

Appian and IBM Business Automation Workflow compete in the business process management field. Appian appears to have the upper hand with its competitive pricing and rapid development capabilities, especially in low-code environments, while IBM is favored for its robust automation features, though it is seen as more costly.
Features: Appian's rapid development with low-code makes it easier to quickly implement apps, offering efficiency in deployment. Its ease of use allows non-technical users to manage workflows and includes targeted features for the financial industry and mobile app support. IBM Business Automation Workflow stands out for its strong automation capabilities and the integration of BPM and RPA, suitable for comprehensive enterprise solutions.
Room for Improvement: Appian could improve in user interface customization, mobile development, offline capabilities, and integrating with DevOps tools. IBM Business Automation Workflow needs more intuitive UI features, greater low-code flexibility, and better documentation to streamline integration processes.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Appian supports various deployment options including public cloud, providing flexibility, and is noted for its responsive customer service creating a positive experience. IBM Business Automation Workflow is recognized for its robust on-premises deployments, though users consider it slightly less flexible.
Pricing and ROI: Appian is considered competitively priced, particularly for low-code development which leads to a faster ROI. Its flexible licensing models are appreciated. IBM Business Automation Workflow's pricing is higher, reflecting its expansive feature set aimed at large enterprises, which might extend the time to achieve ROI.
Using Appian is saving us five full-time employees, which is significant since we currently have only four team members.
They see return on investment in terms of cost savings, time savings, more efficient processes, and more efficient employees.
Appian is very efficient, allowing us to build a lot of applications within a financial year, making it cost-effective.
Initially performed manually, workflows now provide a better user experience and increased efficiency.
I would give Appian's customer support 10 out of 10 due to their next-level support.
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
The technical support for Appian rates as 10 out of 10 because they have a great support team.
If the solution is readily available to IBM support team, they provide it instantly.
IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship.
On a scale of one to 10, Appian rates as a nine for scalability.
Our volume has increased by 20% in the two years since using Appian, and it can handle the increased volume effectively.
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
We are implementing load balancing and horizontal scalability.
We can manage the license usage and scale our environment while optimizing license use.
We have tested Appian during peak usage and off-peak times, and we have not experienced any issues such as lagging or system disruptions.
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
The stability of Appian would rate as nine, as it's a stable environment.
Outside of these maintenance periods, the environment is quite stable.
It has room to improve for use cases where the users are public facing, where anonymous users could come to a site and run a business workflow or interact with some data.
Appian can be improved by adding a geo-location tagging feature, which would be really helpful for identifying remitter addresses.
If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory.
Many developments are focused on AI, LLM models, and data science.
IBM Business Automation Workflow could be more intuitive, with more advanced low-code features and services definition.
Code management lacks merging capabilities.
Appian provides value for money, is easy to use, has a straightforward setup procedure, and offers great support from the Appian team.
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
The pricing of Appian is based on the number of users and generally ranges from 70 to 100 USD per user per month.
It is not a cheap license but in line with expectations for such software.
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
The zero-code integration feature is remarkable, allowing for ease of data transfer and workflow enhancement.
Appian is aiding in leveraging AI technologies in multiple ways: one way is for developers, as they make development efficient and quick by enabling developer co-pilots across various phases of the application, which helps design Appian quickly and provides suggestions along the way.
After switching to Appian, it can extract data from MT103, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant.
It assisted in making users concentrate on the process flow rather than just features.
It offers robust workflow features and, despite being a low-code tool, provides extensive customization options.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Appian | 3.7% |
| IBM Business Automation Workflow | 1.7% |
| Other | 94.6% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 20 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 9 |
| Large Enterprise | 42 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 6 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 3 |
| Large Enterprise | 16 |
Appian is a unified low-code platform and solution used by businesses to build enterprise applications and workflows. This product adapts to the needs of clients and the technologies they are already using to combine their data in a single workflow and maximize resources. The platform has four main components through which it transforms the work process for companies of various sizes. They are:
Appian is utilized across a diverse set of industries, including automotive and manufacturing, energy and utilities, education, financial services, telecom and media, transportation, retail, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. The most frequent use cases of Appian are customer journey, governance, risk and compliance, operational efficiency, supply chain, distributed order management, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management.
Appian Features
Appian has various features that allow users to create solutions for their businesses. These features can be separated into a few groups according to function, including automation, low-code application development, and integrations and data. Some of the most frequently used features of Appian include:
Appian Benefits
The benefits of using Appian include:
Reviews from Real Users
A practice leader - digital process automation at a computer software company values Appian highly because the product is easy to develop, low-code, and has a good user interface.
Alan G., an advisory board member at Codecon VR, Appian offers a clear application life cycle, easy to learn documentation, and comes with a fundamentals course.
IBM Business Automation Workflow combines business process management and case management capabilities in one workflow solution. It integrates the capabilities of business process and case management into a single workflow offering. It unites information, process, and users to provide a 360-degree view of work to drive more successful optimized business outcomes. IBM Business Automation Workflow on Cloud provides the same capabilities that are offered in the IBM Business Automation Workflow offering, all within a ready-to-use, cloud-based environment that is hosted in IBM Cloud data centers and managed by IBM.
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