AWS Step Functions vs IBM Business Automation Workflow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Step Functions
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Workload Automation (15th)
IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of AWS Step Functions is 2.9%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 2.4%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Unique Categories:
Workload Automation
1.1%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Vladimir Shilov - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 12, 2024
Has the ability to visualize automated processes and logical parameters
I use Amazon Step Functions to visually design and simplify the development of functions, automate various tasks, and coordinate workflows across different AWS services. I also use it to streamline the development of my Azure tool by visually orchestrating Lambda Functions and integrating them with…
EP
Jan 13, 2023
A stable, scalable solution to help digitize business processes
The modularity of processes can make them more complex, but it depends more on the architecture approach than on the product itself. This makes maintenance more difficult, especially when code is written in JavaScript or a similar script. Improvements could be made in debugging and troubleshooting. If we have a lot of business processes, it's very important how we organize them so that we have as little influence on other processes when we change some code or change one process. This could be better organized, but I think it's really more on the architectural approach of the solutions, that we cannot expect the product to help us a lot with this. But on the other hand, this can be an issue. Sometimes it can be difficult to get the help we need. Specialists with different backgrounds are required to understand the problem. And sometimes it's helpful to have design guidelines to prevent process dependencies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's Amazon, it's scalable."
"One can rate all the calls and that is a good feature."
"It's a general solution that you can adapt to your own needs and is simple to use. We like that it can be integrated with everything in the AWS suite, and that the creation of the pipeline can be done using the graphical user interface."
"AWS Step Functions acts as a high-level layer, allowing us to seamlessly integrate with microservices."
"The number of historical events is great."
"It is a scalable solution."
"The integration capability is easy, whereas building state machines is tricky."
"What I like the most about Amazon Step Functions is how easy it is to use."
"This is a low-code software where you can just drag and drop on the user interface. There are also a lot of quality integrations such as TMS."
"It provides a solution for integration orchestration. This solution is for any organization in the banking, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, and all domains and industries."
"It has integrated UI and deployment models, and it has a deep set of consultant and service provider ecosystem features."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow is useful for helping us design custom user interfaces and processes we require."
"It performs the basic tasks that are required for the BBM solution as part of the overall integration with ECM or enterprise contact management."
"The business process modeling is the most valuable feature."
"This product is tightly integrated with the RPA automation process."
"The solution's most valuable aspect is the fact it is highly configurable. We can do configurations very easily."
 

Cons

"The solution's data size limit can be improved."
"The solution's pricing could be cheaper. It is cheaper than Airflow."
"The pricing of the solution can be improved."
"It wasn't easy to understand the licensing model. It's like if you use just a little, it's cheap, but it becomes more expensive as you use more. It's like a hook that ties you inside the Amazon ecosystem. So, it creates a dependency."
"Setup took about one day. We had some errors to understand in the beginning, but now everything is working good."
"The price and support are areas with shortcomings where the solution needs to improve."
"I would like to see more data transformation features in Amazon Step Functions like additional operators and logic."
"It is hard to coordinate the declaratory language."
"Integrating the solution with existing systems can be complicated and it needs careful planning and execution."
"Sometimes, we feel like we are not getting the full features of the content management capabilities."
"The development UI is sometimes a little slow."
"The main improvement would be to make it easier to implement and deploy so that customers can kick it off and run quickly."
"While everything is integrated into one platform, I'd like guidelines on when and how to use ODM. This applies not only to implementation but also to automation processes. Additionally, proper instructions should be provided when installing on the cloud."
"Requires a lot of customization code writing which could be reduced."
"I would definitely like to see a unified interface between the BPM side of the house and the case side of the house. Something that just seems a bit more cohesive, because right now there is sort of a disconnect between the BPM and the case side of the house. That makes it a bit of a hard sell sometimes. That is definitely first and foremost on my wish list."
"The initial setup is actually a really complicated process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"The solution's price is reasonable."
"The product is expensive."
"Our license is on a three-year term."
"While it can be quite costly, it offers significant benefits for users."
"Licensing varies by use-case."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive. The price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high. The technical support is an additional cost."
"It is on the expensive side, but it provides excellent supportability and an ecosystem that is proven to be a great fit for our organization."
"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."
"The solution has saved us time."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
37%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Step Functions?
The integration capability is easy, whereas building state machines is tricky.
What is your primary use case for Amazon Step Functions?
The major feature of AWS Step Functions is interdependency. Step Functions can determine what action to take next if one step returns a false status based on predefined logic. Step Functions aims t...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Step Functions?
For Step Functions error handling, one must use function calls and logging for error detection within state machines. Comparatively, AirFlow offers more room for improvement. It's like drag and dro...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?
The most valuable feature of IBM Business Automation Workflow is cost management.
 

Also Known As

Amazon Step Functions, Step Functions
Business Automation Workflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alpha Apps, The Guardian, SGK, Bigfinite
Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Step Functions vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.