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Alemba Service Manager vs IFS Cloud Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
660
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (1st), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
Alemba Service Manager
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (34th)
IFS Cloud Platform
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
CRM (29th), Customer Experience Management (11th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (16th), ERP (20th), Activity Based Costing Software (10th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (4th), Local Government CRM (9th), IT Asset Management (13th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (14th), License Management (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
reviewer1099623 - PeerSpot reviewer
ICT Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Fulfills all IT management needs, simple setup, but could be more user-friendly
Unfortunately, we were not able to implement the mobility feature so I won't be able to provide feedback on it (and it was something that has been requested since we have field workers and given the WFH case due to the pandemic). This is due to results of security tests and which we were not yet able to address in our environment. We've been also trying to integrate our current system with discovery solutions but it was not easy. I am not sure if it is due to the fact that we still have an older version of the AlembavFire product. Also, users are also requesting that the current system's UI can still be improved. For those of our users who had experienced ServiceNow, they cited that they can do RFC chats via the tool. In our group, we are using AlembavFire for recording the ticket and do other discussions/alignments via Teams chat.
reviewer2268153 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Operations Engineer
Integrated planning has improved production scheduling and now reduces downtime and costs
The biggest friction point I have run into with IFS Cloud Platform is user adoption, which has been the biggest challenge, as different users in the organization need to get accustomed to the new processes after years of using spreadsheets and legacy systems, requiring training and a mindset shift, along with challenging data migration and process standardization. My advice to someone considering IFS Cloud Platform with a similar workflow is to spend sufficient time understanding and standardizing their business processes before implementing it, as the technology is very powerful, but the real value comes when processes, data, and teams are all aligned. I would rate my overall experience with IFS Cloud Platform as a 9 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our development time has been reduced because the solution is very user-friendly."
"Business analytics provides real-time data that's something other competing companies lack. It uses statistics and graphs to show the performance of the bots which processes are lagging behind and if you need to give priority to certain tasks."
"Value for time: with the help of Enterprise A2019, we can get instant value."
"The recording feature accelerates the timeline of your implementation."
"We have had a massive return on full-time employee resources that we have saved by just using Automation Anywhere."
"Automation Anywhere has very strong game because it is always up for asking feedback."
"The way it integrates with subsystems is impressive. When automating business processes, there might be multiple systems in use. Automation Anywhere provides various ways to connect, such as by directly using backend APIs or using the frontend. This is incredibly useful."
"The capacity to use Automation Anywhere in the cloud is the most valuable feature."
"From the time we started using vFire, we were able to ensure continuity tracking of Service Tickets (incident and request fulfillment-related)."
"Incident Management is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The workflow is very good, as well as customizable."
"When we met with the Alemba vFire from Australia, it was a good discussion and they have a good feature roadmap."
"Having a young talented programmer, during the six years of use, we were able to save around 75 000 EUR preparing simple modifications using customization rather than ordering them in IFS / Partner."
"When it comes to financing, the solution has helped us to concentrate finance functions like accounting processes in one system. This includes about 70 internal entities around the world."
"Some of the strengths are Enterprise Management Solutions and the series of Management solutions which is number one in Gartner's report and has been for the last five years."
"A high level of ERP can be handled in IFS."
"All the modules are valuable in their own right, but everything has to go through the ERP. IFS has done an excellent job integrating the various modules to complete these processes. My expertise is in the finance module, but I have used the other verticals. It's an all-around good product."
"The financial posting controls are quite handy. The user interface is really friendly, highly flexible, and pretty intuitive for end users."
"The solution overall is very versatile and flexible, especially compared to other products."
"We could quickly understand what was going on and what the customer wanted to do."
 

Cons

"The pricing, setup cost, and licensing of the platform are the worst. This is my major concern and complaint."
"The automated regression testing could be better. I need to build my own testing suite, and I know other tools have built-in testing suites. That is an area that's very weak in this platform."
"When I used this tool in the bot, it did not work. I got this issue when using the document automation learning instance."
"They have done a fairly good job on the RPA space, but more and more, the whole cognitive AI space and machine learning are where I see the industry actually going. I'm sure Automation Anywhere is also focused on that topic, but we would like to see more coming down the pipe, as early as possible."
"At some places, the if-else statements become so confusing so, at that place, they can change the UI for better understanding. Apart from this I liked this tool and would like to continue working on this."
"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."
"I am looking for artificial intelligence and machine learning. I hope that they introduce them in A2019."
"Automation Anywhere has a lot of room for improvement. It is not customer-friendly."
"We had issues with the user interface, the way it was structured wasn't that user-friendly. The chat features could improve. For example, in change management, all the chat discussions can be done via ServiceNow. We are using two separate solutions, such as Teams, to chat, and the Alemba vFire tool to process."
"We had issues with the user interface, the way it was structured wasn't that user-friendly."
"The reporting needs to be improved."
"The product should improve its ability to integrate with third-party tools."
"There should be some improvements in the predefined templates in IFS Applications."
"The biggest friction point I have run into with IFS Cloud Platform is user adoption, which has been the biggest challenge, as different users in the organization need to get accustomed to the new processes after years of using spreadsheets and legacy systems, requiring training and a mindset shift, along with challenging data migration and process standardization."
"We have upgraded to the latest version right now. We have issues with the quality. We tried to enroll in their Evergreen program which was meant to help us adopt any service update or anything that the tool’s providers come up with."
"IFS Applications is not robust enough to handle high-volume transactions, so it's not suitable for larger enterprises."
"The support provided by IFS Applications has room for improvement. I'm based in Poland, and when my company had an issue, finding people from IFS to give my company the support it needed was difficult."
"Documentation-wise, they need more."
"The next version has already been released, and some of the technical things are a little bit behind the curve in development. This is specifically security, maintenance, security role maintenance, and creation. This is in their new product, called IFS Cloud."
"It would be ideal if, in the future, the product could incorporate IoT and blockchain elements. We'd like to explore more of these types of features going forward."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have seen a return of investment because it takes less time to market in our current process. I would estimate a times savings between 20 to 30 percent."
"I believe it is $10,000 for Bot Creator."
"In the Indian market, I feel that for mid-size companies, such as ourselves, that having multiple bots costs a lot. If Automation Anywhere wants to expand in the Indian market, they will need to look at their pricing."
"Subscription for Automation Anywhere (AA) is paid yearly."
"If I compare it with Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere is cheaper. Blue Prism is very costly. Automation Anywhere's pricing follows the market, not less and not more."
"It depends. For example, for my group, we are centralizing the infrastructure in Paris. Our contract is signed with Automation Anywhere in France. The currency and the pricing of Automation Anywhere in France can appear beneficial and interesting for Germany and Scandinavian countries, but when we share our infra and are internally charging other countries such as Poland, Brazil, or some other country with a lower currency value as compared to Euro, it becomes less beneficial. They would prefer to sign the contract directly with Automation Anywhere because they will benefit from a price that is as per their local market."
"In most of the cases, the product value is very good. If the infrastructure, implementation, and framework are good, then generally, the client can get a good return on investment."
"Our licensing costs are setup on an annual basis."
"Alemba vFire is more affordable than the other solutions on the market. The solution changes for the number of customers not per user or module. The price was reasonable overall. We paid for support and it was a fair price."
"The product is much cheaper than ServiceNow."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"It is better to buy implementation services from IFS than from partners"
"There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
"Pricing is an area that could be improved. They could be more competitive."
"Compared to SAP, the pricing for IFS Applications was very affordable. People using the solution would find that it's worth the money."
"The additional cost that comes with the solution includes the overhead of the people who are trying to fix the tool issues. These people are trying to reproduce the issue and report it to the technical support and testing with them which is huge. It is the cost of quality in the end."
"Ask for all-inclusive pricing, as they are pretty flexible if you ask for custom models."
"IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Government
16%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise558
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive featur...
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
There are features that came up during implementation that we are not actually using today, such as field service man...
What is your primary use case for IFS Applications?
My main use case for IFS Cloud Platform is for production planning, where I typically use it for production schedulin...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
vFire
IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Hiscox Liverpool City Council Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO) PPG Barnardo's Victoria University of Wellington
China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Find out what your peers are saying about Alemba Service Manager vs. IFS Cloud Platform and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.