The next level should be about integrating it with other automation tools as well. It can have integration with other tools or automation projects, such as your chatbot, Conversational AI, and robotics.

For how long have I used the solution?

I am in robotics for the last seven to eight years, and I have been using Blue Prism for about three to four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, it is a good tool. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is definitely scalable. The whole market of RPA is definitely scalable, but it again depends on your feasibility and complexity when you study a particular environment and process. It also depends on whether you want to scale in the whole organization or different departments or you want to scale up into different areas. All RPA solutions are on par in terms of scalability. There is no difference between them.

How are customer service and technical support?

I don't have any direct experience with them. My solution architect used to handle that. I haven't seen many technical issues because if you are going to deploy the solution and if you've studied enough about the organization and the architecture, then something major is not going to come up. Anything minor, such as securities, passwords, or anything else, can be easily managed.

It is completely run by the solution architects, which is the support team from the RPA side. All technical issues definitely involve the IT team, which is your internal architecture support team and the application support team. You need the support team from the architecture and the IT perspective to manage the technical follow-ups.

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

I have also used UiPath and Automation Anywhere. All these three solutions stand out because they are at the enterprise level. As compared to UiPath and Automation Anywhere, to use Blue Prism, you need developers who have hardcore development experience. It requires quite a bit on the development side. In Blue Prism, you can also code separately and write a script, which adds more value to it.

Blue Prism came too late into the market with its analytics and process discovery features, whereas Automation Anywhere and UiPath were the first ones in the market. Blue Prism is catching up, and it is in the Gartner quadrant, Forrester, etc. It is not lagging far behind.

In Europe, Blue Prism has captured a lot of markets. In the US and Asia, you will see Automation Anywhere and UiPath in the front race. Microsoft, WorkFusion, and Pega are also catching up now.

How was the initial setup?

It is not that complex. It is about how you study an organization and how an organization's architecture runs through. If it is a big organization or an enterprise, then you have to have solution architects from the customer side and also from our side. Solution architects will go and study the customer's architecture. Based on that, we can select which tools are going to be used and how complex it is going to be. It is very much dependent on how the architecture of an organization is because you are going to place the automation tool into that particular organization. Therefore, the initial feasibility and study play a major role in defining the complexity of your design and the entire format or automation.

Initially, the deployment used to take quite long. Now, it is not client-based; it is web-based, and the installation process has been reduced. You just download, and there is no starting a client and all that kind of stuff. It is much easier now than it was before.

What about the implementation team?

In terms of the staff required for the deployment and maintenance of Blue Prism, it depends on what kind of process you're managing. It is not about the tools; it is about the processes. You need to know:

  • How complex they are?
  • What is the risk factor for these processes?
  • How do they impact the entire automation in terms of cost? That is a very important aspect of support because it is in production, and it is going to have a straight impact on the client's revenue.

Generally, one person can easily support around five processes if they fall into the simple category. If the processes fall into the complex category, then you need at least two people managing five processes. By complex, I mean when you have applications that are lengthy and the number of steps of the process are more than 500 or so, and you have to monitor the bots very closely. When the bot or the process breaks, the support team needs to take over and act accordingly. 

The roles and responsibilities and the kind of people needed for maintaining the solution vary based on whether you have agile project management or a lot of projects going on. Typically, you will need a solution architect. You would require an analyst only in the first two or three months or whatever is the period for taking care of the process you want to deploy. After that, you don't require the analysts because it only needs to be overseen from the business side, which will begin with SMEs and the production support team.

Any changes or optimization after 90 days, six months, or a year, due to multiple factors such as legislation changes or anything else, have to be done in the process that is robotized. At this stage, the SMEs and the support team play a very vital role. There should definitely be a very good support function because a lot of follow-ups happen in the process and the production in robotics. To manage them, there should be a very good ticketing system in place. The Agile methodology works perfectly fine, and it adds great value to run your process effectively and having an efficient process, but you definitely need the solution architect, application owner, project management team, and the COE team to manage the entire workflow, work items, or backlog items coming into the support function.

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

It is a bit higher in cost as compared to Automation Anywhere and UiPath. The rate also differs from client to client. Margins are also important when it comes to costing and licensing. There are some additional costs involved besides the standard licensing costs. You have the development team cost, which includes the project manager, development team, analyst, and testers. You also need a team manager. You also have the tools cost, architecture cost, platform cost, and the licensing cost of each bot.

What other advice do I have?

You should suggest a tool only after you study the architecture of an enterprise. Every tool has its own features, upside, and downside. It is not about necessarily going for Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, or UiPath. For implementing a solution, you definitely need to look in the market to find out what suits you. You can then go for it.  

Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, or UiPath are on par. There is not much difference in those tools at an enterprise level. The early development cost and the cost of the platform differ in these three tools. There are some clients who say that "We want only Blue Prism. We don't want to look at anything else." In such a scenario, you can definitely go for Blue Prism because it is on par with other competitors. 

The biggest lesson that we have learned from using Blue Prism is that it is important to choose the right processes and the right complexity of the processes. You can't choose highly complex processes where you have around 800,000 steps or very volatile processes where the team is involved in the application layer or at the process level very frequently. These kinds of things could be avoided.

I would rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten because it is a very old tool. It has been around in the market for quite a while, and they have their own learnings. It is a complete package at an enterprise level, where you can have analytics and attended and unattended automation. You can run your scripts, and at an enterprise level, even security aspects are very strong as compared to what is generally required by a client. There is room for improvement. All the new features that are coming up are not being used by many clients, and a lot of learning has to happen.

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
Lead Project Engineer at Peristent Systems
Real User
Takes good security measures and is user friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "Blue Prism takes good security measures and is user friendly."
  • "The domain in regards to cognitive abilities and the use of processing activity needs improvement. They have added this capability, but that's not really big in the public. It is more also available for gold partners. So they should improve the user activity for the public or even the regular customer."

What is most valuable?

Blue Prism takes good security measures and is user friendly.

What needs improvement?

The domain in regards to cognitive abilities and the use of processing activity needs improvement. They have added this capability, but that's not really big in the public. It is more also available for gold partners. So they should improve the user activity for the public or even the regular customer. It can add a good amount of scalability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Blue Prism since 2014.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 300 resources that are using Blue Prism at different levels.

It can be maintained by three people and it can be done by our IT team as well. It is not hard to maintain

How are customer service and technical support?

If you are a customer or a gold partner, you'll be aligned with a customer success manager who can escalate the case quickly and you'll receive a resolution in no time.

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

After I started using Blue Prism, I also started working with Automation Anywhere and Ui Path.

Blue Prism has its own market share. The large three or four organizations use Blue Prism's security and scalability features, which can be applied at an enterprise level. Some things need to be improved. These are things that are lacking in other tools as well, so it is a fair competition.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. 

If everything is set up well like the restrictions that are on the PCs are up to mark, it will take 20 to 25 minutes for the complete installation.

What other advice do I have?

My advice is that not all activities can be automated by using Blue Prism. There are certain levels of criteria that need to be calculated before choosing a particular RPA tool. There are things that need to be considered before choosing economically.

In the next release, I would like to see improvement in cognitive abilities, AI, and document processing.

I would rate Blue Prism an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Blue Prism Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Blue Prism Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.