AutoSys Workload Automation vs OpCon vs Tidal by Redwood comparison

Broadcom and SMA Technologies are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. Broadcom is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.8, while SMA Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.1. Broadcom holds a 11.7% mindshare in WA, compared to SMA Technologies’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of SMA Technologies users who would recommend it.

AutoSys Workload Automation

Read 82 AutoSys Workload Automation reviews

6,375 Views
2,441 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

OpCon

Read 59 OpCon reviews

1,715 Views
419 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Tidal by Redwood

Read 37 Tidal by Redwood reviews

2,402 Views
646 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

AutoSys Workload Automation

OpCon

Tidal by Redwood

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between AutoSys Workload Automation, OpCon, and Tidal by Redwood based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC, Broadcom, Redwood Software and others in Workload Automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Workload Automation Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Workload Automation

June 2025

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Helped 859,533 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of AutoSys Workload Automation is 11.7%, down from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpCon is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tidal by Redwood is 3.9%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

Antony Askew

Technical Lead at Natwest

Helps us manage complex workloads, reduce our workload failure rates, and save us time

The visibility and control features are somewhat limited. This is a recognized weakness, but thee vendor is currently revamping the user interface to address it. While the current UI is a bit outdated, it's undergoing improvement. AutoSys Workload Automation has some areas for improvement, particularly in housekeeping and product maintenance. These tasks are currently quite manual and labor-intensive for our team. Additionally, the reporting and forecasting functionalities could be more robust. One area for improvement with AutoSys Workload Automation is that it comprises several distinct tools configured to work together. This necessitates familiarity with multiple tools for effective solution management. Consequently, it can sometimes lack a sense of cohesiveness as a unified solution.

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Jose Rivera Hernandez

Senior VP of Technology at Triangle Credit Union

Helps automate all kinds of jobs and it's worth the price because it saves a lot of time and money

One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has failed, and they restart it on their end, so now, we have the job restarting twice. There were times when we came into the office in the morning, and we had two files because the job ran twice. I do not know if the system can prevent a job from running the second time. If a job has run successfully, or it is running, it should not run again.

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Steve Mikula

IT Scheduling Manager at Paychex, Inc.

Very reliable processing engine, and scheduling is flawless—crucial elements in our financial transaction processing

Because we've been on it for 20 years, it's pretty easy for us to automate jobs with Tidal at this point. It has become second nature. It's pretty simplistic to set up and get going, although there are different levels of complexity you can have within the product. It depends on how simple you want to keep it. If you just keep it: Job A, Job B, Job C, Job D, that becomes pretty simple. But when you start integrating some complex calendars that use sub-calendars—and you can go three, four, or five deep to set up schedules—it becomes more complicated. The beauty of it is you can go as deep as you need to. We can get really complex or we can keep it simple. We have some use cases for both scenarios. The thing that I like the most is the reliability of the engine. The actual scheduling part of the product is pretty much flawless, but the stability of the product is what I find to be reassuring. We are a financial company, we move billions of dollars a day, and if we don't have our transactions processed in a timely manner we can be penalized and our clients can be penalized. It can have a serious financial impact.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We automate recurring processes, keeping track of IT processes controlled worldwide."

"Integration with multiple services and applications across the enterprise."

"The most valuable aspects of AutoSys Workload Automation are its performance, scalability, and ease of getting started for new users."

"It works constantly and is pretty seamless. You do not have to open up many support tickets."

"I prefer AutoSys over the other ones out there for ease of use, ease of understanding, and getting people to understand how the tool works."

"The ability to create calendars, calendering for batch jobs to run on a scheduled frequency."

"It is stable, it works, and it does what it is supposed to."

"I find that it provides better agility in regards to job execution features."

More AutoSys Workload Automation pros

"It's very scalable. Right now we're barely scratching the surface of what it can do. I've looked at Symitar's instance of OpCon and they're running something like 13,000 jobs a day with all the clients that they have. So it can go from small use cases like ours to enterprise-level."

"Auto-scheduling is the most valuable feature. We have the ability to schedule [batch jobs on our Unisys mainframes] seven days in advance, so we know exactly how we're running every night."

"Manual processing has been automated 99 percent by OpCon. With new processes, we give it at least two weeks manual so we can write down the details of how to do the steps, then we automate it. Within a month, it has been automated, then it's no longer a manual process."

"With a simple click of a button in self-service, the department or the user can complete his/her job."

"MAS is by far the best feature, although not a feature of the software specifically. MAS has more knowledge than our employees, so we have been able to develop schedules that are far beyond our own skillset."

"The ability to chain jobs together allows us to create complex interdependencies between our jobs, and the integration into our core system is important because it allows us, through an automated system, to do a huge number of things that used to be done manually."

"One of the advantages of OpCon is the ability to use the API and web services. We couldn't do that with our previous solution. We have been able to change our procedure for ticketing. When a job is down, we can immediately create a ticket from OpCon in our ticketing solution, which is ServiceNow, using the web services."

"It allows us to organize everything into a process flow throughout the day for our different tasks that we have to run. So, it keeps everything organized. It is easy to monitor and adjust, if we need to."

More OpCon pros

"We use the solution for cross-platform, cross-application workloads. That's the biggest use for us and that's the biggest advantage."

"It is intended to enable large-scale automation environments, making it appropriate for companies with complicated processes and big data volumes."

"Especially in the newer versions of Tidal, the segmentation of user permissions enables us to give people operator permissions for their jobs, to rerun jobs, but view-only for other groups' jobs. We're able to keep people from hurting themselves or other groups accidentally. The permissioning is really good."

"By leveraging machine learning algorithms, Tidal Automation can use this data to optimize turbine settings and improve overall efficiency and performance."

"We have to run about 12,000 jobs every day and the majority of them need to be launched from our ERP, JD Edwards. The native compatibility of the Tidal platform with JD Edwards dovetails with our greatest need. It's directly connected to the heart of our IT system. We couldn't work without it."

"For us, the calendaring system is very robust. Some of the teams have very specific requests for when they need jobs to run. That's been really valuable, because a lot of times, when people run scripts, if they run on a holiday, they're going to fail... A couple of times a month it probably saves us work and the necessity of logging in from home and checking to make sure everything's okay."

"The job dependency is something that you cannot have in a regular, simple cron job or simple scheduler dependency. The event-driven jobs are core for us, as we really need that. Therefore, we really need Tidal with its ability to run thousands of jobs per day."

"The most valuable feature is the job scheduler, where you can schedule thousands of jobs to execute at specific times."

More Tidal by Redwood pros

Cons

"The lack of documentation, that is an issue. When we do need to bring it down for maintenance, it is always a scary moment for us because we have never had it crash."

"The visibility and control features are somewhat limited."

"Ease of implementation for upgrades."

"SQL server clustering is not supported."

"I am looking forward to more of their dashboard features. I think it would be very valuable for us to have dashboard features that could be delivered to our customers in the form of a URL, and they could refresh that URL whenever they wanted to get up to date performance metrics out of our systems."

"It would be helpful to be able to monitor and manage workload windows so we could minimize downstream applications. This would allow us easier access to the applications."

"To make it a lot more user-friendly, in order to make it so other people can use it without having to do much training with it; the more user-friendly it is, the easier it is to work with."

"There is a slow response time by tech support. Unless, you say it's severity level one. That will give you a two hour timing window for them to call you. It doesn't really happen exactly in two hours, but they try."

More AutoSys Workload Automation cons

"Do your first install, your first upgrade, with SMA. It's simple, it's as per the manual, as per the training, but you need that little bit of confidence."

"I have noticed lately that [tech support's] first answers tend to be, "Let's upgrade it to the latest and greatest first," without looking into anything. The last couple of times I've logged a ticket that's been the response, which is a little frustrating. We're not big on just upgrading on a whim. We do full testing."

"At first, it's a little clunky, but once you learn it, it actually is very simple. You have to get over that initial learning hump."

"The solution has quite a learning curve for beginners. It's challenging. I wouldn't rate it as super-easy to automate processes. It's medium-weight. I've used more complex software, but I've used simpler software."

"Enterprise Manager is a little clunky which I know they're addressing in the solution's manager."

"One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has failed, and they restart it on their end, so now, we have the job restarting twice. There were times when we came into the office in the morning, and we had two files because the job ran twice."

"The initial setup was fairly complex."

"I might like to see a little bit more of a seamless user interface. That would be good. They're moving towards a browser-type interface, rather than the Java application that we currently use. Also, a little bit more built-in self-service would be good, rather than a standalone product."

More OpCon cons

"We've had some quirky stuff happen on an occasional basis where a job does not take off. For example, a job we expected to be finished by 3:00 a.m. is sitting there and not executing when we come in in the morning. We have to go all the way back to the dependencies and then we can see that one of the dependencies has become unscheduled, for some reason. No changes were made to the schedule but this prerequisite job has, all of a sudden, become unscheduled. I have brought this up with Tidal's support but they have never had an answer for it."

"The GUI, the graphical user interface, gets a little bit busy."

"There are several improvement points that our team has provided to the vendor."

"The product’s UI is outdated. They should work on this particular area."

"The UI might have the potential to provide a more polished and user-centric encounter, promoting seamless engagements and simplifying the navigation process for individuals interacting with the software."

"Initially, it is complicated to understand the functionalities as there is limited product documentation."

"The user interface is the place that needs the most work. If and when we find issues with the product, they are usually in that area. If I had to choose, that's where I'd want issues, as opposed to in the engine. But the UI is average. It's a little sluggish at times and there are some bugs in it."

"Some users have complained that the initial setup process is complicated and time-consuming, while others have suggested that the software could offer more freedom in customizing processes."

More Tidal by Redwood cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing needs to be improved. Some of my client's complained that it was too expensive."

"People need to pay attention to how they use their ESP agents on the distributed platform. That's where some of the cost comes in, based on how many you need or how many you use."

"I don't have information on the exact licensing cost of AutoSys Workload Automation because that's managed by the tools and financing teams. For agents, it's close to $4,00, but for the server setup, it's usually a one-time license initially, and it's AMC which is paid every year and comes close to $8,000 to $10,000."

"The price of this solution is reasonable and there is an annual license required."

"I certainly think the pricing is worth the value."

"The return on investment would be very high because doing things manually without this product would be extremely expensive."

"It is overpriced."

"Validate how many agents you need beforehand."

More AutoSys Workload Automation pricing and cost advice

"The cost is just shy of $20,000. That's for two licenses annually, production, and failover. It is a pricey solution. Comparatively speaking, you can certainly find schedulers which are cheaper. In some cases, you can find ones that are free or use free solutions. However, OpCon is by far the superior quality product, and you pay for that. This also has a cost savings associated with an FTE, so you can more than outweigh the cost of the solution if you were to reduce the staff that you have onsite. Plus, this means that you don't need to have someone during irregular hours."

"It's definitely worth the cost."

"This solution is slightly more expensive than our previous solution. Right now, we are paying about $40,000 a year. However, we think it's well worth the cost to keep things automated, reducing our staff."

"Yearly, it's around $30,000."

"I am the one who signs the contract. In the beginning, when I started working here, it seemed very expensive, but after I learned everything that it does, I found it worth the price."

"Operating OpCon comes with a cost."

"Compared to AutoSys and ISE, OpCon was a lot cheaper to put in. AutoSys is hundreds of thousands of dollars to just install it because they don't have an interface into our system. You have to teach them what your system does."

"It used to be per machine, so we had X number of devices licensed. Now it's not. If we had a lot of machines, the new license might've decreased the cost. Unfortunately, we didn't see the same gains."

More OpCon pricing and cost advice

"Our licensing model for Tidal is on an annual basis. It is very good and works well for us. Tidal's licensing is very transparent and simple. It lets you know, for the amount you use, that's the price that you pay. So, we buy X number of licenses, and we know that this is where we are. I'm very happy with that. I saw the licensing modules on other platforms, and I didn't like them. Other companies and solutions would calculate the connections, adapters, and instances. I think that's the reason that BMC was pretty expensive: They just didn't understand what our needs are."

"The solution enables admins and users to see the information relevant to them, but this is bundled as an add-on that we would have to pay for."

"The pricing is pretty reasonable. That seems to help a lot versus other companies. There are no other fees aside from the standard licensing fees. There are other products out there where you pay based on how many jobs you run and so on, and I know that's very frustrating for users."

"We think the pricing is very fair. We have been happy with the pricing compared to some of the other solutions in the space."

"Their pricing seems very fair. It is more than the other solutions, but the functionality and the support are very much there. You pay for the job scheduler, and then they have certain things that are built into it, such as the FTP processes. If you then want to do JD Edwards jobs, you need an adapter. If you want to do SQL jobs, there is another adapter. Similarly, if you want to do Oracle jobs, there is an adapter. It is like there is the base and then there are the adapters for the jobs that you want to do, but it seems that's also how they pay for each of those adapters and keep them up to date."

"Tidal is a low-cost tool and not expensive in comparison to other tools."

"Our annual maintenance cost is competitive for what we have and what they do."

"The solution has no hidden costs. It helps me to plan forward into the future. I know that I can add another 100 or a thousand jobs, and that's how much it will cost me today."

More Tidal by Redwood pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

47%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

45%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

20%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does Control-M compare with AutoSys Workload Automation?

Control-M acts as a single, centralized interface for monitoring and managing all batch processes, which is helpful b...

See all answers

What do you like most about AutoSys Workload Automation?

The most valuable aspects of AutoSys Workload Automation are its performance, scalability, and ease of getting starte...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AutoSys Workload Automation?

The solution is costly. The pricing is based on the number of users, which for me, translates to approximately $120,0...

See all answers

What do you like most about OpCon?

My favorite feature is the dashboard feature, which shows jobs that are running, and completed, any failures, and pro...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpCon?

I am the one who signs the contract. In the beginning, when I started working here, it seemed very expensive, but aft...

See all answers

What needs improvement with OpCon?

One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically...

See all answers

What do you like most about Tidal Automation?

Tidal Automation by Redwood is a user-friendly solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tidal Automation?

The price is reasonable in terms of the product’s functionality.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tidal Automation?

Initially, it is complicated to understand the functionalities as there is limited product documentation. The setup a...

See all answers

Comparisons

Control-M vs AutoSys Workload Automation

Compared 33% of the time

Automic Automation vs AutoSys Workload Automation

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs AutoSys Workload Automation

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs AutoSys Workload Automation

Compared 6% of the time

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs AutoSys Workload Automation

Compared 2% of the time

More AutoSys Workload Automation Competitors

Control-M vs OpCon

Compared 30% of the time

VisualCron vs OpCon

Compared 11% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs OpCon

Compared 10% of the time

UiPath Platform vs OpCon

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow vs OpCon

Compared 5% of the time

More OpCon Competitors

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 34% of the time

Control-M vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 22% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 8% of the time

Automic Automation vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 7% of the time

AWS Step Functions vs Tidal by Redwood

Compared 2% of the time

More Tidal by Redwood Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AutoSys Workload Automation

June 2025

Download AutoSys Workload Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

OpCon

June 2025

Download OpCon product report

Buyer's Guide

Tidal by Redwood

June 2025

Download Tidal by Redwood product report

Also Known As

CA Workload Automation, CA Workload Automation AE

No data available

Tidal Workload Automation, Cisco Workload Automation, Tidal Enterprise Scheduler

Overview

AutoSys Workload Automation is used by organizations for executing thousands of automations, managing server workloads, scheduling CP jobs, file transfers, enterprise batch scheduling, and ETL processing.

Organizations leverage AutoSys Workload Automation for running extensive workloads day and night, particularly important for banks, insurance clients, and enterprises needing robust job scheduling and file transfer processes. It is crucial for managing cross-functional dependencies with 24/7 automated triggers, batch processing, and centralized business process control, ensuring seamless operations across various servers and environments.

What are the most important features?

Easy Configuration: Simplifies initial setup and updates.
SAP Integration: Seamlessly integrates with SAP environments.
Minimal Maintenance: Requires less frequent updates and interventions.
Scalability: Scales to accommodate growing business needs.
Speed and Stability: Ensures high performance and reliable operations.
User-friendly Interface: Enhances user experience and efficiency.
Real-time Batch Processing View: Provides instant insights into batch jobs.
Compatibility: Works well with various software systems.
Robustness: Delivers consistent, reliable performance.
Easy Setup: Simplifies deployment process.
File Transfer Protocol: Facilitates smooth and secure file transfers.
File Watcher: Monitors and manages file changes effectively.
Performance and Upgrades: Ensures improved performance and simplified upgrades.

What are the benefits or ROI items to consider?

Improved Efficiencies: Reduces manual intervention and automates repetitive tasks.
Cost Savings: Optimizes resource usage and reduces operational costs.
Enhanced Reliability: Decreases downtime with robust performance.
Better Integration: Seamlessly integrates with existing systems.
24/7 Operations: Ensures uninterrupted business processes.
Scalable Solutions: Adapts to growing business needs.
Advanced Scheduling: Provides comprehensive job scheduling options.

AutoSys Workload Automation is widely implemented in banking for day and night operations, insurance client environments for reliable support, and enterprises for automated file transfers and robust job scheduling. Organizations centralize business processes and manage cross-functional dependencies effectively with its 24/7 automated triggers, supporting diverse industry needs through scalable and reliable performance.

Broadcom

OpCon automates batch processing, core system operations, file transfers, and daily processing. Integrated across Unisys, Windows, and cloud systems, OpCon is used in financial institutions, credit unions, and multi-platform environments for job scheduling, report generation, SQL queries, scripting, and FTP processes, handling thousands of jobs daily.

Users value OpCon for comprehensive automation capabilities, particularly the scheduling feature that allows advance planning and streamlined workflows. The self-service functionality enables non-IT staff to manage tasks efficiently. OpCon's integration with core banking systems, robust job management, and error notification system significantly improve operational efficiency. Features like Solution Manager enhance accessibility and control, ensuring process continuity and ease of use.

What are the Key Features of OpCon?

Advanced Scheduling: Allows users to plan and automate workflows efficiently.
Self-Service Functionality: Empowers non-IT staff to manage tasks independently.
Integration with Core Systems: Works seamlessly with core banking systems and other platforms.
Error Notifications: Provides robust error management and notifications for quick resolution.
Solution Manager: Enhances control and accessibility for managing automated processes.

What Benefits Should You Look for in Reviews?

Operational Efficiency: Users often report improved operational performance and reduced manual effort.
Time Savings: Automation of repetitive tasks leads to significant time savings.
Improved Accuracy: Automated systems minimize human error, leading to higher accuracy in processes.
Cost Reduction: Optimized resource usage results in cost savings.
Enhanced Flexibility: Customizable workflows meet unique business requirements.

Users find OpCon complex with a steep learning curve. Desired improvements include better separation of environments, enhanced graphical display, finer user authorization, simpler notification and alerts, more templates, increased web functionality, seamless interface, integration tools, online training, smoother scheduling, better reporting, mobile accessibility, smarter self-service, improved mainframe support, and integration with third-party systems. Pricing model and licensing could be more streamlined.

In financial institutions and credit unions, OpCon is implemented to handle thousands of daily jobs, automate internal processes, and integrate workflows across various platforms. It ensures secure file transfers, generates detailed reports, executes SQL queries, and supports seamless third-party integrations.

SMA Technologies

Tidal Software is a leading provider of enterprise workload automation solutions that orchestrate the execution of complex workflows across systems, applications and IT environments. With a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, Tidal optimizes mission-critical business processes, increases IT cost efficiencies and satisfies legal and regulatory compliance requirements. Hundreds of customers around the world count on Tidal for modernizing their workload automation and driving their digital transformation. Tidal Software is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Houston, London, Minsk, Belarus and Chennai, India. For more information, visit tidalsoftware.com.

Tidal Software by Redwood

Sample Customers

Gaumont, Mercantil do Brasil, CCEE, Hanwha Life

LOHR, Carnival Cruise Lines, Herbalife, Digital Federal Credit Union, Synergent, Frandsen Bank & Trust

Information Not Available

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